03/06/24 03/06/24 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! pres. trump: date call it super tuesday -- they call it super tuesday for a reason. and they tell me, de there's never been one like this. amy: appear headed for a rematch after both candidates win nearly

every race. we will be the latest with david dayen. the supreme court unanimously rules trump cannot be barred from the ballot over january 6. >> on monday, the supreme court ruled donald trump can appear on the ballot in all 50 states despite his participation in the insurrection on january 6. the decision was widely touted by unanimous but it really wasn't. it was a deeply fractured 5-4 split that shows real division on the court. amy: mark joseph stern says the supreme court's unanimous ruling is actually a 5-4 disaster. and children continue to die of hunger in gaza as israel continues to block aid delivery to the north. we will go to cairo to speak with the best-selling author and activist susan abulhawa. she just returned from two weeks in gaza. all that and more, coming up.

welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. president biden and donald trump appear headed for a rematch in november after both candidates won nearly every race on super tuesday when millions of voters in 15 states went to the polls. trump's only remaining rival, former south carolina governor nikki haley, is expected to drop out of the race today after beating trump in just vermont on tuesday. biden won every democratic contest on super tuesday except american samoa, where he lost to a little known tech investor named jason palmer. despite biden's victories, many democratic voters continue to show dismay over his support for israel's assault on gaza. in minnesota, 19% of voters in the democratic primary choose -- chose uncommitted. about 12% of voters cast ballots

for "no preference" in north carolina as did 9% in massachusetts. during an interview tuesday, donald trump broke his silence on the war in gaza by openly endorsing israel's actions . he spoke to fox news host brian kilmeade. >> the noncommitted vote biden is getting, they're not going to like you come either, because you are firmly in israel's camp. are you on order with the way idf is taking the fight in gaza? pres. trump: you had a horrible invasion that took place that never would have happened if i was president, by the way. amy: over the weekend, trump reportedly met with billionaire elon musk, one of the world's richest men. trump is seeking to boost his fundraising at a time when he is at risk of losing much of his personal fortune. last month, a new york judge ordered him to pay $454 million in a civil fraud case. in california, democratic congressmember adam schiff and

the republican baseball star-turn-politician steve garvey are headed for a showdown in november to fill the senate seat of the late dianne feinstein. schiff and garvey won the top two spots in california's closely watched nonpartisan primary. protesters chanting "ceasefire now" interrupted schiff's victory speech. [indiscernible] amy: democratic congressmembers katie porter and barbara lee placed third and fourth in the california senate primary. lee was the only candidate on the ballot who supports a ceasefire in gaza. north carolina's lieutenant governor mark robinson has won the state's republican gubernatorial primary. msnbc described him as a "holocaust-denying, gay-bashing, extreme anti-abortion radical." the human rights campaign

said robinson was one of the most radical anti-lgbtq+ maga politicians on the ballot in the country for making comments like this with from 2021. >> the transgender movement in this country -- there is a movement in this country that is demonic and full of the spirit of antichrist. it is the transgender movement. the same people are going to tell me, need to believe in global warming. and they tell me, follow the signs. follow the signs. you don't even know what gender you are. amy: last week, donald trump praised mark robinson, who is african-american, saying, "i think you are martin luther king times two." in november, robinson will face off against josh stein, who won the democratic primary in north carolina. in another closely watched race, colin allred won the democratic senate primary in texas

defeating state senator roland gutierrez and others. allred will face republican ted cruz in november. the world food program has accused the israeli military of blocking the agency from delivering crucial aid needed to avert a famine in northern gaza. health officials in gaza say at least 18 children have died from starvation in recent days. the biden administration is defending its decision to keep sending arms to israel even though it is blocking aid deliveries. national security communications advisor john kirby was questioned on tuesday. >> what is preventing the president from communicating to the israeli government that if they don't pull out, we will not continue supplying weapons? why is that not a fair trade? no aid, no. >> bombs. >> the president still believes it is important for israel to have what it needs to defend

itself against a still viable hamas threat. maybe some people have forgotten what happened october 7, but president biden has not. amy: palestinians in gaza say the lack of aid is leading people to take drastic actions to feed their families. >> we have the willingness and ability, but is there a father in the world who can see their child hungry and remain silent? all of these people risk their lives in order to obtain what is not even enough for a prom of flour or aid or canned food. yesterday, some expand -- some food arrived with mold and fungus. we are not animals. amy: on the diplomatic front, negotiations are continuing in cairo over a possible ceasefire. a top hamas official said monday the group will not release any more hostages until there is a permanent ceasefire.

>> we reiterate with the enemy failed to achieve on the battlefield, he will not achieve at the negotiating table. the security and safety of our people will not be achieved except with the permanent ceasefire. and the aggression and withdrawal of the enemy from every inch of the gaza strip. bringing aid to the people is our top priority. in exchange of prisoners cannot take place before all of this is achieved. amy: that is a senior hamas official. israel bombed a home in southern lebanon tuesday, reportedly killing a hezbollah fighter along with his wife and son. the attack came as u.s. special envoy amos hochstein was visiting beirut where he warned that a war between lebanon and israel would not be containable and could spread across the region. the world food program has warned the ongoing conflict in sudan could trigger the world's largest hunger crisis unless fighting between the sudanese

military and rapid support forces comes to an end. agency officials said wednesday more than 25 million people scattered across sudan, south sudan, and chad are facing severe food insecurity. meanwhile, worsening violence has blocked humanitarian aid workers from accessing most sudanese communities experiencing emergency levels of hunger. aid deliveries from chad into western sudan border have been halted after sudan's ministry of foreign affairs said there were concerns rsf fighters had carried out arms transfers in that border. haiti's most powerful gang leader has warned haiti is heading to a civil war unless haiti's deeply unpopular unelected prime minister ariel henry resigns as a violent uprising continues to grow in port-au-prince. on tuesday, henry landed in puerto rico after apparently being unable to fly back to haiti where armed groups attacked the international airport on monday.

henry left haiti last week for kenya where he discussed a deal to bring a u.n. force of 1000 kenyan police to the island nation. haitian gang leader jimmy chérizier, who is known as a barbecue, issued a new threat to henry. >> if henry does not step down, the country will suffer a genocide. if he does not step down, the international community continues to support him, they will lead us directly to a civil war that will end in genocide. the international community will be responsible for all of the people who die. amy: to see our coverage of the crisis in haiti, go to democracynow.org. on tuesday, doctors without borders announced it would scale up its medical operations in port-au-prince. the group said the recent violence has led to a massive number of casualties. the international criminal court has issued arrest warrants for

two high-ranking russian military officers for targeting civilians and attacking civilian infrastructure in ukraine. icc chief prosecutor karim khan spoke tuesday. >> this afternoon, pretrial chamber to international criminal court issued tourist warrants for commander of long-range aviation of the russian armed forces and the commander of the black sea fleet of the russian federation. amy: in news from capitol hill, independent arizona senator kyrsten sinema has announced she will not seek reelection this year. this comes just over a year after she left the democratic party after years of shifting further to the right. sinema was widely criticized by democrats for voting against changing filibuster rules to pass key voting rights measures and efforts to raise taxes on corporations. her departure paves the way for

a high-stakes senate seat match, likely between democratic congressmember ruben gallego and arizona's former republican gubernatorial candidate kari lake, who supported trump's false claims of election fraud. in other senate news, new jersey democrat bob menendez and his wife have been charged with obstruction of justice in a new 18 cap superseding indictment as part of the sweeping case centered on bribes tied to egypt and qatar. supreme court justice clarence thomas is facing new controversy after reports he hired a law clerk who was previously found to have sent racist text messages. crystal clanton was the field director at the conservative student group turning point usa when she set the messages, including one that said "i hate black people." justice thomas has come out in defense of clanton, who graduated from the antonin scalia law school at george

mason university, which has long had ties to conservative donors and has maintained close relationships with supreme court justices. in a historic victory for college sports, the dartmouth men's basketball team has voted to unionize. the players voted 13-2 to join service employees international union local 560. this comes as dartmouth is seeking to overturn a february decision by the national labor relations board classifying the basketball players as employees of the university, which granted them the right to unionize. in other education news, the evangelical christian school liberty university has agreed to pay an unprecedented $14 million federal fine for failing to report sexual assaults and other crimes on the campus. it is the largest fine ever levied under the federal clery act. and in germany, a militant left-wing group has claimed responsible for cutting off power and shutting down production at tesla's largest electric car factory in europe,

which tesla is hoping to expand. the factory could remain shut down for a week after in electricity pylon caught on higher. the leftist volcano group took credit for the sabotage saying -- "the factory contaminates the groundwater and consumes huge quantities of the already scarce drinking water resource for its products. tesla is a symbol for 'green capitalism'." over 100 people set up in a encampment inside a nearby forest to protest tesla's plans to expand the factory. >> we are here and have occupied this forest because tesla, which is building electronic c ars, wants to buy the adjoining forest. we have occupied the forest to stop this. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman in new york, joined by democracy now!'s juan gonzález in chicago.

hi, juan. juan: hi, amy. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers across the country and around the world. amy: we begin today's show with the results from super tuesday, when millions of voters in 15 states went to the polls. president biden and donald trump appear headed for a rematch in november after both candidates won nearly every race. former president trump defeated nikki haley for the republican presidential nomination in texas, california, and 12 other states. haley beat trump in vermont but is now reportedly expected to suspend her campaign. president biden won in all 15 states with democratic contests despite biden's victories, many democratic voters continue to show their opposition over his support for israel's assault on gaza. in minnesota, 19% of voters in the democratic primary choose -- cast their ballots for "uncommitted." about 12% of voters cast ballots for "no preference" in north carolina as did 9% in massachusetts. in north carolina, lieutenant

governor mark robinson won the state's republican gubernatorial primary. msnbc described him as a "holocaust-denying, gay-bashing, extreme anti-abortion radical." the human rights campaign described robinson as one of the most radical anti-lgbtq+ maga politicians on the ballot in the country. last week, trump praised robinson, who is black, saying, "i think you are martin luther king times two." in november, robinson will face off against josh stein, who won the democratic primary in north carolina. meanwhile, in arizona, independent senator kyrsten sinema announce she will not run for reelection this year and will leave the senate after one term during which she left democratic party after years of shifting further to the right. super tuesday was the start of the primary season for house and senate races in at least five states. in texas, colin allred won the democratic senate primary, defeating state senator roland gutierrez and others. allred will face republican ted cruz in november. many contested races were in california. in the primary race to replace

longtime california senator dianne feinstein, who died last fall, democratic congressmember adam schiff defeated progressive congressmembers barbara lee and katie porter. under california election rules, the two senate candidates with highest number of votes advance to the general election. in this race, republican steve garvey, the baseball star, came second and knocked out the other two democrats. garvey is a former major league baseball player and first time contender. he celebrated his victory tuesday night. >> welcome to the california come back. [cheers] what you all are feeling tonight is what it is like to hit a walkoff homerun. amy: democratic congressmember adam schiff was the front-runner through much of the race and he and his allies spent more than $11 million to elevate garvey in hopes of beating his main intra-party opponents and keeping them off of the ballot.

this is one of the ads. >> democrats agree conservative republican steve garvey is the wrong choice for the senate. >> our republican opponent on the stage has voted for donald trump twice. >> sir garvey, you voted for him twice. >> garvey is wrong for california but is surging in the polls. stop garvey. adam schiff for senate. amy: meanwhile, this is part of the concession speech tuesday night from congressmember schiff's opponent katie porter, who slammed schiff's spending during the primary. >> our opponent through everything come every trick, millions of dollars every trick in the playbook to knock us off our feet. we are standing 3-1 into be spending an of billionaires who spent millions peddling lies in

our opponent spending more to boost the republican and promoting his own campaign. amy: also on tuesday night, protesters chanting "ceasefire now" interrupted schiff's victory speech. >> my incredible family -- amy: for more we go to los angeles to speak with david dayen, executive editor of the american prospect. his latest piece is "the intra-democratic battles kick off in california: millionaire self-funders, dirty-trick tactics, pro-israel and crypto money everywhere. the ideological sparring within the party takes a back seat to campaign shenanigans." david, welcome back to democracy now! for people who don't even understand what happened in california senate primary, that it is an open primary, if you can explain how the winter adam

schiff, the congressmember, helped to propel garvey, republican, to be his opponent over his democratic colleague barbara lee and katie porter. >> in california, everyone whether you are a democrat or republican or whoever, gets the same ballot with all the same candidates on it. and the top two, regardless of party, advanced to the general election. because of the size of california, many and name recognition are big factors. what we have seen in a lot of races since this has been put in place is that the front runner will try to pick their opponent. and in california, a very blue state, if the front runner is a democrat and they can a republic for the general election and in a statewide race they are almost guaranteed to win that general

election pretty easily and not have to exert too much effort. so schiff made a conservative -- concerted effort to elevate steve garvey. steve garvey did not run a single advertisement on his behalf. he did not campaign very much. adam schiff spent upwards of $40 million in terms of his total ad soppend. 60% mentioned steve garvey or were entirely about steve garvey, including playing ads on fox news saying steve garvey is too conservative for california he voted for trump, too conservative. the idea was to consolidate the republican vote in california and use that to force garvey into the top two, thereby boxing out schiff's rivals katie porter and barbara lee.

it was quite successful. juan: david, california is also important in terms of the results of house races for potential control of the house of representatives. what did you see happening in the races for some of the congressional seats there? >> here we have interesting results. the one race i would point to is california's 47th district. this is katie porter's seat she vacated to run for senate. there were two top democratic candidates and one republican. it turned into a proxy fight involving aipac. aipac, the american is republic affairs committee, their super pacs spent close to $5 million in negative ads against a state senator in that district.

supported joanna weiss, an attorney and first-time candidate down there. despite the onslaught, which is a really large amount of money for primary race, it looks like min is going to reach the top two, defying that almost $5 million in aipac spending. he is currently up by about 7000 votes on weiss in second place. it looks like min will advance. you know aipac is going to spend something around, according to reports, $100 million in primary races throughout the country this year. and the fact their first main race they come up short, i don't know -- every race is different

and min was an elected official. he had won in that district before. but this is a pretty bad result for aipac in their very first attempt to influence the democratic party primary. juan: i also wanted to ask you about alabama. there was a significant redistricting battle in alabama, second congressional district, nearly two dozen candidates. how did this primary differ from previous elections in alabama? >> so because of a supreme court ruling they added this second plurality black district in alabama. before this point, there's only one democratic member of congress in alabama. this was the second district and its bond a free-for-all, opened up people who live 200 miles away from the district were running in this race because it was a rare democratic-leaning

seat in alabama. what happened is that was going to be a runoff in april between the top two candidates because nobody reached a majority. one of them is a guy who is the son of a state legislator down there who was boosted by a good deal of support from the crypto industry, got millions of dollars in ads on his behalf from a crypto super pac. i should mention in california, in addition to the spending by schiff elevating steve garvey, katie porter subjected to million dollars of negative ads also by the crypto super pac and the combination of that, the elevation of garvey from second-place to boxer out, and this heavy negative spending --

practically all of the ads i saw in the run-up to the election were negative ads against porter or these ads against garvey that were kind of too clever. i think the crypto industry we thought after sam bankman-fried was disgraced and convicted that he was the main funder of crypto super pac ads in 2022, you. that would die down. no, there are other crypto millionaires who are spending lots of money to get their favorite candidates into congress. amy: i wanted to play a clip of the now north carolina republican gubernatorial primary winner mark robinson winning the gubernatorial primary. msnbc describing him as a holocaust denying gay bashing extreme antiabortion radical. human rights campaign saying he

is one of the most radical anti-lgbtq maga politicians on the ballot for making comments like this one from 2021. >> the transgender movement in this country -- there is a movement in this country that is demonic and is full of the spirit of antichrist. it is the transgender movement. these same people are going to tell me, you need to believe in global warming and then they tell me, follow the signs. follow the signs. you don't even know what gender you are. amy: david dayen, trump praised mark robinson saying, "i think you are martin luther king times two." the significance of this primary victory for him? >> well, we have seen all of the country in past elections republicans nominate very extreme figures that end up

hurting not just their own candidacies, but the candidacies of other republicans in these races. we saw it in arizona last election with blake masters, very extreme senate candidate, and kari lake, the gubernatorial candidate, both of whom lost. we saw it in pennsylvania with josh shapiro had a very large group victory against an extreme candidate. what tends to happen is when republicans nominate these real far right candidate, their rhetoric, their comments get elevated and other republicans have to answer for them. and i think almost certainly, we are going to see that with mark robinson. he is going to be one of the more famous republicans over the next several months relative to donald trump, of course. and i think a lot of republican

candidates all over the country are going to have to answer for the comments of mark robinson. amy: and the significance of senator kyrsten sinema saying she will not be running? she had been a democrat, became an independent. saying this among any things for cursing on the senate of the floor she then voted down an increase in the minimum wage? >> i think it is quite significant. obviously, look like there was going to be a three-way race. sinema had left the democratic party and became independent this year. so it looks like there was going to be a race between her, ruben gallego, kari lake. in that three-way race, it looked like leg had a bit of an edge just because she had two people on the centerleft side of the spectrum.

now it will be head-to-head between gallego and lake and i think gallego has a bit of a better shot. and for sinema, i guess the private equity job came through and she is going to move on. juan: i went to ask a couple of questions about the presidential vote totals in the primaries. one is the significant numbers among committee votes in minnesota and a few other states on the democratic side, but also the turnout. i have not looked at all of the states yet, but it seems to me there was far more turnout among republicans than there was among democrats in several major states. does that suggest, obviously, the question of enthusiasm among both republicans and democrats as we go through this primary season? >> i don't think so.

there really was no race on the democratic side. joe biden is an incumbent. you had token opposition, people like dean phillips who were running, but that race is largely over. it is kind of true -- the republican race is largely over but you had two major candidates between trump and nikki haley. so i think there was more interest in turning out. of course nikki haley received -- she won in vermont and received significant vote totals in other states, so the enthusiasm may have been coming from nikki haley's side of the spectrum to get out and try to vote. but of us, trump has kind of been the de facto nominee and probably the real nominee if nikki haley suspends her

campaign today. i think voters have not quite tuned in yet and they don't quite know yet there's going to be a rematch of 2020. whether that is something they want or not, it is clearly going to happen. but i would not read a whole lot into the turnouts at this point. juan: uncommitted? >> yeah, quite a phenomenon. these particular uncommitted campaigns in minnesota and north carolina and massachusetts really sprouted up in a week in the wake of the michigan "uncommitted" vote which had a little bit of money and a little bit of campaign for several weeks. the fact 19% of the votes in minnesota is going "uncommitted" shows for those, that small section of the electorate that is showing that in these

primaries on the democratic side , a nontrivial amount of those people are really agitated by the war in gaza and want to see the administration change course on what they are calling for. the administration has slightly shifted its rhetoric around a ceasefire, that really is asking for the same temporary pause in fighting and return of hostages they have always asked for. and so clearly, there is continued discontent among a slice of the electorate which could be, you know, a major impact in november if they don't see results. amy: the significance of the -- one of the richest men in the world elon musk meeting with biden at mar-a-lago this weekend could pay off, what, all of his campaign debts, has referred to the biden administration's

immigration policies as a mounting to treason? he met with trump, sorry. >> obviously, the factor there would be he writes a big check, elon. he certainly has gotten more and more interested in politics. he tried to influence the d.a.'s race in austin, texas, where he lives, and failed spectacularly yesterday. mr. garza come the d.a. won pretty convincingly in austin. if he writes a $30 million, $50 million check to donald trump, obviously, there would be significant repercussions from that. amy: david dayen, thank you for being with this executive editor , of the american prospect. when we come back, as donald trump solidifies his lead, supreme court ruled monday he

can't be barred from the ballot under the insurrection clause of the 14th amendment. stay with us. ♪ [music break] amy: "colorado" by milky chance. this is democracy now!,

democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. the u.s. supreme court ruled on monday that states do not have the authority to remove donald trump from the ballot under the insurrection clause of the 14th amendment, which was written to prevent civil war confederates from returning to government. in the majority opinion, justices wrote -- "states have no power under the constitution to enforce section 3 with respect to federal offices, especially the presidency." section 3 of the 14th amendment has never been used against a presidential candidate, and it's only been deployed eight times since the 1860's. trump responded by thanking the supreme court. pres. trump: i what so start by thanking the supreme court for its unanimous decision today. it was a very important decision. very well-crafted. i think it will go a long way toward bringing our country together, which our country needs. essentially, could not take somebody out of a race because in opponent would like it to

happen that way. amy: the court's three liberal justices issued a concurring opinion warning that the majority ruling "attempts to insulate all alleged insurrectionists from future challenges to their holding federal office." for more, we are joined by mark joseph stern, senior writer at slate covering courts and the law. his latest piece is headlined "the supreme court's 'unanimou'' trump ballot ruling is actually a 54 disaster." he joins us from washington, d.c. welcome to democracy now! why is it a disaster? your take on this is different from many others. >> this is a decision that is unanimous in name only. if you look at the separate opinions in the case, you can see easily the court split 5-4 on one of the biggest questions, which is how can the insurrection clause actually be enforced against candidates who have rebelled against the united states government?

five conservative justice reached out and grasped at this bigger question and decided only congress and congress alone can't enforce section 3 against federal candidates -- can enforce section 3 against federal candidates. absent congressional legislation enforcing this clause, it just can't be done. the four women on the court did not agree with that proposition and faulted the majority for going way too far in deciding this case. each of them pointed out this good have been done on far narrower grounds. the court could have unanimously decided states cannot unilaterally take them off the ballot under section 3 of the 14th amendment. but instead the majority would further and as the three liberals pointed out in their opinion, with the majority has effectively done is insulate all

oath breaking insurrectionists from ever being disqualified from the ballot in the future. juan: how would you characterize the differences between the three liberal women justices on the court and just as amy coney barrett? >> three liberal justices were pretty outraged by what majority did and included some rather indignant rhetoric. i think entirely appropriate, certainly in line with the court's usual operations. fulton the majority for reaching out and going way over the line and answering a question that did not need to be answered. also doing so quite an ambiguous way. it leaves a lot of questions over for the future. their opinion read like a dissent. i happened to sort of look under

the hood of this file and looked at the metadata. the supreme court scrubbed the metadata. there was an indication this was styled as a dissenting opinion and at some point late in the process it was changed to a concurrent. justice amy coney barrett agreed the liberals that the majority would too far, but she decided to engage in some tone policing. she said there is strident see in the liberals opinion. this is the time to turn the national temperature down, not up. so i'm not going to join them and i am not going to elaborate any further on my own disagreements because i don't want to inflame the nation anymore than it already is in a presidential election year. so really a difference in style. juan: in terms of the implications of this decision for those anti-trump americans who are looking for the legal system, either through this kind

of a challenge or to the criminal cases against donald trump, to be able to prevent him from actually running or winning a term as president -- what is your sense about that? >> i tend to agree with the three liberal justices that what majority did here was effectively for those in the avenue of disqualification for donald trump. or any other person who engaged in january 6 and then rest for federal office or seeks an appointment of federal office. i think that pathway is close. the reason why is i don't think anyone seriously thinks congress is going to now enact some kind of special detailed legislation that creates rules and procedures and standards for disqualifying donald trump and other insurrectionists from the ballot. jamie raskin from maryland is working on it. there is some movement. no one thinks it is going to clear 60 votes in the senate.

turning to the criminal justice system, it is frankly unclear whether the majority thinks donald trump can even be disqualified by the courts. even if he is found to have engaged in in insurrection. there's a statute that dates back to the 1860's that says if you're criminally convicted of insurrection, or disqualified from office. that seems like it might meet the majority standard with the majority does not say whether it actually cuts the mustard and leaves it an open question, not one particularly relevant now because for better or worse, special jacks -- special counsel jack smith did not prosecute donald smith under that statute frank agent in insurrection. jack smith made the conscious effort not to pursue that path. i just do not see how trump could possibly be disqualified from this or any future amy: election. amy:mark joseph stern, i don't

know if you can answer this, but on the issue of courts rulings and him having to pay up, something like $600 million now from dealing with the sexual assault level case of e. jean carroll, over $80 million, over $450 million in that civil case brought by the attorney general james. what is to stop trump from going to get foreign money like his son-in-law jared kushner dead, getting $2 billion from the saudi sovereign fund, going to nbs or whoever to say he needs money? >> i think the answer is the new york court system has shown more integrity in prosecuting and dealing with trump's various civil and criminal charges and

the federal system. we have seen new york judge is trying really hard to uphold and apply the law and there are restrictions in new york on who can assist in helping to post bond for defendants but restrictions often don't come into play. this law under which trump was charged civilly that he now owes $450 million under is not recurrently used -- we are in sort of uncharted waters here. i don't want to say definitively whether the courts would allow him to post a bond with foreign money. what i will say is trump has a very sprawling financial network that he repeatedly has used to try to launder money, including foreign money, and sort of cleanse the dirtiness of it and then use it for his own ends. i could very much see him doing that here. i have to say i think it is very ironic that as republicans on the hill are scrambling to try to accuse president biden of having some kind of or in

connection to his money -- foreign connection to his money come all of these unproved allegations, we know donald trump's own son-in-law jared kushner is obtaining dirty foreign money and there's a very real possibility who could help to funnel some of that money up to his father to help him get out -- amy: father-in-law. >> father-in-law, thank you, to get out of legal trouble. amy: president trump suggest that with the hungarian prime minister page or bond. i want to thank you for being with us. mark joseph stern, senior writer at slate covering courts and the law. we will into your latest piece "the supreme court's 'unanimou'' trump ballot ruling is actually a 54 disaster." coming up, we go to cairo to speak with a palestinian novelist and activist susan abulhawa. she was just in gaza. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez.

hey u.n. -- a u.n. convoy of food trucks trying to bring 200 tons of food into northern gaza was turned back by the israeli military today. a convoy of 14 trucks waited for three hours at the wadi gaza checkpoint in central gaza before it was turned away by the israeli military and was later stopped by a "large crowd of desperate people who looted the food" according to the world food program. this comes as israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire on palestinians seeking to get aid in northern gaza, killing at least 119 people in the most deadly attack on february 29. hunger has reached catastrophic levels in gaza. the palestinian health ministry said today that the death toll from malnutrition and dehydration has risen to 18, adding -- "the famine is deepening and will claim thousands of lives if the aggression is not halted and humanitarian and medical aid is not immediately brought in." children, pregnant women, and those with chronic illnesses are

the most vulnerable. meanwhile, the israeli bombardment continues with shelling and airstrikes today in cities across the gaza strip, including in rafah, khan yunis, deir el-balah, and elsewhere. at least 30,700 palestinians have been killed and over 72,000 wounded in gaza over the past five months, and nearly the entire population has been displaced from their homes. for more we go to cairo, egypt, where we are joined by susan abulhawa, a palestinian novelist, poet, and activist. author of several books and is best known for her debut novel "mornings in jenin," an international bestseller translated into 32 languages and considered a classic in palestinian literature. she's the founder and co-director of playgrounds for palestine, a children's organization, and the executive director of palestine writes literature festival. she just returned from gaza after spending two weeks there

and is now in cairo. susan, welcome to democracy now! if you can talk about what you saw. you have written some are eating stray cats and dogs which are themselves starving and sometimes feeding on human remains that littered streets where israeli snipers pick up people who dare to venture within the side of their scopes. the old and weak have already died of hunger and thirst. describe your trip. >> that part of the essay is in the northern region where nobody really is allowed to go. trying to venture into the north is a suicide mission. there are tanks and snipers positioned and anyone trying to get there is basically killed. as you just mentioned, aid

trucks are not getting in either. they are intentionally stopped. it is an intentional starvation, basically. i was primarily in the south in rafah. i was able to go to khan younis and a few other places in the middle region, but that became increasingly more dangerous. i want to say that the reality on the ground is infinitely worse than the worst videos and photos that we are seeing in the west. there is a, you know, beyond people being buried alive en masse in their homes, their bodies being shredded to pieces. these kinds of videos and images that people are seeing.

beyond that, there is this daily massive degradation of life. it is a total denigration of a whole society that was once high functioning and proud and has basically been reduced to the most primal of ambition. being able to get enough water for the day or flour debate bread. this is even in rafah. the people in rafah will tell you they feel privileged because they are not starving to death while their families in the north, the ones they can reach because israel has basically cut off 99% of communication. what remains are basically communications by people who have set up some ingenious ways to keep internet in the north. but most people in the north

have no idea what is happening as a matter of fact, at one point, i'm sure you all know a woman on facebook explained to me she often goes up to the border between khan younis and the middle area in the north where you can't go beyond and she explained to me that an aide truck that sort of pushed its way through but was eventually fired on, people came up and ran up thinking the war was over and people were returning to the north. so most people in the north are in total darkness and hunger and really have no way of communicating, no way of figuring out where to get food. what we are hearing on the ground is surreal.

what i witnessed personally in rafah and in some of the middle areas is incomprehensible. i will call it a holocaust, and i don't use that word lightly. but it is absolutely that. juan: susan -- >> the stories i heard from people are -- sorry, go ahead. juan: i wanted to ask you, you write in your article at some point the indignity of filth is an escapable. at some point, you just wait for death even as you wait for ceasefire. but people don't know what they will do after a ceasefire. could you talk about that? even if there is a ceasefire, the level of destruction that the people face now in terms of being able to rebuild their country? >> that is how much people have

been reduced. this feeling of their hope at this point is for the bombs to stop. everybody wants to go back. they talk about pitching a tent on their homes and figuring things out. but a lot of people are trying to leave. there is a brain drain, basically. those who can afford it, those who can get jobs elsewhere, who have professional skills are trying to leave. they have children. all these schools have been destroyed. college students have nowhere to go. what is happening to people isn't just this death and dismemberment and hunger, it is a total denigration of their personhood, either whole society. there are no universities left.

israel intentionally bombed schools and blew them up, presumably to ensure that rebuilding could not take place. that reestablishing society cannot take place without the infrastructure of education, of health care, and, basically, foundational structures for buildings. amy: susan, i want to follow-up on what you said about a holocaust. you also used the term "genocide." you say, "genocide is not just mass murder, it is intentional erasure." can you take that from theire? >> exactly. like i said, one of the things that israel has been keen to do in gaza is to erase remnants of

people's lives. so you have on an individual level, homes complete with memories and photos and all the things of living. i'm sure you know palestinians typically live in multigenerational homes. we are not a mobile society. so these homes have several generations of the same family completely wiped out. on a societal level, israel has targeted places of worship -- mosques, aged churches, ancient mosques. they have targeted the museums, cultural centers. any place -- libraries. any place that has records of people's lives come has remnants and traces of their roots in the land have been intentionally wiped away.

it is really frustrating for us to read western media talk about israel is targeting hamas and whatnot. when you're on the ground, you understand this has always been about displacing palestinians, taking their place, and wiping them off the map. that has been israel's stated goal. in this instance and before, 1948. it has always been their aim to destroy us, remove us, kill us, and take our place. and that is what is happening now in gaza. it is what happened in 1948, 1967. and every new nakba is greater than the one before and here we have arrived at a moment of genocide and holocaust because the world has allowed israel to act with such verity

--barbarity with impunity. juan: you mentioned the world reaction will stop where people have died in gaza in less than five months then civilians have died in ukraine in over two years, the war in ukraine and ukraine is 40 times the population of gaza. i am wondering your sense of the failure, especially of the western nations, of europe and the united states to act? >> the western world has lost any semblance of moral authority, if they ever had any. i think maybe there was an illusion of moral authority previously, but i think -- what we have always known is that we are dealing with genocidal

colonizers. but i think that is more apparent to the rest of the world at this hour. i think what is also happening is americans are coming to understand increasingly, though not nearly enough, that they are -- amy: we're going to take at that issue in