To disavow an endorsement from david duke. Leader we will speak with the nation writer mychal denzel smith about his these trumps racism didnt scare me. Now it does. And with zaid jilani, whose latest report neoconservatives deare war donald trump. En presint clintons labor secretary robert reich has officially endorsed Bernie Sanders for president. I think the Biggest Issue in this campaign is the increasing concentration of income and wealth and political power, which goes with income or wealth, at the very top which is undermining our democracy and making a very difficult for us to get anything done, whether youre talking about Climate Change or helping the poor or doing anything in this country. Bernie sanders is leading a movement to change that. Amy robert reich will join us from california. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Super tuesday has arrived. It is one of the most important days of voting in primaries and caucuses in the 2016 president ial campaign. Republicans and democrats each go to the polls in 11 states. About a quarter of all delegates are at stake. The five republican president ial candidates will compete in contests in alabama, alaska, arkansas, georgia, massachusetts, minnesota, oklahoma, tennessee, texas, virginia, and vermont. Democratic voters will decide between their two candidates in similar states, except alaska, and also in colorado and american somoa. And american samoa. Recent polls show billionaire trump could win at least eight of the 11 states. On the campaign trail, florida senator marco rubio criticized trumps remarks refusing to disavow backing from former kkk member david duke. He is unelectable now. He refused to criticize the ku klux klan. He is been given for interviews. This morning on today, he blamed it on a bad earpiece, that he could not hear the question. I dont careow bad t earpies, ku kl klan cos through pretty clearly. Am in geora, a gro of out 30 bck valdoa state udents s they we ejected om a dond trump lly mond nighby a sect servicagent who saidrump ask for theto be roved. E studen had beestanding silent at the p of the bleacher enters outside, they said they just wanted to watch the rally. I think we got kicked out because we are a group of black people. I guess what is going on in america, they are afraid were going to Say Something or do some thing that we just wanted to watch the rally. To get kicked out because we are group of black people is frigid us. How racist our own school is that we cannot even go to our own school. Amy university, a white only campus until 1963. Earlier in the day at a Campaign Rally in virginia, trump was disrupted by protesters, including some from the black lives matter movement. Trump mocked the demonstrators, asking one of them are you from mexico . Here, please. T of get them out. Get th out. Are you from mexico . Are you from mexico . Are you from mexico . Amy Time Magazine photographer at the rally said secret Service Agent grabbed him by the neck and shoved him to the ground in an incident that was caught on video. On the democratic side following her commanding win in South Carolina, Hillary Clinton now leads Bernie Sanders in six of 11 states voting today. Alabama, arkansas, georgia, tennessee, texas koran virginia. In norfolk, virginia, clinton called for making america whole again. I personally believe america is and always has been great. Do together is make america whole again. Together,re working we are focused on making progress together. Where we talk about issues, not insult. Amy super tuesday comes as the state department has finished releasing emails from the private server clinton used while using whilst was secretary of state. Bernie sanders has an overwhelming lead over clinton in his home state of vermont. Speaking known, massachusetts, sanders drew attention to mass incarceration. There is no rational reason why a blackmail baby born today has a one in four chance of ending up in jail. That is a disgrace. And together, we are going to bring justice to a broken criminal justice system. Amy we will have more on super tuesday after the headlines. In the latest expansion of the u. S. Led campaign in iraq and syria, the pentagon has disclosed the United States is waging new forms of cyberattacks against isil as well as secret Commando Missions on the ground. Speaking at a pentagon news conference, defense secretary ash carter said u. S. Led forces would increase their support for iraqi troops attempting to retake the city of mosul. Because of our strategy and our determination to accelerate our campaign, momentum is now on our side and not on isils. In partners on the ground iraq have retaken ramadi and are making gains in anbar, while at the same time we are making operationally significant strides in our campaign to dismantle isil in syria. Amy a saudi official has told Reuters News Agency defense ministers from the u. S. Led Coalition Fighting isil have discussed the possibility of a ground incursion in syria. Such a move would mark a major escalation in the u. S. Led campaign which has so far , involved airstrikes and arming syrian rebels. State Department Spokesperson john kirby said the United States would welcome the possibility of a saudi ground force in syria but theres a lot of homework that needs to be done. Meanwhile, refugees fleeing iraq, syria, and other countries are facing restrictions that borders in europe. On the greekmacedonian border, refugees stormed a border fence, pulling away barbed wire as Macedonian Police fired tear gas into the crowd. Thousands of refugees, many of them from iraq and syria, have been stranded in northern greece as countries further along their migration route have heavily restricted passage. Abdullah, from the syrian city of aleppo, is among those stranded. I am suffering. Im slowly dying here. Amy residents of frances largest refugee camp have staged a sitin, refusing to leave after riot police and work crews closed in to demolish their makeshift shelters and evict up to 3000 people. Riot police fired tear gas on protesting refugees monday and overnight, and a number of tents were set ablaze. The camp is called the jungle. French authorities want the refugees moved to shipping containers at the site, where aid groups say there is not enough space or dispersed Centers Across france. In indiana, a federal judge has blocked republican governor mike pences order blocking state agencies from helping Syrian Refugees to resettle in the state. Aid groups in indiana have continued their efforts to resettle refugees, despite indianas attempt to withhold funding earmarked for the purpose. More than two dozen states have taken action to block Refugee Resettlement programs. U. S. District judge Tanya Walton Pratt ruled monday indianas order clearly discriminates against refugees. Argentina has reached an agreement to pay u. S. Hedge funds that have sought for 14 years to profit off the countrys debt. The hedge funds bought up argentinas debt for bargain prices after its financial crisis, then demanded full repayment. Former argentine president Cristina Fernandez de kirchner had refused to pay the firms, calling them vulture funds. But under the new rightwing president mauricio macri, argentina has agreed to pay 4. 65 billion to four hedge funds, including elliott management, run by billionaire paul singer. The deal would see the hedge funds take about 75 of what they demand up from argentina. That is several times more than what they actually paid for the debt. In a victory for privacy advocates, a federal judge has rejected an fbi request to force apple to unlock a drug dealers iphone. Mondays ruling came hours before apple and the Obama Administration face off in a congressional hearing today over apples refusal to help the fbi break into the iphone of one of the San Bernardino massacre suspects. That is in a separate case. Justice Clarence Thomas has broken a decadelong silence during arguments at the supreme court. Thomas asked a series of questions in apparent defense of gun rights during a case on Domestic Violence and gun control. The remarks monday came exactly years a one weeafter stice thas last queson d just or two weeks after e death justicentonin alia, whwas knowfor dominati the supme court arments. This comes as the urt is s to hear guments wednesday on the most important abortion rights case in more than 20 years. Alabama has banned cities and towns from raising their minimum wage. The legislation, signed by Governor Robert Bentley late last week, blocks an ordinance passed by the city of birmingham to raise the citys minimum wage to 10. 10 an hour. Alabama abides by the federal minimum wage of 7. 25 an hour, just over 15,000 a year for a fulltime worker. In salt lake city, utah, hundreds took to the streets demanding answers after police shot and critically injured a 17yearold somali refugee. The teen, abdi mohamed, was shot twice in the torso. Police say he and another person attacked someone with metal sticks and refused calls to drop them. The victim of the alleged beating did not require medical care. Police have so far refused to release footage from the officers body cameras. Meanwhile in raleigh, north carolina, a Police Officer shot and killed an African American man while he was trying to flee arrest. A witness told local news the officer opened fire after he fell trying to follow the suspect as he fled over a fence. The man has been identified as akiel denkins, a father of two. Police say a gun was found but have not said if it was denkin gun or if he threatened the officer. And in virginia, an Army Staff Sergeant has been arraigned for killing his wife and a Police Officer who responded to the scene. Ronald hamilton admitted killing his wife, crystal, and then opening fire on police, killing 28yearold Prince William county officer ashley guindon. It was guindons first day on the job. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Super tuesday has arrived. It is the biggest primary day in the president ial race. Republicans and democrats each go to the polls in 11 states. About a quarter of all delegates are at stake. The five republican president ial candidates will compete in contests in alabama, alaska, arkansas, georgia, massachusetts, minnesota, oklahoma, tennessee, texas, virginia, and vermont. Democratic voters will decide between their two candidates in similar states, except alaska, but also in colorado and american samoa. Recent polls show billionaire donald trump could win as many as eight of the 11 states. Trump has won three out of the four caucuses and primaries to date. His lead heading into todays contests comes as his campaign is under increasing fire after he refused to disavow an endorsement from david duke, a prominent white supremacist and former kkk leader. This is donald trump, speaking sunday in an interview with cnns jake tapper. Just so you understand, i dont know anything about david duke, ok . I dont know what youre even talking about with White Supremacy are white supremacists. I dont know. I dont know, did he endorse me or what is going on . I know nothing about david duke. I know nothing about white supremacist. Youre asking a question im supposed we talking about people that i know nothing about. I guess the question from the Antidefamation League is, even if you dont know about their endorsement, there are these groups and individuals endorsing you, would you just say unequivocally, you condemn them and you dont want their support . Well, i have to look at the group. I dont know what group youre talking about. You would not want to condemn a group i know nothing about. I have to look. If you would send me a list of the groups, i will do research on them and certainly, i would disavow if i thought there was something wrong. The ku klux klan . Give me a list of the groups and i will let you know. Im just talking about david duke in the ku klux klan here, but. Honestly, i dont know david duke. I dont believe ive ever met him. Amy trump posted a video on twitter of himself disavowing david duke. He told the today show his refusal to disavow duke on a very bad earpiece. That is what he blamed it on. Trumps comments have prompted several rounds of protests during his recent rallies. On monday, he reportedly ordered secret Service Agents to remove about 30 black students from his rally in georgia who were quietly standing on the bleachers. They were told to leave the gop frontrunners event. At another rally on monday in virginia, black students were removed after they chanted no more hate. No more hate. Lets be equal, lets be great. As the protesters were being ejected, trump complained they had interrupted him, and asked, are you from mexico . Meanwhile, Trumps Campaign has also come under fire from highlevel military officials, including former cia director michael hayden, who recently told hbos bill maher that if trump were elected president , its possible u. S. Military officials would refuse to follow his orders. Trump has pledged to reinstate forms of torture, including water boarding, and other practices he said were so much worse. He has also repeatedly called for killing the family members of terrorists a practice that violates the geneva conventions. Well, to discuss Trumps Campaign, were joined by two guests. Here in new york, we are joined by mychal denzel smith is a writer for the nation whose latest piece is, trumps racism didnt scare me. Now it does. And zaid jilani joins us from washington, Staff Reporter at the intercept. His new article is, neoconservatives declare war on donald trump. We welcome you both to democracy now so you say trumps racism didnt scare you, now it does. What has changed for you . He started to be a viable candidate for the presidency. At first, we all sort of wrote him off as a sideshow, as a distraction to who was going to be the actual republican nominee , that he was just a form of entertainment and his hubris was allowing him to stay in this race. But the longer this has gone on in the more support he has garnered and the more further that he is excited and aroused and sort of the aggrieved white thespace, he has become front runner. As it shakes out right now, is a likely nominee, given that he has already won three states and looking to sweep or to get a lot of wins today on super tuesday. It is going to be likely to be trump. What bothers me about that, you could write these things off , asres he speh, aile diusting rtoric tt he suppord, but now he is going to be in a position where he could very well be the person to exercise that sort of hate speech and rhetoric with institutional power backing him. Amy i want to go for a second to another of the controversies. There are many. We were just talking about david duke in the kkk, whether or not he disavowed their support for him. Donald trump also declined to distance himself from a Benito Mussolini quote he had retweeted. On sunday, chuck todd of nbcs meet the press questioned trump about the tweet. Right now on twitter, there is a trending retweet of yours, fromeach we did someone 2016, a mussolini quote, but you did not know it was mussolini when you reach we did it. Better to live one day as a lion than 100 days as a sheep. You reach we did that famous mussolini quote. Did you know it was mussolini . Its ok to know was mussolini. Mussolinis mussolini. It is a very good quote. It is a very interesting quote. I know who said it. But what difference does it make whether it is mussolini or somebody else . It is an interesting quote. It is probably why do you want to be associated people can talk about it. Do you want to be associated with a fascist . Know, i want to be associated with interesting quotes. Amy that was donald trump defending the retreating of Benito Mussolini. Mychal denzel smith . This speaks to the ignorance that donald trump does represent, a man of unremarkable intelligence. He does not know that is a muslim and does not care. Mussolini quote and does not care. He does not care about the idea of truth or consistency or anything. It appeals to people. It is winning over an electric come of turning out people who identify with that. It is troubling to me that we have the sort of regression in our politics that donald trump can probably be ignorant and still be the republican front runner. Klanthis discussion of the and david duke, it has become runofthemill. But talk about what this group is, the klan and david duke and what they represent. The kkk is a terrorist organization. The Domestic Terrorist Organization that has existed in the United States since the end of slavery. They have terrorized like bodies throughout their existence. That was our whole purpose. At the onset of reconstruction them a their formation was to ensure that the rights that black people were an hour being the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendment and the Civil Rights Act at that time, or to ensure that White Supremacy reigned supreme, particularly in the Southern States where black people were making great strides. That is been the history. It is been a history of lynching and cross burning and violent intimidation at the polls. Then you have the sort of modern kkk with david duke who is trying to make the Political Force and has run for office and until trump, he was the most nakedly racist candidate for office that we had seen for some time. And now trump has sort of reinvigorated that. 2000, trump said in the New York Times was declining to run for president because now includes a klansman mr. Duke. This is not cap it was to keep. 1927 report published in about roles in new york between Italian Fascist and the ku klux klan mentions the arrest of fred trump, Donald Trumps father. He has his own connection to the klan. He can disavow it in sort of that moment because there was politically feasible for them to do it then, but now he has aroused the support of the people that do support david duke and believe in the message of the ku klux klan. He cannot do it anymore as he intends to win it has that is his base, that is who he has turned out to the polls, and that is a frightening thing to think that the republican front runner is running a racist campaign and winning. Amy were going to go to break and come back to the discussion and be joined by zaid jilani of the intercept. This is [captioning made possible by democracy now ] this is democracy now back in a minute. [music break] am this isemocracyow , decracynowrg, the r and ace report. Im amy goman. This ithe biggt primar caucusay of th yea of this presidenal cpaign. Demoats and publicaneach wi vote in1 stes decrats will also vo in amican some oh. We talkingbout dondrump in ts presidtial ection. St yea he facecriticis after town halin new mpshire en durina q a one of his sportertood up d sa, presidt obama a musl, and noeven an amerin and asked when the United States could get rid of muslims. Ok, i like this guy. I am from white plains. In thisa problem country, it is called muslims. We know our current president is one. You know he is not even an american. We need the question. But anyway, we have training were th want to kill us. That is questio when cawe get d of the we going tbe loong at lot odifferenthings. A lot opeople a saying at and saying that bad things are happening out there. Were going to be looking at that and plenty of other things. Amy we are joined by mychal denzel smith of the nation and is what we are bringing into the conversation zaid jilani, a Staff Reporter at the intercept whose new piece is headlined neoconservatives declare war on , donald trump. We welcome you to democracy now , talk about who you are referring to and what it means to declare war on trump. There is definitely a faction of the Republican Party who is foreignpolicyhy hostage for 15 to 20 years at least. Were not talking about the realist that we are in charge under the george h. W. Bush administration or the reagan administration. Instead, were talking about folks that came in under george w. Bush, elliott abrams, dick cheney, Donald Rumsfelds of the world. These folks i dont trust from. Trump denounced the iraq war. Yet he won the primary resoundingly. At another point, he declared the United States should be neutral in the israelipalestinian conflict. Which would go with the old line republicans but nothing the new republicans. He was denounced angrily i rubio and cruz. It is a nothing on his electability. It is not surprising we see a lot of mainline neocons like robert kagan, max boot, we saw the Emergency Committee for israel start running ads against donald trump and a lot of big neocon funders like paul singer was mentioned in your intro piece, a lot of them are pouring money to marco rubios campaign to attack donald trump. It is really not doing that much. It raises the question, the Republican Voters really want a really angry bellicose militaristic foreignpolicy . As pery as extreme trade . The answer is, it may not be. It may be that donald trump on this one issue happens to be more moderate than the rest of the elected officials and his party in the voters are rewarding that. Amy it was interesting in South Carolina, state that really adores george w. Bush and stumped for his brother jeb bush, who was in the South Carolina race, when annette Republican Debate in greenville last month, trump denounced the iraq war calling it a big fat mistake. The war in iraq was a bit fact mistake the fat mistake. You can take it anyway you want. It took jeb bush if your member the beginning of his announcement when he ran for president , it took him five days. It was a mistake, it wasnt a mistake. It took him five days before his people told him what to say. And he ultimately said, it was a mistake. The war in iraq, we spent 2 trillion, thousands of lives, we dont even have it. Iran has taken over iraq the second Largest Oil Reserves in the world. Obviously, it was a mistake. George bush made a mistake. We can make mistakes. At that was a beauty. We should have never been in iraq. We have destabilized the middle east. Which allegesn ad trump supports dictators. It started airing this weekend. The world would be better off with Saddam Hussein and qaddafi in power . 100 . Maybe his the better than the people we should be backing. I digress it can be a positive force and ally. Whether you like Saddam Hussein or not, hes to kill terrorists. Amy that was an ad from the Emergency Committee for israel. Zaid jilani, what is the Emergency Committee for israel . Committee forcy israel was formed under the first term of the Obama Administration. Basically from neoconservatives, bill kristol is on their board. Theyre finding a secret, dark many group, a 501 c 4 group. Were some knowledge a number of proisrael folks are behind it. Basically, the group was formed to punish people debut with insufficiently proisrael. They went very aggressively after a representative walter jones who famously coined the fries andedom turned against the war. I think theyre going after trump are the same reason. They do not trust trump. Hey, everything israel does is perfect. Maybe he will threaten war with iran, intervene in syria. They do not trust them to do any of those things has he is talking a lot of ideas that right now are not outside the new conservative orthodoxy. Amy i want to turn to michael hayden, comments made about donald trump of the former nsa and cia director general michael hayden. He was speaking saturday on hbos belmar. I would be incredibly concerned if a President Trump governed in a way that was consistent with the language that candidate trump expressed during the campaign. Waterboarding in a whole lot more because they deserve it. Let me give you a punch line. If you were to order that once in government, the American Armed forces would refuse to act. That is quite a statement, sir. I thought the whole thing was, you have to follow orders. You are not committed. Youre not required. Youre not required to follow an awful an unlawful order. Amy zaid jilani, were you surprised by Michael Haydens comments . Lets be clear, the Bush Administration did order waterboarding and did a number of things that were illegal. The military and intelligence apparatus is did follow those orders. Perhaps it is a matter of trump is sort of more of noxious in his rhetoric, more of noxious in his personality, no doubt about that. Perhaps that is part of the reason hayden believes the apparatus would not obey the orders, but i think we should be clear, people are trying to pin a lot of things on trump that honestly have become a big part of the Republican Party over the past 15 or 20 years. We have lots of candidates who not categorically disavow waterboarding, including ted cruz. Amy actually, the New Hampshire debate will stop this is what donald trump had to say about waterboarding. You are in the middle east, we have people chopping the heads off christians. We have people chopping the heads off many other people. We have things that we of never seen before as a group were never seen before what is happening right now. The Medieval Times. We studied Medieval Times. Not since Medieval Times that people seem what is going on. I would bring back waterboarding, and i would bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding. Amy that was donald trump in an earlier debate zaid jilani. . Obviously, he cannot do that. Making are he is flatly illegal. It may be that he is trying to get these applause lines at before an audience that apparently does not understand that the United States cannot torture, both international and domestic laws against torture and particularly, waterboarding. Amy it did not stop president bush. We dont know what happens at black sites, so it does matter what a president s view is. I think that is the wider problem. Weve already had a president who basically disobeyed International Law and disavowed International Law on this issue. The question is, was a president that comes after obama, will they start utilizing waterboarding and other forms of torture . Ted to be marco rubio and cruz as well. There been a number of people in Republican Party who are flatly refused to disavow this practice. Amy i think most all of them did. Mychal denzel smith, how do you mesh what he is saying here in Foreign Policy with his views at home around the ku klux klan, around building a wall, around mexicans as rapists and murderers, around banning muslims from coming into the country . The idea that he is still appealing to an electorate even though he seems more moderate on based on they, mainstream republican ideology, is because he still appeals to that racist se. Hes hittinall of t right notes. Is talkg about waterbrding, but not just waterboarding, waterboarding specifically muslims, most cently rialized group will step banning muslims from entering into the country. Is sayi, he doenot si tooar outsi what mao rubior ted cruz present that rlm. Thproblem res trumps rhoric. Is thatt is so le and at it is reinvigorating the idea of racism as legitima politildeology that we should take seriously and it should be a part of our politics. It was going away from the southern strategy of Richard Nixon and lee atwater and Ronald Reagan and sort of the coded language, and now laying it all bear. Trump is thrown the veil off. Hes using the exact line which i think a lot of these republican candidates wish they could use, but because they en trained to be more savvy politicians, they have t been. It now tmp is here and saying all of the things that they wish they could have said for years. That is why the rise of the tea party was such a phenomenon, because they were saying, we dont want to hide this anymore. We would like to essentially be the people that we are, and that is racist. The frightening thing is, donald trump has opened up this space in which now we were having a conversation not just on the merits of the politics, but on the rhetoric and what he represents in terms of gressionor the uted stas. Amy were goi to ave it ere. I nt to thk you bo for beg with u mychal nzel smh, writesor the nion. S latestiece is adlined tmpracism dnt are me. Now it ds. And zaid jilani, who writes for the intercept, joining us from washington. We will link to yourees, nconservaves decle war on donald tmp. We turn the demrats. reoing to rno an enrsementhat migh surpre many continutodays show o sur tuesda one of e most biggest ys of thprimary raceas we tu now to e , decratic re betwee vermonsenator rnie sanrs and rmer sectary of ate hillarclinton. Folling her mmandingin in south rolina, inton no leads Bernie Sanders in 6 of the 11 states voting today alabama, arkansas, georgia, tennessee, texas, and virginia. Sanders, meanwhile, has an overwhelming lead in vermont. And four remaining states are up for grabs massachusetts, minnesota, oklahoma, colorado, as well as the territory american samoa. About 880 delegates are at stake in todays contests. Clinton has secured 91 regular delegates, and sanders has 65. But clinton vastly leads sanders in pledged support from super delegates the congressmen, senators, governors and other elected officials who are free to support either candidate, and who often represent the Democratic Party elite. According to the New York Times delegate tracker, clinton now has the support of 455 super delegates, while sanders has only 22 super delegates. Again, the superdelegates can flip at any point. Theyre not obligated to stick with the original endorsement. On friday, one of the former members of bill clintons cabinet eight headlines when he announced he is supporting Bernie Sanders. Robert reich is the former labor secretary and author of many books, mostly recently, saving capitalism for the many, not the few. Although secretary reich served as labor secretary under president bill clinton, he broke with his support for the clintons running clintons, writing this extraordinary concentration of income, wealth, and political power at the very top imperils all else. Robert reich, welcome back to democracy now it is good to have you with us. Talk about this official endorsement that may have taken many by surprise. I dont know why should take anybody by surprise. Ive been talking about increasing concentration of income and wealth and the political power that comes with increasingly concentrated income and wealth for many, many years. And the problem is that it is not getting better, it is getting worse unless we have a mobilization a Real Movement to get big money out of politics and to kind of deal with this imbalance in our economy, it is not going to be remedied on its own. That is why support Bernie Sanders. He is leading a movement to reverse what we have seen in terms of income and wealth at the top and also leading the same kind of movement it really is the same thing, to get big money out of politics. Quote want to turn to a of a letter that was released by a number of economists. I want to read from an open letter to senator sanders from four the former chairs of the council of economic advisers for president barack obama and bill clinton. Earlier this month, they wrote were concerned to see the sanders cap pain citing extreme claims ideal treatment about the effective senator sanders economic plan. Claims that cannot be supported but economic evidence. Friedman asserts your plan will have huge beneficial impact on growth rates, income and implanted that exceed even the most grandiose predictions by republicans about the impact of their tax cut proposals. As much as we wish it were so, no credible Economic Research supports Economic Impacts of these magnitudes, making such promises runs against our partys best traditions of evidencebased policymaking and undermines our reputation as the party of responsible arithmetic. These crimes undermine the credibility of the progressive economic agenda and make it that much more difficult to challenge the unrealistic claims made by republican candidates. Can you respond to what they have said . They are entitled to their opinion, amy, but i respectfully disagree. Bernie sanders is climbing, and professor jill freedman, an economist, backing him up, is climbing that he could, because of his proposals such as a singlepayer plan, get Economic Growth up to 5. 3 . That is not out of the historic dimension of what is possible. 5. 3 ,ly 1980s, we have almost 5. 4 Economic Growth. And also get unappointed down to 3. 9 or 3. 8 . Again, now of historic possibility. That is what was the approximate rate in the late 1990s. And the reason that Bernie Sanders is climbing these and the reason this is credible is because a singlepayer plan would have extraordinarily positive effects on the economy. We are now paying well, health cares about 18 of the entire economy. If we actually did move to the singlepayer plan, that would generate huge productivity increases that would free up resources in our economy and generate the possibilities for Economic Growth and also low employment of a sort that we see in that plans projections. Amy the people who wrote this, princeton of chicago, university of california , you are saying they are all wrong . Im saying i disagree with them. It is not just me. From the university of texas who was the executive director of the joint Economic Committee in congress that is the corresponding unit to the council of economic advisers agrees with Gerald Friedman and me that these productions are within projections are within the range, for exactly the reasons i gave you. When youre talking about a very large ambitious program, in this case a singlepayer program, you can get those kinds of very, very large and positively ambitious results. Amy in february, i interviewed the former governor of vermont for three terms from 1985 to 1991. She wrote the book the new feminist agenda. I asked her about her oped in the boston globe. It was headlined when Bernie Sanders ran against me in vermont. I agree with what he says in principle, but how do you make it a reality . How do we have an effective president of the United States . The word revolution is beautiful. I would like a revolution myself. It is in the title of my book about womens issues. But i think you have to say, who is going to make it happen . Who can have the temperament to be president . Who can have the networks . Who can be collegial . Research has shown that women you see it in the United States senate they work well with each other. They work across party lines. They do their homework. I have been involved in the Womens Movement all of my life, and we were told to make it in the mans world, you have got to play the game while youre changing how the game is played. And that is what she is doing. Amy can you respond to governor Madeleine Cunanan . Ive heard her and others say that this kind of radical change, revolutionary change in our politics that Bernie Sanders is calling for them is not possible were it is wishful thinking. I will tell you my response, and if you look at the civil rights movement, you look at way back in our history, the movement of women to get the vote, look at any major change in the power structure of america or even the movement to end the vietnam war, and they were all movements. Theyre all mass mobilizations. People in the United States decided theyd had enough and there are going to change the structure of power in the United States. Bernie sanders is leading exactly that kind of movement to get big money out of politics. I dont know how else to do it. I was there. I was in the clinton administration. I have been in a cabinet. I can tell you unless good people outside the United States have rather good people outside washington, are mobilized and organized and energized to make change happen, it doesnt matter how good people are in washington, nothing is one to change because the special interest are going to dominate. You need that kind of mobilization in order to get change. And Bernie Sanders is doing exactly that. Amy were going to get a break and come back to this discussion. Her discussion is with our discussion is with robert reich, author of many books, most recently saving capitalism for , the many, not the few. This is democracy now it is super tuesday. We will be back in a minute. [music break] amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. This is super tuesday. I want to turn to a clip from the sanders having clinton debate in milwaukee about health care, Hillary Clintons continued to press the idea that Bernie Sanders singlepayer Health Care System would undo the Affordable Care act. Hall,t week in a cnn town the senator told a questioner the questioner would spend about 500 in taxes to get about 5,000 in health care. Every progressive economist who has analyzed that says the numbers dont add up. That cannot bese kept. It is really important now that we are getting into the rest of the country that both of us are held to account for explaining what were proposing. Especially with health care, this is not about math, this is about peoples lives. We should level with the American People about what we can do they get quality Affordable Health care. Amy that was Hillary Clinton in a debate with Bernie Sanders. ,ere joined by robert reich the former labor secretary under president bill clinton and certainly, robert reich, this was an issue that Hillary Clinton was dealing with through the bill Clinton Presidency. Can you talk about her criticism of Bernie Sanders around pushing for singlepayer health care . I think that criticism, it centers around the worried that it is somehow going to lead to the destruction of the Affordable Care act. I frankly dont understand that, amy. There are states, for example, vermont, that are and it considered putting a singlepayer plan on the exchanges that people use under the Affordable Care act. That is, using the Affordable Care act as a launching pad for a singlepayer plan. Many health economist, many of us who do policy, think that a singlepayer plan is a must inevitable in this country because it is so much more efficient, because it reduces costs, and also provides very high quality care. Most other advanced nations have it. Were paying so much in this country for a Health Care System based on private forprofit insurance, where so much of that money goes to advertising and promotion and administration and billing and ceo pay. This is absurd. As baby boomers get older and need more medical assistance, were not going to be able to afford the kind of Health Care System we have right now. That is why singlepayer plan is critical. That is white Bernie Sanders once to move to it. It is not going to jeopardize the Affordable Care act. You can make just as barack obama almost did, a kind of medicare for all or singlepayer option. Amy lets go to Bernie Sanders in that same debate with Hillary Clinton. This is the reality, folks. There is one major country on earth that does not guarantee health care to all people. There is one major country, the United States, which ends up spending a must three times per capita what they do in the case guaranteeing have it all people. 50 more than they do in france guaranteeing health care to all people, far more than our canadian neighbors who guarantee health could all people. Please, do not tell me that in this country, if here is the f if we have the courage to take on the Drug Companies and have the courage to take on the Insurance Companies and the medical equipment suppliers, if we do that, yes, we can guarantee health care to all people in a much more costeffective way. Amy that is senator sanders. He is talking about medicare for all. And the question, robert reich, is, and this goes to the whole attack Hillary Clinton has waged against Bernie Sanders around waging revolution but how do you get there how do you get there from here . How do you get to medicare for all . If you are president , could he actually accomplish this . You have been in the government. You are under the clintons. Can you talk about how this would what the pathway would be . Pathway, amy, is very much the same pathway getting big money out of politics. It is mobilization of people outside washington, getting the public to focus on what is important, and exercising that kind of leadership. Also, aiming high. What worries me about other candidates, particularly Hillary Clinton, is that the message seems to be, we cannot aim high or we must not be ambitious, we must not try to be bold because we cannot get there. To me, that is exactly the wrong message. The message should be, in terms of mobilizing americans and organizing and getting the kind of response we need from americans to Push Congress to get a congress to government that is responsible for us, the message should be we must and can aim high. Were done it before in this country. We have had some very ambitious changes. I lived through this civil rights your a. Like martinctivists luther king jr. And president s like Lyndon Johnson were able to do, and we have to the urgency right now with regard to everything we consider important from black lives matter and the kind of discrimination structural discrimination were seeing all the way through Climate Change, nothing can change unless we get big money out of politics, unless we return the United States from being almost an oligarchy to a true democracy once again. That is what Bernie Sanders is talking about. I cannot understand why anybody would find that difficult or objectionable. Amy robert reich, you have an inside view of the clinton administration. You were the labor secretary for years. Can you talk about the power of Hillary Clinton within that . There were a lot of presidencies where the president , who is the husband you dont know really what the wife views are. How powerful was Hillary Clinton in the bill Clinton Presidency . She was his chief advisor. I think Hillary Clinton was as powerful if not more powerful than any first lady since eleanor roosevelt. Continuously helping bill clinton make very, very fundamental decisions. Amy at a South Carolina fundraiser in charleston, a young africanamerican woman from ashley williams, criticized interrupted the fundraiser. A fund friend had pay the 500 for her to get into this protest. She was saying, i am not a super predator. This goes to the whole issue of criminal justice under the Clinton Presidency. Can you talk about this and mass incarceration and the number of africanamericans in prison and how that relates to the Clinton Presidency . This goes also to michelle alexander, who is written extensively about this and wrote a major piece in the nation against Hillary Clinton saying that it was under the clintons and held both responsible, that mass incarceration we saw such an escalation because of first of all, i want to say i dont think it is entirely fair to hold somebody responsible, even if they are first lady, and even if they are powerful first lady, for what their husbands did in office 20 ago. I think that is a little bit of a stretch. Theres no question that bill clinton on mass incarceration, the crime bill, also on welfare reform socalled, which was really a very to akoni and Welfare Program that subsequently showed itself to be very cruel to a lot of poor people in america and thirdly, on some of the Foreign Policy that bill clinton got into, i think it is unfair to hold hillary responsible, even know she was a very powerful adviser. We dont know which way she argued in this particular cases. Amy on the issue of super predators, she itself herself admits talking about super predator children. Undoubtedly, uncertain of those, she was helping her husband. All i want to say is i think shes got to be evaluated on her own merits in terms of what she has done, what she has accomplished, what she is not a call, what she is that in this campaign, what we understand about her values. For 49 years ive known her, i met her which was 19 years old. I have a lot of confidence in her abilities. If she is president , she will do a job 1000 times better than any of the republican clowns who are now running. But i think we do have a choice on the democratic side between two people who are very different in terms of their toitions with regard remaking our democracy and remaking american politics, and also attacking this kind of economic oligarchy we now have. Amy secretary robert reich, what do you see as Bernie Sanders pathway to the presidency right now . He said last night that he is going to continue to take this all the way to the convention. And i believe that he sees himself as a vehicle for this movement. In other words, this campaign is less about Bernie Sanders and he would be the first to admit this then it is about a movement against american oligarchy and against big money and politics. He, therefore by saying hes going to take it all went to the convention, i think he means hes when it this movement all the way to the convention and hopefully, it is going to be, regardless of what happens, whether he has enough convention delegates, it is going to be a very vocal and very Important Movement in the future. Amy, finally, let me just say, the superdelegate problem is a of whatd of symbol were up against in this country. The Democratic Party has always insiders has these insiders, can change their mind at any time, but merely having superdelegates were insiders who will play such a significant role at the convention is testament to the fact the democratic still ds not que get in termof thi antiesblishmen era were now entering an america where most americans are saying the political establishment has not worked for us. Amy finally, robert reich, with the rise of donald trump, your thoughts from his reach weeding bonito mussolini to wavering around whether he wants the klan support or david dukes, to building the wall, to sing muslims should not allowed to come into this country. Your thoughts . I dont think donald trump is a conservative. I think he is an authoritarian and there is a difference. I dont think he cares about democracy. I dont because and fact, i think donald trump, from everything you say, maybe democracy as an of sediment to what he wants to do. I think he is or a close to some of the other author terry ends authoritarians who have shown themselves in American History and history around the rest of the world. This is a very dangerous attitude. It is particularly dangerous when we dont have a strong Media Institution such as labor unions or other organizations and Political Parties that can soften and subdue in anyway reduce the influence of an authoritarian when so many people in america now feel so atomized, so isolated. When so many people are getting their news and expressing themselves on twitters. Without intermediary institutions, this kind of authoritarian power grab is particularly dangerous. Amy robert reich, thank you for being with us, former labor secretary under president bill clinton, now endorsing senator Bernie Sanders for president. California,sor at berkeley. Author of many books, mostly recently, saving capitalism for the many, not the few. That does a for our broadcast. Democracy now is hiring a broadcast engineer, a director of finance and operations and a director of development. Visit democracynow. Org for more information. Democracy now is looking for