we will get response from award-winning investigative journalist allan nairn just back from honduras. his new story for the intercept is headlined "u.s. spent weeks pressuring honduras opposition to end protests against election fraud." >> trump and republicans are tempting a rightist revolution with a massive transfer, locking in the structural advantages, attacking immigrants and the poor, and working people. they have made tremendous headway, but at the same time, people are fighting back. the outcome is completely up in the air. the november elections will go a long way toward determining whether the country makes a radical swing to the right now or whether this is stopped and whether weekend repair for a time where we start to get a more sensible -- amy: we will speak with allan that about the stories shaped 2017 as well as what has happened in honduras. all of that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. president trump has signed into law the republicans' tax plan, which will shower billions of dollars of tax cuts upon the rich and major corporations, while ending a central pillar of president obama's signature healthcare law. pres. trump: what is happening is we're going to sign this. this is a little picture of it. it fits nicely in the box. i consider this a bill for the middle-class and a bill for jobs. and jobs are produced through companies and corporations. goingations are literally wild over this. i think even beyond my expectations. amy: that was president trump signing the legislation into law friday in the oval office. he is expected to personally benefit from the tax cut of up to $15 million he year. after signing the legislation, trump traveled to his ritzy mar-a-lago resort in florida, where he reportedly told his friends dining at the expensive private club, "you all just got a lot richer." that was in reference to the tax law. the initiation fees for mar-a-lago cost $200,000 and annual dues cost $14,000. experts say the $1.5 billion tax cut will overwhelmingly benefit big corporations, multimillionaires, private equity managers, and president trump and his family, while hurting the elderly, low-income families, immigrants, people buying health insurance, and the island of puerto rico. the legislation will also repeal the affordable care act's individual mandate, which experts say will cause health insurance premiums to skyrocket. the bill also opens up drilling in the arctic national wildlife refuge. a recent nbc news/wall street journal found only 21% of americans think the tax plan is a good idea. its passage has sparked protests on capitol hill. and in los angeles, where a psychologist named robert strong said he hand-delivered a gift-wrapped package filled of horse manure to the home of treasury secretary steven mnuchin on sunday night in order to protest the tax plan. >> i hand delivered it. this new tax law that is going to kick millions of people off health care and ultimately going to give the corporations tons of money at the expense of the .verage working poor family i felt like i needed to do something that was equally absurd. amy: that was los angeles psychologist robert strong. the tax cut will be $1.5 trillion. meanwhile, also in california, students and activists have launched a statewide campaign to gather signatures for a ballot measure that would reinstate california's inherited estate tax in order to provide free tuition for public universities and community colleges across california. they launched the grassroots initiative only days after republican lawmakers voted to slash the federal estate tax as part of trump's tax plan. this is one of the student organizers. i attended city college in san francisco. this is a ballot initiative that will make college tuition free .cross all of california it prioritizes low-income students, but includes undocumented students. as well as nontraditional students, those who do not go directly to college from high school. amy: that was cynthia diaz, a student organizer with the college for all california campaign. "the new york times" reports president trump made derogatory and false claims about a number of different immigrant groups during an oval office meeting in june. trump reportedly fumed about haitians who had received u.s. visas, falsely claiming "they all have aids." he also complained about nigerians who had received visas, saying that after they came to the u.s. they would never go back to their huts in africa. trump also called afghanistan a terrorist haven. the white house has denied trump made the derogatory statements. in seattle, washington federal , a judge has partially lifted president trump's latest travel ban after the aclu and the jewish family service argued the ban causes irreparable harm and prevents people from majority muslim countries from reuniting with family members living in the united states. the ruling by judge james robart came only one day after a three-judge appeals panel also ruled that the latest version of the ban is in violation of federal law. the latest ban prohibits the entry of most citizens of iran, libya, syria, yemen, somalia, chad, and north korea, along with some groups of people from venezuela. the deputy director of the fbi, andrew mccabe, is expected to resign within the next few months. mccabe was the right-hand-man of former fbi director james comey, and he briefly ran the agency after president trump fired comey. mccabe has now faced months of escalating pressure and attacks from republican lawmakers. unnamed sources have told "the washington post" that mccabe plans to retire as soon as he's eligible for full pension benefits. over the weekend, president trump took to twitter to repeatedly criticize mccabe, in a tweetstorm that experts say could constitute witness intimidation. mccabe may be called as a witness in special counsel robert mueller's ongoing investigation into whether the trump campaign colluded with russia and whether trump committed obstruction of justice by firing former fbi director james comey. richard painter, who served as chief white house ethics lawyer for president george w. bush, tweeted -- "using twitter on christmas eve to intimidate a witness, mccabe, in a criminal investigation is not a very christian way to celebrate the holiday. but it does make mr. mueller's job easier and that's a nice thing to do. merry christmas!" the leadership of the miss america organization has resigned after "the huffington post" published a series of emails in which the organization's ceo and its employees referred to the women contestants as the "c-word" and "malcontents," called former winner gretchen carlson a "snake," and shamed another former winner about her weight gain. in response to the expose, 49 former miss americas called on the organization's ceo, sam haskell, and other leaders to resign. haskell and other members of the leadership then resigned over the weekend. the u.s. ambassador to the united nations nikki haley is claiming the u.s. helped push the united nations to cut its budget for the upcoming year by $285 million. haley's statement on sunday came only days after president trump threatened to cut off funding to countries if they voted against the united states' decision to recognize jerusalem as the capital of israel. despite trump's threats, the u.n. general assembly voted overwhelmingly against the u.s. last week. in yemen, residents say u.s.-backed saudi-led air strikes killed more than 70 civilians in a 48-hour period this weekend. the residents say the bombing killed women and children in the capital sana'a and flattened buildings in other residential neighborhoods. airstrikes also reportedly injured civilians attending a demonstration against president trump's decision to recognize jerusalem as israel's capital. in afghanistan, a suicide bombing in the capital kabul killed at least 10 people on monday. isis has claimed responsibility for the blast, which occurred near an office of the national directorate of security. human rights watch says the syrian government and russia have escalated their bombing campaign against eastern ghouta, a suburb of the capital damascus. the rebel-held area has been besieged by the syrian government since 2013. there are currently 400,000 people living in the besieged region, where supplies of food, water, and medicine are in short supply. protests have erupted in peru after president pedro pablo kuczynski pardoned former president alberto fujimori, who was imprisoned for crimes including ordering massacres by death squads in the 1990's. he has now been released from prison. many saw the pardon as a quid pro quo. only days earlier, lawmakers aligned with fujimori helped the current president, an ex-wall street banker, avoid being impeached on corruption charges. this is a protester speaking from alliance groups, really, everyone in congress. the peruvian people are within all of their rights to unite in a national insurgency. amy: in the philippines, more than 200 people have died after typhoon tembin hit the southern region of mindanao on friday. the tropical storm caused landslides and widespread flooding. at least 100 more people are still missing and more than 50,000 people spent christmas in mandatory evacuation camps. the storm is now heading toward vietnam, where thousands have evacuated. in more news from the philippines, at least 37 people have died in a fire at a shopping mall in the southern city of davao. all 37 were workers at a call center that was based inside the mall. unions say the fatalities were caused by a failure to enforce labor laws, including workplace safety inspections. in the disputed territory of kashmir, indian troops have killed a man they claim was the commander of a pakistan-based militant group. the news of the killing sparked protests, in which at least protesters were injured by six indian soldiers firing tear gas and pellet guns. this year has been the deadliest year in a decade in kashmir, with at least 350 people killed amid india's military offensive, dubbed "operation all out." back in the united states, in texas, police shot and killed a six-year-old child only days before christmas. the boy, kameron prescott, was killed when a stray bullet shot by a sheriff's deputy tore through the wall of his family's mobile home in a small city outside san antonio. the sheriff says the officers were at the mobile home park after receiving a call about a stolen vehicle. there, deputies encountered a suspect, a 30-year-old woman, and opened fire, killing her and the six-year-old boy. the woman was unarmed except for a small pipe. the sheriff calls the killing of the child a tragic accident but claims the deputies followed departmental policies. "the washington post's" database says at least 952 people have been killed by police so far this year. in new york city, 27-year-old activist erica garner is in a coma after suffering a heart attack. erica garner is a nationally recognized anti-police brutality activist, who has helped lead the struggle for justice for her father eric garner, who was killed when police officers in staten island wrestled him to the ground, pinned him down and applied a fatal chokehold in 2014. his final words were "i can't breathe." he said it 11 times. erica's mother says her daughter was hospitalized on saturday after an asthma-induced heart attack. this is erica garner speaking on democracy now! last year. >> i have protested. i have spoke on panels. i have traveled across this nation. sandersndorsed bernie to get my message out. and it is like, we keep having a conversation. i exhausted for two years. how much talking do we need to have? movement lives matter is very compassionate, patient, and basically begging the nation, you know? we are under attack as black people. we are being gunned down every day. these officers are not being held accountable. riseo charges from tamir to my dad to freddie gray. amy: that is erica garner speaking on democracy now! last year. she is currently in a medically induced coma after suffering an asthma-induced heart attack. she gave birth a few months before. photographer don hogan charles has died at the age of 79. he is most famous for his photographs of the civil rights movement, including the iconic image of malcolm x holding a rifle while peering out of the window of his home in queens, new york. charles was the first african american photographer hired by "the new york times." he died earlier this month in east harlem. and christians around the world celebrated christmas this weekend. on sunday night, pope francis called for peace in jerusalem and a two-state solution to the israeli-palestinian conflict during his christmas eve mass. >> on this festive day, let us ask the lord for peace for jerusalem and for all of the holy land. let us pray that the will to resume dialogue may prevail between the parties and that a negotiated solution can finally be reached, one that would allow the peaceful coexistence of two states within mutually agreed, internationally recognized borders. amy: pope francis' call comes amid ongoing protests across the israeli-occupied palestinian territories after president trump announced the u.s. would recognize jerusalem as israel's capital and move the u.s. embassy there. an israeli military crackdown against the ongoing protests has killed at least 12 palestinians so far. during pope francis' christmas eve mass, he also lifted up the plight of refugees worldwide, and called for peace for the muslim-minority rohingyas, who have been the victims of a brutal ethnic cleansing campaign by the burmese military. >> i see jesus again and the children i met during my recent burma and bangladesh. it is my hope international community will not cease to work to ensure that the dignity of the minority groups present in the region is adequately protected. amy: the u.n. general assembly has voted overwhelmingly in favor of a resolution demanding burma end the military campaign against the rohingyas, grant the persecuted minority group full citizenship rights, and ensure the safe return of the hundreds of thousands of rohingyas who have fled into neighboring bangladesh. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we begin today's show in honduras, where on friday, the united states congratulated the incumbent president juan orlando hernandez on what it said was his reelection. this came one month into a standoff between the honduras government and the opposition over the disputed vote tally, and days after the government-controlled election commission declared hernandez the winner. previously, the opposition front, the alliance against the dictatorship, as well as the organization of american states , have called for new elections, amid reports of widespread fraud and vote rigging, saying the victory was impossible to verify. last week, opposition candidate salvador nasralla traveled to washington, d.c., to meet officials at the oas and state department, but u.s. officials said he did not present evidence to back up his allegations of fraud. but on friday, nasralla said his bid for the presidency was a "lost cause" after the united states recognized hernandez as winner of the election. he told tv network france 24 -- "the situation is practically decided. i no longer have anything to do in politics, but the people, which are 80% in my favor, will continue the fight." this is nasralla speaking to the media friday in tegucigalpa. >> the united states can recognize, like it recommends the electoral win of juan , but inhernandez today my opinion, my opponent lost the elections by half a million votes. like i prove scientifically on monday and tuesday to the organization of american states. amy: this comes as human rights groups have documented at least 17 people have died in demonstrations over the disputed election in honduras. there are reports the military has assassinated and beaten protesters, including attacking protesters in the hospital, shooting tear gas into people's homes -- including where there are children and pregnant women -- and launching a violent crackdown against afro-indigenous garifuna protesters. the u.s. state department considers hernandez and honduras an ally on the drug war and immigration. washington is honduras' main aid donor and largest trading partner. honduras was also one of eight countries to vote with the united states last thursday at the united nations against a resolution denouncing president trump's recognition of jerusalem as israel's capital. well, for more, we're joined in new york by allan nairn, award-winning investigative journalist who just returned saturday night from honduras. his latest story for the "u.s.ept is headlined, spent weeks pressuring honduras opposition to end protests against election fraud." allan nairn has won many of the top honors in journalism. you were in honduras for several weeks covering this election. talk about what has happened so far. >> well, in a sense, it is an intifada of hondurans against election fraud. it more deeply, it is a class of rising against an oligarchy the u.s. has been backing for decades. the u.s. first used it in the 1980's to stage the contra tactic against nicaragua. honduras was their base. now they say it is being used for the drug war. but it is a de facto u.s. military occupation of honduras, in a sense, since the u.s. has an actual base there, even though foreign bases are prohibited by the honduran constitution. the for example, in the southern philippines, where the u.s. also has military operating on the ground, there is a wink and a nod from the central government. it is very significant because central america was devastated by massacres in the 1980's. perhaps 200,000 killed in guatemala. more than 70,000 in el salvador. similar numbers in nicaragua. backed by the u.s. with the help of israel. and the societies have yet to recover to this day. the gangs, the crime, the drug trade are all direct outgrowths of those attacks on civilians. but first in guatemala, starting a few years ago, with the popular middle-class-based anticorruption movement that helped topple the u.s. backed president general molina and now it high up -- honduras with this uprising against what appears to is astolen election, there revival. an example for the u.s. and the when they even people are most beaten-down, when many of their leaders have been assassinated, when many of their villages have been wiped out -- as happened in guatemala -- they can still come back. the u.s. backed this election in honduras attended reelection of president hernandez, a reelection that is also prohibited in the honduran constitution. amy: you mean he wasn't supposed to be able to run again. >> yes. but he did again. all sorts of evidence of fraud came out. there was a tape where his people were talking about plan b for stuffing ballot boxes. there was a chat message, which i saw from one of the elect oral technicians, saying the fraud is .ow complete on election night, the manager of the contractor counting the votes actually briefly put out a message on facebook saying " nasralla, the new president of honduras. his lead is a reversible." then they shut down the vote count and resumed it later, renouncing at least had evaporated yet they had to wait three weeks before they could formally declare that victory because people took to the streets. hundreds of thousands of hondurans all over the country, and many cases, some of the poorest people and working people in the streets, taking the lead. and many police rebelled. apparently, about 20% to one third of the entire national police force had efuses they bases, r said to continue the repression saying they were going to lay down their arms. in response, the military has promoted the leaders of the most units -- theloyal military police and those who come out of the u.s.-backed training course to be the new leaders of the military. they are killing about one protester per day. amy: how many do you estimate have been killed? >> it is hard to know exactly, but probably this point. in a sense, it is an intifada in the streets. a lot of the tactics they're using are also reminiscent of the tactics used i the israeli military. you mentioned the shooting of tear gas earlier and ounces of the systematic beating of protesters. but unlike in israel, where the army is deeply ideologically, fully indoctrinated to the project of the government, in honduras, it is only certain sectors of the army and the police that have that character. i spoke to dozens of army and police and it is clear that many of them do not really like being dragged along on a reimposition of the hernandez government. and if these demonstrations can continue, it is not clear that this government can hang on. even with washington's backing. this is just a remarkable breakthrough, not just for central america, but for all of latin america. but even on a world stage because it is another example strongest u.s. backed powers sometimes can be defeated. they sometimes can be rolled back. and the u.s. grip in the world right now is weakening. and just the stamp of approval from the pentagon may no longer be enough to hold on. amy: although despite the widespread protests and calls from the opposition party of the alliance against the dictatorship, and the organization of american states for new elections amid reports rigging, incumbent president juan orlando declared himself --juan orlando hernandez declared himself the victor last week. >> the acceptance of the will of nearly 3.5 million hondurans will bring peace, harmony, and progress. amy: so that is hernandez. the first announcement, hernandez saying he won, was last sunday. is that right? when salvador nasralla of the allies against the dictatorship, who was added in the vote count before they shut it down, had gotten on a plane headed to the united states to meet with officials in the state department. that is when hernandez made his announcement. was in thesralla air. they did it to catch him off guard. amy: you saw as he was getting on the plane? >> he was not expecting the announcement to be made then post of especially since the day before, ananda sister had died tragically in a helicopter crash. the idea was, well, he is certainly not going to do it today. -- she was his advisor. >> yes. they claimed victory. and then a few days later, the u.s. came out and congratulated him on that victory. to step in early and congratulate him was israel. a few days after that, the u.n. general simile had the vote on jerusalem. honduras switched its voting pattern and was one of the few countries to back the u.s. on moving the embassy to jerusalem, thereby knowledge and the u.s. control -- acknowledging the u.s. control. and guatemala under the memorable is, who came to office as the candidate of the old massacre generals, were now facing prosecution. morale us announced water model to jerusalem. it is part of a worldwide push that the u.s. state department has made behind the scenes to policyshore up the trump on israel. amy: so before we talk about israel and palestine, which we will do in the next segment more fully, to talk about honduras, talk about the u.s. in honduras.es president trump has failed to name many ambassadors around the world. a talk about who heidi fulton is and the role u.s. has been playing in this election. ambassador.e acting during -- in recent weeks during the protest, i been talking to nasralla all along, asking him about his daily interactions with the u.s. at one point early in december, who isand john creamer, a senior state department official and a former aide to general john kelly of the white house, met with nasralla. he said the u.s. officials were urging him to stop the protests. the protests were the one popular source of leverage against the elect oral fraud in the u.s. was trying to shut them down. without success. even though nasralla made a point of saying he wanted to be a friend of the u.s., wanted to be an ally of the u.s., said he wasn't going to touch the military base, wasn't going to touch the multinationals -- he even said he would sign every u.s. extradition order without even reading them, despite all , where, the white house general kelly is personally close to hernandez, innocence, political mentor -- chiefelly, before he was of staff, he was -- >> he ran the u.s. military for latin america. became head of department of homeland security before becoming trump's chief of staff. >> right. even nasralla who was promising all of those things to comply can't was not good enough, was not acceptable to them. because he would represent a voting out of the coup regime. the 2009 coup, which had the u.s. and heller clinton at the time. give the u.s. a blank check to do whatever they want militarily and who have very little popular support. keeps saying and a lot of his speeches, well, maybe if i won 70% or 80% of the vote -- that sounds implausible for any politician to be saying that. but i have to say, as i went around tegucigalpa and its outskirts, which is not considered a stronghold of the opposition, it was very hard to find anyone who had supported hernandez. i concentrated on talking to what are usually the most conservative sectors -- army, .olice, small business people the security force people are not allowed to vote, but if you asked them how their family voted, overwhelmingly, nasralla. amy: they're not allowed to vote because -- them out of politics. there really is a great till of evidence. this was a massive ballot box stuffing operation that almost failed because, first, they did not -- the u.s. backed hernandez forces did not expect the vote for nasralla would be so large, so they basically did not stuff enough ballot boxes. they were shocked to find even with their stuffing, nasralla was still ahead by five points on election night. so that is when the computer system was announced to have crashed and they shut everything down. and they came back apparently having said additional fake ballots into the system. and only then were they able to get the result they wanted. even that wasn't good enough because people were on the streets refusing to accept the results. now the u.s. has come in and ratified it, even though the organization of american states has said you need a new election, this is not legitimate. today thatot clear even that will be enough. because if people keep returning to the streets, this regime could end up being very shaky. amy: we're going to go to break and come back to our discussion with allan nairn, award-winning investigative journalist, one many -- won many of the top honors in journali. he returned saturday from honduras. his latest story for the intercept is headlined "u.s. spent weeks pressuring honduras opposition to end protests against election fraud." this is democracy now! nairn on allan honduras and other issues in this index your discussion in a moment. -- indent your discussion in a moment. ♪ [music break] amy: "perfect places." concert to join the bds movement. we're spending the hour with allan nairn just back from honduras. week, united nations last 128 countries defied president trump by voting in favor of resolution calling for the united states to drop its recent recognition of jerusalem as israel's capital. the final vote, 128-9 thing. 35 nations abstained. 21 did not cast a vote. the eight voting with the u.s. were israel, guatemala, honduras, the marshall islands, margaret niger, palau, and togo. trump threatened to cut off financial aid to countries that voted against the united states. on thursday, the was ambassador to the united nations nikki haley reiterated trump's threat after the vote. >> america will put our embassy in jerusalem. that is what the american people want us to do. and it is the right thing to do. no vote in the united nations will make any difference on that. but this vote will make a difference on how americans look at the u.n. and how we look at countries who disrespect us in the u.n.. and this vote will be remembered. amy: in response to the vote, palestinian politician praised the international community for standing up to the united states. >> i am a encouraged the vast majority of the states of the members of the united nations general assembly did not succumb to american threats and blackmail and did not accept the israeli insults being rolled at -- hurled at them. they stood up for justice and the rule of law and for what is right. amy: former cia director john brennan responded to the vote, posting a message on his new twitter account tweeting -- "trump admin threat to retaliate against nations that exercise sovereign right in u.n. to oppose u.s. position on jerusalem is beyond outrageous. shows @realdonaldtrump expects blind loyalty and subservience from everyone -- everyonequalities usually found in narcissistic, vengeful autocrats." as we begin our look back at 2017, we continue our discussion with allan nairn, award-winning journalist. your response to what happened at the united nations general assembly, this overwhelming to find vote against the u.s. recognition of jerusalem as the capital of israel, you watching this from honduras? >> first, just in terms of what brennan said, it is kind of rich for the former cia chief to be talking about trump violating sovereignty. when brennan was running the cia and prior to that when h was a senior cia officer in saudi east,eandhe middle was backing a violation of sovereignty with drone assassinatio. trump has just added the extra element of being open about the fact the u.s. feels entitled to attack any country. but that is a long-standing bipartisan policy. itnnan helped to implement for years. in a sense, he and the otherld cia and pentagon manner mount said that trump is blowing the cover and revealing the face of the u.s. to be as crude and -- as itas it actually actually is. ,n terms of the jerusalem ve the resolution was not as strong as the previous resolutions. and trump apparently did succeed in frightening a few countries. the numbers of a few who abstained increas to a certain extent. openlymp is just throwing in his lot with israel. he is revealing what all was there. the u.s.king about claim to be an honest broker between israel and palestine for decades, for sickly supporting a peace process that was institutionalizing the israeli occupation and an intensification of military brutality against the palestinians. and now trump is just being more open about it. there is a new book coming out from normal -- norman fingal steen who documents meticulously the attacks that israel has been waging specifically against gaza and how these institute prosecutable war crimes. and those attacks took place under democrats, under republicans. trump is just dropping the pretense of neutrality now. amy: at the same time, the u.s. ambassador to the u.n. nikki haley claiming the u.s. helped push the united nations to cut its budget for the upcoming year by $285 million. her statement coming sunday only days after trump himself threatened to cut off funding to countries if they vote against the united states. on the u.s. decision to recognize jerusalem as the capital of israel, despite the fact that you in general some legal voted overwhelmingly against the u.s. >> this is part of a broader that in the u.s. policy this is an innovation by trump. revolution rightist that is being implemented in washington now with the unprecedented transfer of wealth to the richest, the attack on the environment, on labor unions , on the poorest people -- that would have happened under any republican president because during the obama years, the republican party became a radical revolutionary organization. but trump does add certain unique elements. one of them is being open in his fascist idea of mob violence as a tool of politics. a unique ability to incite hatred and violence among regular people at the grassroots . so you see all of the stories of school children being attacked. the other kids are yelling "trump, trump" as they are beating kids who are not white or maybe basic as muslim or foreign. also for encouraging and -- in thehat kind of armed forces, in the local police across the country, in ice. but on the world foreign-policy trump, carrying out a narrow faction of the republican party is doing, is basically trying to eliminate any institutions other than u.s. arms. make the pentagon the sole tool of rule. so you strip away the state department. you strip away the united nations. and all that is left is the pentagon and the cia with their covert violence. then in a supporting role, u.s. allies like the european which trump is trying to increase their military budgets. it is such an approach that has upset a lot of foreign establishment party types because they recognize diplomacy, the talk, the pretense, the hypocrisy can be very effective tools of power. but the trump novation is to say, no, screw all of that stuff. we're going with violent and covert violence. and any other approach, especially those taken by groups like the u.n., which not only represent diplomacy, but to a certain extent, the will of countries other than the united states and the will of the vast majority of the world's population, those have to be pushed aside. so they actually would like to come if they could, dismantle the u.n. amy: so talking about the u.s. policy, putting so much into the pentagon and also gutting the state department. do you think there is a real between president trump and rex tillerson, the former ceo of the largest oil corporation in the world exxonmobil, who reportedly will be leaving soon, and the word is, the rumors are, though many don't feel this will happen, that the cia director pompeo will replace him as secretary of state? the one of the things he is been doing that he would be in complete accord with trump is absolutely gutting the state department. >> or seems to be some kind of rift, who knows. someoneompeo, you have who is more in accord with trump's approach. pompeo is kind of another general flynn. flynn, who was briefly national security adviser, made his name working under general mcchrystal out of iraq and also with similar operations in afghanistan where they did what they referred to as "man hunter missions." they would go into homes in the middle of the night killing people with complete unity, with absolutely no fear of arrest or prosecution under local law or international law. an extension of that approach. this summer, he joked while speaking at the aspen institute about the past u.s. operations in central and south america, which consisted of the support of death squads and military coups. he seemed to be suggesting that he was in the midst of trying to put together some kind of operation in coordination with mexico and colombia to target the government of venezuela. so pompeo stylistically would be more in accord with trump. a tillerson completely agrees guttingmp's project of the state department and massively increasing the role in the firepower of the pentagon and the cia. amy: and pompeo, whether or not he is then secretary of state, he is the cia director and reportedly almost every day is with the president at the white house briefing him, has become very close to him. >> yeah. one aspect of -- another aspect of the trump policy is a lifting of the previous restraints on things like u.s. torture, u.s. killing of civilians in bombing runs, u.s. raids on civilian thinnest of pretense. under obama, the u.s. was killing thousands of civilians through drone attacks, etc. but there were some limits on who you could target and when. those limits were the result of decades of lobbying by human rights and peace advocates. trump has essentially stripped them away. , aing the last election number of people on the left were essentially sold a bill of goods on the idea that trump would somehow be less war-like than the old establishment represented by clinton, less aggressive and more, some claims, isolationist. facewas ridiculous on its at the time, and has been proven out on every front. trump has increase the deployment of u.s. troops, of cia covert operatives. he has taken away the minimal restraints that existed on bombing and kidnapping. in the case of north korea, he is even now reportedly flirting with what for years was considered in this -- an insane catastrophic approach, which was a military attack on north korea. it was reported in the british press a few days ago, the white house, contemplating what they call the bloody nose option. it would be bombing attacks on some north korean, things like north korean missile launch sites, on the theory that they could get away with it since kim of north korea would be afraid to retaliate by wiping out seoul in south korea, because they would then fear a u.s. nuclear holocaust for all of north korea. for years, this kind of thinking was completely rejected by all elements within the u.s. security establishment and by democrats and republicans in congress. but now under trump and under general mcmaster, who was sometimes touted as a master, it is back on the table again. so, you know, the idea that trump would be less militant was insane from the start. blood is the that tool. that is how he wants to reach it out to the world. amy: we're going to go to break and then talk about the tax ill that was just past and also talk about the movements that are resisting in this country. we're talking to the award-winning journalist allan nairn just back from honduras. stay with us. ♪ [music break] amy: zeshan b performing in our studios in this and of the year review. every day this week we will be broadcasting musician to have performed in our studio. on friday, president donald trump signed the republicans' massive re-write of the u.s. tax code, greenlighting what could be the largest transfer of wealth from the bottom to the top in history. allan nairn, investigative journalist coming of covert economic issues at home, especially the growth of inequality in this country. can you respond to what has happened and what this means as president trump went the immediately to his private resort mar-a-lago and told friends there in his private dining club "you will get rich from this" sense, the current governing group, the republicans and trump, in a sense it is a coalition between the racist and the rich. the most extreme elements of both. minority in the united states. the extreme rich are a fraction of 1%. and the most intense, racist, anti-immigrant people are halves a majority -- are perhaps a majority of the white population. definitely a minority of the whole american population. so how do you govern if you are systemity in a national that is heavily based on elections, were lots of decisions, not all decisions, but lots of decisions are made on the basis of elections? you have to build and structural advantages. you have to have levers. the u.s. constitution gives some of those levers with things like the senate, were small states like montana and idaho, etc., are able to send two senators equal to that of california. things like the electoral college. things like gerrymandering of house districts, of voter suppression aimed at groups like african-americans and also younger people who might vote against the right? it wanting the tax bill does add -- one thing the tax bill does is it adds another layer to the actual majority in the united states, the actual majority of people who oppose the program of ryan and mcconnell and trump and the largest corporations. it adds yet another obstacle. because of that $1.5 trillion being transferred, perhaps the ingest transfer of wealth american history, a large chunk of it is going to wind up in the pockets of either the rightist oligarchs like the kochs cannot the family controlling walmart, like mercer, who directly find their own independent political operations that spearhead things like butter suppression operations. and on the other hand, another big chunk of it through the corporate tax cut will go to the like wallrporations street and apple and so on, who will have that much more money to spend on lobbyists. so not only will it be an immediate money transfer, worsening inequality, while at the other end 13 million people lose their health care and many thousands more will die as a result, but it also is a systematic increase in the political power of the radical right will step so it is yet another obstacle that has been thrown out -- thrown up. amy: i want to ask you very quickly. net neutrality. this is a major moment with the sec chair ajit pai, the federal communications commission rolling out net neutrality. what that means and what is happening around censorship in the avenue of free expression. expression and the chance for political dissent, a lot of which these days takes place rough the internet, is in great danger and it is under attack now from both the republicans and the mainstream democrats. the republicans with net neutrality, which essentially will give license to companies to control the internet to start cutting traffic to sites, shutting down sites if they want . and on the other side from the democrats, who have been using the russia issue as an indication to demand that twitter, facebook, google, and others start censoring their posts. there were hearings where the democrats were holding up placards of false information put out allegedly by russia during the election. and the had the twitter people there and the facebook and the google people saying "why didn't you censor this? why didn't you stop this message before it could get posted -- amy: the senators were to many of the ceos of google, facebook. "why didn't you do political censorship? if you don't start doing political censorship, we the congress will start having to force you." republicansthe giving corporations the means to do censorship, and yet the democrats giving them a motive, particular demand. it is extremely dangerous. if they wanted to, they could start cutting the traffic to democracy now! the democracy now! site. said a fewternet months ago the own traffic was hurt when google changed their search of a rhythm in response to these kinds of these pressures. amy: in 10 seconds, on net neutrality, on that issue? >> well, it gives the corporations the right to charge more for faster internet. sitest means people in with fewer resources can have less ability to reach the public. amy: i want to end with the issue of the movements pushing back. with colin kaepernick who came to new york and expected -- accepted the puffin nation prize for having sparked a movement against racism and police brutality for, well, taking the knee. >> i would also like to say at this point in time with freedom of speech and freedom of the press being under attack in so many ways and in so many forms, the nation institute and the work that journalists and reporters are doing right now is more important than it ever has been. you truly are the pathway for the people to see the truth that is going on. so in this moment in time, my message to all of you is continue to speak just in an unjust room regardless of the consequences, regardless of the backlash. we are with you. we need that truth. continue to spread that truth for us because people need to know what truly is going on so we can game plan as far as how to fight against these oppressive forces. amy: that was colin kaepernick who cannot get a job in the nfl because he took the knee protesting police brutality. #metoois protest to the movement, what gives you hope? >> well, the majority of people who voted -- that voted against trump and the popular basis in the last election, are rejecting this attempt at rightist revolution. but they cannot succeed unless there is a massive mobilization. of the structural obstacles that are built in. it in the november congressional election, if the republicans can be swept out of control of the amidst the moonlight. announcer: "julie taboulie's lebanese kitchen" is made possible by... man:♪ do your thing, do your thing ♪ ♪ syracuse, do your thing ♪ do your thing, do your thing ♪ ♪ syracuse, do your thing