we will go to baton rouge for the latest. we will also speak with cornel west about baton rouge, black lives matter, and why he is supporting the green party presidential candidate dr. jill stein. trump is adonald neoliberal disaster and hillary clinton is a neoliberal disaster. a refuse to support any candidate who has militaristic policies abroad that could lead to war. amy: and we will go to turkey were close to 300 people were killed and around 1400 wounded in a failed military coup. all that and more coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we are broadcasting from cleveland, ohio. in baton rouge, louisiana former , a marine killed three police officers. the shooting began just before 9:00 a.m. on sunday at a gas station on the city's airline highway, a mile from the baton rouge police department headquarters. the police department has been the site of more than a week of protests against police violence. the demonstrations were sparked by the shooting of baton rouge resident alton brown by police. -- alton sterling by police. baton rouge officers were reportedly responding to a 911 call of shots fired when they were ambushed by a gunman. three officers were killed, three others were wounded. one is in critical condition. police identified the shooter as african-american gavin long a , resident of kansas city, missouri. long served in iraq and was discharged at the rank of sergeant in 2010. in a week before the shooting, long recorded a video in which he discusses his anger toward the police for killing african-americans. urgesan alias, long african-american men to fight back against the police. meanwhile, montrell jackson, one of the slain officers, had posted recently on facebook about the atmosphere in baton rouge after alton sterling's killing. the officer wrote -- "i swear to god i love this city, but i wonder if this city loves me. in uniform i get nasty, hateful looks and out of uniform some consider me a threat. these are trying times. please don't let hate infect your heart." appealedrling's aunt for calm after sunday's shooting. >> we don't call for no bloodshed. all started,his with bloodshed. we don't want no more bloodshed. , go wherever you come from. this is our house. you can't come in our house killing us. that is what you're doing. at the end of the day, these , theircall this family daddies and moms are not coming home no more. i know how they feel because i got the same phone call. no justice. no justice. no peace. stop this killing. stop this killing. stop this killing. amy: that was alton sterling's aunt. only twoooting came days after hundreds of people gathered for the funeral of alton sterling. baton rouge mayor kip holden did not attend. holden has reportedly not even called the sterling family yet. hundreds of people protested outside the mayor's office demanding to resign in the wake of sterling's death. other prominent officials, including louisiana governor john bel edwards and louisiana congressman cedric richmond, did attend alton sterling's funeral on friday. meanwhile in the wake of sunday's fatal shooting of three police officers, presumptive republican presidential nominee donald trump repeated his claim that he is the law and order candidate, while democratic presidential candidate hillary clinton said the attack was "an assault on all of us." in may, louisiana governor john bel edwards signed a so-called blue lives matter law, which expands louisiana's hate crimes statute to include police officers, firefighters and ems , personnel. following the shooting, multiple politicians used the phrases, "blue lives matter" and "all lives matter," including former louisiana governor bobby jindal, whose begin with fox news shepard smith. this clip begins with former governor jindal. >> we have got to say all lives matter. it does not matter what color you are, black, white, brown, red. all lives matter. we have to protect and value our beliefs. >> you know that phrase you just used is one that is seen by many as derogatory, right? i just wonder why it is use that phrase when there's a certain segment of the population that believes it is a real dig on them? >> the point is, we have to move beyond race. amy: in response, some fox news viewers called for shepard smith to be fired. we'll go to baton rouge for more on the fatal shooting of the police officers after headlines. the government of turkey has arrested more than 6000 people accused of participating in a failed military coup over the weekend. turkish president recep tayyip erdogan has accused fethullah gulen, a turkish cleric living in pennsylvania, of masterminding the coup. gulen has lived in the u.s. since 1999, when he fled turkey after being accused of organizing religious extremists against the government. he had been an airline -- a lie of erdogan until a few years ago. u.s. secretary of state john kerry said that the u.s. still has not received a formal extradition request for gulen. >> we have not had a formal request for extradition. that has to come in a formal package and has to come with documentation for the request and go to the justice department. and we will deal with it. amy: the turkish president erdogan attended funerals over the weekend for some of the nearly 200 civilians killed in friday's attempted coup. supporters of erdogan continued to celebrate across the country today. other citizens found an uneasy calm on monday as the coup appeared to have been definitively defeated. there is fear that erdogan, who before the coup was accused of becoming an autocrat, will use the coup to justify further actions against his political opponents. conspiracy theories are already -- we will have more on turkey later in the broadcast. we will go to istanbul. republican national convention opens in cleveland, ohio today, with more than 50,000 people flooding into cleveland for the convention where the republican party is slated to formally nominate real estate mogul donald trump to be the party's presidential nominee. and to ratify the party platform. at more than a dozen republican leaders have decided to skip the rnc. south carolina senator lindsey graham says he's not coming because he doesn't support donald trump. arizona senator jeff flake says he's staying home because he'd rather mow his lawn. florida congressman dennis ross is skipping the rnc because "it's a good time to be fishing in montana." florida senator marco rubio of -- arizona senator john mccain and kentucky senator rand paul will be skipping the convention. but many other party leaders and operatives are thrilled about the opening of the 2016 rnc, including georgia representative rob woodall, who said -- "the place we're going to pick the next leader of the free world? heck yeah, i'm going!" thousands of police, federal agents, military personnel are also flooding into cleveland, which has received nearly $50 million in federal funding to beef up security. the department of homeland security has sent at least 3000 fbi, secret service, another federal agents. at least an additional 1500 county police officers and state troopers have also been dispatched to cleveland. the pentagon has also deployed ohio national guardsmen, u.s. coast guard officers, military personnel from u.s. northern command. the cleveland police department ordered an additional 2000 sets of riot armor in advance of the convention. police officers have also begun carrying ar-15 semi-automatic rifles and military-style m-14 rifles, which are typically reserved for snipers. civilians may also be carrying military grade weapons in downtown cleveland this week. i close the an end texas, ohio is an open carry state. he had of cleveland's largest police union has called for ohio governor john kasich to suspend open carry laws for the week of the rnc saying -- "i don't care if it's constitutional or not at this point." loomis spoke on cnn. >> it is absolute insanity to me. this is an open carry state. most police officers generally will take a bullet to defend the constitution, as we saw admirably in dallas, but at the end of the day, it is not responsible. it is legal to bring guns, but it is not responsible. >> you don't want them exercising the "right"? >> that makes for mayhem. amy: in response, ohio governor john kasich said -- "ohio governors do not have the power to arbitrarily suspend federal and state constitutional rights or state laws as suggested." after weeks of speculation, donald trump has named indiana governor mike pence as his running mate. mr. trump: i found the leader who will help us deliver a safe society and a prosperous -- really prosperous society from americans. indiana governor mike pence is my first choice. i have admired the work he has done, especially in the state of indiana. amy: that is donald trump speaking in new york city. governor pence joint trump on stage to accept the vice presidential nomination. in his speech, he highlighted his conservative values. >> people who know me will know i'm a pretty basic guy. i'm a christian, conservative, and a republican -- in that order. [applause] am really having the privilege of serving the state that i love, i really just a small town boy who grew up in southern indiana with a big family and a cornfield in the backyard. amy: mike pence was first elected to congress in 2000, then was elected governor in 2012. in signed into law the highly the anti-lgbtlaw religious freedom bill, which gave businesses license to discriminate against lgbt people. the law caused a nationwide backlash. dozens of companies and professional sports teams and leagues, including the indianolis-heauarteredcaa, threened to boycott inana. apple ceo tim cook sed law, likening it to the jim crow laws of the american south. ultimately, pence was forced to enact a revision specifying the law does not authorize anti-lgbt discrimination. as governor, pence also oversaw a cut in planned parenthood funding in the state and signed legislation, since blocked, that would have restricted abortion access statewide. he was also a co-sponsor of the bill that authorized the u.s. invasion of iraq in 2003. hasobama administration finally declassified 28 pages from the september 11 reap or detailing possible ties between the saudi government and the 9/11 attacks. the report states "prior to september 11, the fbi clearly did not focus investigative resources on saudi nationals in the united states due to saudi arabia's status as an american ally." the declassified document raises new questions about the role of a saudi consular official based in the los angeles area. he personally helped two of the hijackers after they arrived in los angeles early 2000. the document also reveals details about an incident in 1999 when a flight from phoenix to washington, d.c., was forced to make an emergency landing due to suspicious activity by two saudi men, including one who attempted to enter the cockpit twice. baltimore, maryland, police arrested 65 protesters during an anti-police brutality march saturday. the protesters attempted to shut down interstate 83. protests have erupted in dozens of cities following the killings by police of two african-american men, alton sterling in baton rouge louisiana, and philando castile, and found heights, minnesota. baltimore is awaiting the decision in the trial of a police officer charged in the death of freddie gray. he died of injuries sustained in police custody last year, sparking nationwide demonstrations. on staten island, hundreds marched sunday to mark the second anniversary of the death of eric garner. eric garner died in a federal police chokehold july 17, 2014. the march was organized by his daughter who spoke last week on democracy now! we are under attack as black people. we are being gunned down every day. and these officers are not being held accountable. no charges from tamir rice to my dad to freddie gray. amy: to see our full interview , you can go toer democracynow.org. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in baton rouge, three police officers were killed and three others were wounded in a shooting rampage on sunday. the shooting began just before 9:00 a.m. at a gas station on the city's airline highway, a mile from the baton rouge police department headquarters. the police department has been the site of more than a week of protests against police violence. demonstrations were sparked by the fatal shooting of alton sterling by police. according to reports baton rouge , officers were responding to a 911 call of shots fired when they were ambushed by a gunman. colonel michael edmonson of the louisiana state police described the scene. a.m.,approximately a: 40 police officers at a convenience store observed an individual wearing all black, standing behind a beauty supply store, pulling a rifle. at a proximally 8:42, reports received of shots fired. england 40 4 a.m., reports received of officers down on the scene will stop 8:45, reports received of more shots being fired. 8:46, reports received of a suspect again wearing all black standing near a car wash located right next to the convenience store stuff at 8:48, emergency ems students -- staff staging so they could start approaching and getting the bodies that were at the scene to render first aid. aticers engaged in subject that time and he ultimately died at the scene. that was officers responding to the scene itself. amy: the slain officers were identified as montrell jackson and matthew gerald of the baton rouge police department, and deputy brad garafola of the east baton rouge parish sheriff's office. officials identified the gunman as gavin long of kansas city, missouri. long, who was african-american, served in the marines from 2005 to 2010, reaching the rank of sergeant. he deployed to iraq from june 2008 to january 2009, according to military records. long was awarded several medals, including one for good conduct, and received an honorable discharge. initial reports were that two had beenf interest detained. but late on the louisiana state sunday, police said they were released without charges. authorities are now looking into long's online identity, cosmo setepenra. on a website published under the alias, long described himself as " freedom strategist, mental game coach, nutritionist, author and spiritual advisor." long turned 29 on sunday. the day of the rampage. earlier this month after army veteran micah johnson shot dead five police officers in dallas, long road a message online saying "with her brother killing the police, you get what i'm saying. it is justice." the shootings of the officers in baton rouge and dallas follow the police killings earlier this month of alton sterling in baton rouge, louisiana, and philando castile in falcon heights, minnesota. speaking sunday, president obama called for national unity. pres. obama: we as a nation have to be loud and clear that nothing justifies violence against law enforcement. attacks on police are in attack on all of us. amy: we go now to baton rouge where we are joined by lamont cole, city councilman for district 7 in baton rouge. it's the area where alton sterling was killed by police this month. we welcome you to democracy now! can you talk about what happened this week and? just yesterday, sunday, about 9:00 in the morning and baton rouge time, the killing of the three officers? >> good morning. thank you for having me. yesterday, i just left church -- i would to the early service and i was dring down the street and a friend of mine who works and law-enforcement called me and said, have you heard? i said, heard what? he told me there was a shooting taking place right then and there were officers down on the scene and that if he could, he would give me a call back a little bit later. i got home and turned on the television and the local news stations were already reporting. and in the national news stations picked it up. i followed it on television like everyone else. immediately, i was disturbed by the images. i was disturbed by the information we were receiving relative to the officers being down. before i jump to judgment, i took my phone out and started texting officers that i know who are friends of mine that worked as well aste police the baton rouge city police department to make sure they were ok. i soon realized, i have over 20 friends that work in law enforcement in the city. fortunately, they were all ok. we recognize now that three officers were gunned down in our streets and we are sympathetic, empathetic, and saddened by this tragedy in our city and our hearts and prayers are with the families of those officers. i think for hours city -- for our city, because we experienced two killings in the streets over the last two weeks -- 13 days that have received national attention. i think it speaks to some of the large. have a society at but more important, it is an opportunity for us to move forward and be better as a i want toit for amy: turn to this clip, turn to alton speakings on --aunt on sunday after learning about the shooting that left the three officers dead and the others wounded, one critically. this is what she said. nolects we don't call for bloodshed. that is how this all started with bloodshed. we don't want no more bloodshed. leave, go home, go wherever you come from. this is our house. you can't come in our house, killing us. that is what you're doing because at the end of the day, these people call this family and tell them that their daddies and their mamas are not coming home no more. i know how they feel because i got the same phone call. no justice. no justice. no peace. stop this killing. stop this killing. stop this killing. amy: that is veda washington-abusaleh, who is the aunt of alton sterling. lamont cole, can you talk about her call for peace and for justice? >> my heart goes out to she as well as the other members of the sterling family. sandra sterling, one of his aunts and i have talked every day. i agree with her that bloodshed is what is leading to many of the tense nature we have in the city and leading to some of the challenging times we are experiencing in our country, and leading to more bloodshed. so i agree with her that this is not what we want to see. this is not with the family wanted to see. this is not what they are about. the sterling family is extremely large here in our city, and they are a great group of people. and this is nothing that any of them would want. so the passion, the pain in her voice, the tears -- they are real. she feels for those families. she understands what they are experiencing because 13 days ago, she and her family experienced the same thing. i think we're in the same page in terms of not wanting to see thisype of tragedy take place on behalf of the police department as well as our citizens. i think we have to go to a point where we work to keep our communities safe and then we have to work extremely hard to keep our police officers say. this may sound a bit selfish, but ultimately, whom i supposed to call when i feel unsafe if i can't make sure -- if i'm not working were discussing how we keep those who have been charged with protecting us, how we keep those individuals safe? so many friends of mine work in law enforcement. i don't want to see any of them killed in the street doing such a dangerous job and putting their life on the line every single day. i echo what miss stirling is saying and i sincerely hope we can work together to make sure that we come up with solutions that are going to make our committed the better. amy: let me ask you about the mayor. many are calling for him to resign, kip holden. protests outside the police department. so many attended alton sterling's funeral on friday, the memorial service, but not the mayor. inexplicable absence. should have you been their? do you feel he should resign, city councilman? >> that is a test question. very well.mayor i have known him a long time. i think it is a very challenging position for him to be in as the leader of this city, as the first three term mayor, as the first african-american mayor. i do understand the frustration some may have with the decision that he made. but i will say this. i can't speak for him. i was at the funeral. i have attended many of the in the city. all of those that i've attended have been extremely peaceful. i have visited with the family and attended the store, visited the store at least eight of the last 13 days to be there with the people. i think in leadership, the right move to make is always to be with the people that elected you to be in office. as it relates to him choosing to resign, that is a tough decision for him. publicly that is something he is not going to do. he is not going to resign from office. i know people are angry and frustrated with some of the choices he is making, but i will simply say this. decisions we make dictate the life we lead and i would not want to be him right now at this moment. amy: do you know why he chose not to attend and apparently, though i cannot confirm this, he hasn't even called the sterling family? president obama called the family. >> i do know him well, but we have not spoken in about 2.5 months. i'm not sure why he is choosing to do some of the things that he is doing. and i'm not judging. please, understand i am not judging any of the decisions are mayor is making. in a situation like this, i myself have been in a position where i was elected by the people who live in that community. i made sure i visited with the family, i contacted the family, i offered my condolences and made sure we sent something from our office to the funeral. i majored in be with the family on the day of the funeral to offer condolences and support. i majored a stay in contact with the members of the family i know well. again, i cannot speak to any decisions he has made. but will i will say is during the rest of his term with three months left, i think he and the rest of us need to start working toward real solutions in terms of how to keep our communities safe and as well how to keep our police department say. officers killed in baton rouge has been identified as 32-year-old montrell jackson, married father of a new baby boy. jackson, who was described as humble and kind was a 10-year veteran of the baton rouge police department. he responded to the police killing of alton sterling in baton rouge as well as the shooting of dallas police officers in a facebook post , which was dated july 8. he wrote -- "i'm tired physically and emotionally. thank you to everyone that has reached out to me or my wife. it was needed and much appreciated. i swear to god i love this city but i wonder if this city loves , me. in uniform i get nasty hateful and out of uniform some consider me a threat. i've experienced so much in my short life and these last 3 days have tested me to the core. finally i personally want to send prayers out to everyone directly affected by this tragedy. these are trying times. please don't let hate infect your heart. this city must and will get better. i'm working in these streets so any protesters, officers, friends, family or whoever, if you see me and need a hug or want to say a prayer, i got you." again, those are the words of the officer who was gunned down on sunday. your thoughts on this, city councilmember lamont cole? someone single time reads that on television or i read it myself, i get a lump in my throat. he summed up the situation so eloquently. i think the passion in his words is evident. i think that officer cared about this city, cared about the was charged with working with. and i think it was extremely challenging. i understand some of what he was saying, being an african american male living in the city who does work every day with young people and tries to make sure we're doing the right types of things to move the city forward. i have seen montrell jackson working. i don't know him personally. i have seen him. i recognize that everyone he came in contact with, from my observation, he treated with the ultimate respect. asork in a school system well. i come in contact with law enforcement white often at extracurricular activities. i have seen him at various events. he was a good man from observation. i think his words spoke to his he carriedintegrity as he wore the uniform, and the way he carried himself in our community. i think this city has lost a great individual, has lost it from a tragic incident. a young baby who won't grow up knowing has father. i think it is extremely unfortunate. but to sum up his words, it is amazing to me that he had that thought process so soon after such tragic events and not knowing what his fate would be going forward. to have an individual express himself so well and to be remembered by those words. i commend him for the life that he lived in a hope that we can celebrate him. amy: very quickly, can you respond to the so-called blue lives matter law and also the fact that after alton sterling's debt, close to 200 people were arrested. the aclu has filed suit saying unnecessary force, excessive arrest. what are your thoughts on this? >> i think this is a first time that we have experienced anything like this in our city. and i think people were on edge and responded the best way they knew how. i take caution with what i observed in the news media, what i saw on social media videos in terms of how police were interacting with our residence. i had some concerns. , think it was extremely tough not only for the police department, but for the protesters as well. i think people were angry. i think people were frustrated. i know i was angry and frustrated. i was a participant in many protest. i think people reacted in a way based on emotion. i think oftentimes when we act on emotion without the benefit of intellect, we make decisions sometimes that we regret. i think over 180 people being arrested was a bit excessive in terms of trying to keep our city safe. i also recognize that the police department was doing the best extremely during this challenging time. do i agree with 180 people being arrested during a protest? not at all. let me state that for the record. i do understand they were doing the best they could based on all of the information they were receiving about the protests. police chief as well as our sheriff to discuss our concerns about what was happening. based on their conversations, i may not agree with the way they went about addressing the matter, but i do understand in those positions of leadership there are cap decisions to be made, and they made the ones they thought were going to keep the community safe. amy: lamont cole, thank you for being with us, city councilman altonon rouge where sterling was killed by police. only come back from break, dr. cornel west is here in cleveland at the republican national convention. we will find out why. stay with us. ♪ [music break] amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we are breaking with convention. however, politics, and the presidency. every day we're broadcasting for two hours. this week from cleveland during the republican national convention, which opens later this afternoon, and next week from philadelphia. to talk more about the killings of the police officers in baton rouge and the recent nationwide protests against police brutality and why he is here in cleveland at the republican national convention for the week, we're joined by cornel west professor cornel west post of dr. west is a professor at union theological seminary and endorsed bernie sanders for president last summer and was appointed by sanders to serve on the democratic platform committee. he is author of numerous books, most recently "black prophetic fire." welcome to democracy now! great to have you here in cleveland. >> in the midst of the madness, my dear sister. amy: the killings of the police officers in baton rouge and before that in dallas, the killing of the african-american anddents alton sterling philando castile. >> there will never be peace without justice. there will never be columnist without accountability. there will never be order without fairness. so when i hear the authorities call for fees, call for calm this and call for order, i say, yes, but it is not the absence of tension. it has to be the presence of that justice and accountability and that fairness. when i hear the authorities, even president obama say, the attack on the police is an attack on all of us. blackt an attack on people, especially black you is also an attack on all of us. if in fact the attack on the police is an assault on all of us, then when the police unfairly maim and murder civilians, the police is killing on behalf of all of us. i don' want police killing on behalf of me. i want the police be treated with respect and fairness and i was black youth and brownies, black men and black men to be treated fairly. [indiscernible] i'm here with a reverend at the great historic institution a baptist church and we will have , gathering with sister nina who is here, who is just magnificent in terms of her presence. amy: nina turner? >> the great nina turner. .t 49 years ago yesterday, the death of john cole train. from a, that is crucial. it is really about a love supreme, really about the giant steps that we have to take. it we have to hit the streets and preserve the resistance and let the young folk know, see the tears. stop killing the black people. stop killing the. working people. they're killing a lot of white brothers and sisters, too, but it is disproportionately chocolate. yes, you have to stop killing the police, but we're in this together. yes social neglect, economic abandonment. every day, poor black people wrestling with unbelievably oppressive conditions. we have to be able to speak candidly and honestly and come up with some ways to channel this rage and anger. you are endorsing dr. jill stein. you are a surrogate for bernie sanders. you spoke all over the country for him. what made you decide to support the green party presidential candidate as opposed tailor clinton? one have never been tied to candidate or party or even institution. i am committed to truth and justice. brother bernie knows that. stood for truth and justice during the primary at a national level, highly visible level. once he endorsed hillary clinton, who for me is a neoliberal disaster, it was -- amy: what do mean? >> a neoliberal disaster is one who generates mass incarceration regime, deregulate banks and ofkets, who promotes chaos regime change in libya, supports military coups in honduras, undermines some of the magnificent efforts in haiti of working people and so forth. that is the record of hillary clinton. there was no way when my ear -- ier bernie sanders disagree with my brother. i don't think she will make an outstanding president at all. she is a militarist. she is a hawk. she could take us into war with russia. she could take us into war with iran. dangerous ins terms of her neoliberal ideology. not as a woman. i'm supporting my sister jill stein. after the magnificent campaign of bernie sanders, the next step is a green step, a progressive step. calling for reparations, the release of prisoners who have been historically unfairly treated -- especially tied to nonviolent crimes, and then saying their vote should never be taken away when you're calling for the people and .lanet of peace before profits sister jill stein for me is somebody that is worth fighting for. she is not a spoiler. a lot of people use that term "spoiler." cannot makelinton the case, then she doesn't deserve our vote. trump is a neofascist in the making. amy: donald trump. >> no doubt about that. the thing is, you can't just be trump and his of the vote. if hillary clinton wants the vote of progressives, she better be really about it. she is so tied with wall street and so tied to the corporate elite. amy: wide say he is a neofascist, donald trump? >> it takes the form of big money, big banks, big corporations tied to the scapegoating of the vulnerable. abroaditaristic policies . strongmen, charismatic, autocratic personality and that is why -- this is why a salute you, my dear sister. corporate media has played a fundamental role in the making of donald trump. .2 billion they made big profits. profits ahead of the public interest. they covered every speech, every word on twitter for the last 14 months, just to make big money. even this convention. they can't wait. they're salivating for the profits. what do they do? they throw out this mediocre, dumb down xenophobia brother who makes -- he is a human being like anyone else. neofascist in the making. corporate media is going to have to acknowledge the tremendous responsibility they have a making sure donald trump was center stage. if bernie sanders had received even one half of that kind of attention, he would be in a very different place. if they put more stress on what chill stein is saying, the unbelievable fairness, subtlety of analysis, sister jill, corporate media won't touch her with a 10 foot pole for the most part. it is going to change. amy: what does dr. jill stein represent? why are you drawn to the green party platform now that bernie sanders has conceded? >> she is a major force for good. poor beinghe role of sent to center stage. she is trying to save the planet in the face of corporate greed. she is fundamental he concerned with issues of racial justice, legacy of white supremacy as well as male supremacy. she is concerned about empowering working people. she opposestpp. kinds of policies the democratic party supported, president obama has supported. it is hard to find somebody at with thenal level certain kind of hope giving the moral decay. and by that i mean greed and indifference and contempt in the ,river seat among our elite vis-a-vis, all working people and poor people. it is sad to see so many fellow working people and fellow citizens supporting a pseudo-populist a neofascist like donald trump. they are in pain. the pain is very real, but they're moving and the right-wing direction. amy: what happened with the democratic platform? a lot of people don't know how this stuff is made, how the sausage is made. explain what happened. what did you win and what did you lose? had wonderful deliberation. brother cummings was the chairperson. but we lost tpp, lost medicare for all, lost these really occupation and settlements included within the platform, keeping track while precious houston -- john amy: what about -- what do you mean you lost? >> we made the case and we lost the vote. we were looking to include them within the platform. so at least it was on paper. of course, putting that on paper is different than in practice. declaration is different from the execution. we lost because of clinton people lined up and voted against it. that is why i abstained initially at the move from writing the draft and we took into the draft form committee. in orlando, i was also a member of the platform committee and i had to abstain again because even though they did not allow for it, just "no," but there's no way based on moral grounds, my own moral conscience that i could support that platform. intomy dear brother moved his endorsement, strong endorsement of the neoliberal disaster that sister hillary represents, there was no way i could stay with bernie sanders any longer. a break from the two-party system. i was hoping we could bring the neoliberal era to a close. populist, bernie sanders. neofascist, trump. neoliberalism, heller clinton. right now they are run by big corporate lobbyists. big money and it looks like they want to hold on for dear life. it is a sad thing to see because the country is having a nervous breakdown. you just hope there can be enough people with compassion and courage to hold onto justice, keep the legacy. finally, when you look at what donald trump is calling for, the wall on the border with mexico, banning muslims -- barring muslims from coming into hesitating to disavow the support of the white supremacist david duke and other issues, for those who say it is only hillary clinton who could defeat that, what is your response? >> when you actually look at the mass incarceration policies, look at the reinforcement of the new jim crow and the segregation of our educational systems and so forth that occurred under democrats. it would persist under hillary clinton. what donald trump talks about in the abstract is actually concretely enacted under the neoliberal regimes of the democratic party. same would be true in terms of foreign policy. foreign policy for me is very, very important in terms of the no-fly zone in syria that can lead toward war. the kind of encirclement of russia. can you imagine russian troops in mexico and canada? what would the u.s. response be? oh, my god. we know russia is run by autocratic putin, but that kind of provocation for russia who , it is the kind of thing that hillary clinton of core supported and her connection to king and the kissingers, is just frightening. this idea that somehow we have the neoliberal disaster as the only option, as a bluesman, i appreciate you playing that blues. that said i can do with catastrophe. not by panicking and being driven by fear, but i can look catastrophe in the face and still tell the truth and still go down swinging with a smile -- most important, love. love.rain's for me, jesus is the center of how we proceed. amy: we will leave it there but we will be talking to you through the week. dr. cornel west professor at union theological seminary. , he endorsed bernie sanders for president last summer and was appointed by sanders to serve on the democratic platform committee. author of a number of books most , recently "black prophetic fire." jill stein,sing dr. green party presidential ndidate. when we come back, we go to is symbol. stay right here to talk about the attempted coup over the weekend. stay with us. ♪ [music break] amy: the singer was imprisoned for political lyrics three times after turkey's 1980 coup. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. turkey remains in a state of crisis three days after soldiers staged an attempted coup commandeering tanks, attack helicopters, and fighter jets in a bid to seize power. more than 290 people were killed around 1400 wounded on friday , night. the coup began while turkish president erdogan was vacationing at a seaside resort. the mutinous faction of the military said it had taken action to protect democracy from erdogan. in the midst of the coup erdogan spoke to the nation via the facetime app on his iphone after he narrowly escaped being captured by soldiers who arrived at his seaside hotel just after he left. once the coup was defeated, he addressed the nation again. power that is above national will in this country. as the president of this country, i can say that members of the party that i'm the founder of will be hand-in-hand with our people in the city squares and punish those that are responsible. the people of this country also want to punish them in custody orders are out also. turkey is neither a country that can be felt easily with these rights, nor a country that can be managed by disobeying it will stop only 45 million voters can manage this country, like our prime minister just said, these tanks are not theirs. they are this country's and we know how to stop them. they're not afraid of them. amy: since the coup failed, turkey has arrested 6000 people including senior members of the , judiciary and military. president erdogan blamed u.s.-based muslim cleric fethullah gulen for orchestrating the attempted coup. gulen, who lives in pennsylvania, has denied any involvement. erdogan has said his government may consider reinstating the death penalty to punish those responsible. to talk more about the attempted coup and its implications, we're going to agree to is symbol where we are joined by koray calisk, associate professor of political science at bogazici university. welcome back. can you talk about what happened this weekend? >> good morning, amy. amy: it is good to have you with us. can you talk about what happened over the weekend, the attempted coup? >> on friday night at around 10:00, we began to hear rumors that the army blocked the main bridges and is symbol of the two twoges -- is symbol, the bridges like the george washington in new york. which is strange because with traffic blocked, these bridges -- no one can cross them because of the traffic. it turned out a small group within the army kidnapped chiefs instaff and plotted a coup thecountry by controlling armory and part of the air force. immediately after they tried that, the head of the army and is symbol, the general who is commanding the largest army in istanbul, said the army was against the coup and they did not represent soldiers and the chiefs of staff. he single-handedly cleaned the airport in istanbul and contacted erdogan while he was vacationing with his family and escortedd to istanbul by fighter jets. this is how they managed to save erdogan and bring him to istanbul. if they did not, we learn later left,utes after erdogan helicopters arrived in the hotel he was staying and stormed the hotel, killed two security guards, and tried to find where erdogan and bombed the place where he stayed. -- axa, the first aim of the coup was in two control the entire country. they were not powerful enough to control the country, given they put together a coup even to be able to pursue their end. i believe their main objective was to create challenge by either -- chaos by either kidnapping were assassinating the president so the country whichbe in turmoil after they hoped to control the government and the rest of the army. which would not happen in any case because turkish civil society, turkish political society, nationalist party, social democratic party -- they all sided with democracy, condemned the coup attempt, and showed a great democratic maturity to stand against the coup. all they could have managed was to create huge turmoil, and a believable turmoil in this country, and tell us which would claim thousands of people, panicking soldiers. many soldiers on the street did not know it was a coup. they were told there was a terror attack. they were told there were military maneuvers. they were also clearly shocked. this was supported some by officers who thought they might benefit from this coup d'etat. however, but the majority of the army, the entire civil society, the media, and the political society stood firmly against this coup attempt. this was the second failed coup attempt in the history of europe attempt81 failed coup in spain him as you remember. so i believe we saved this beautiful country and things may develop differently after today. it may be [indiscernible] after the country stood firmly together after this terrible coup attempt that started on friday and ended -- amy: finally, the call erdogan by for the extradition of fethullah gulen from the poconos in pennsylvania who he says is behind me coup? we just cap 30 seconds. >> the united states already told the turkish government there expecting prove of who was against it. larget recall any critique -- those pro-war --inst erdogan seem to be the government is toying -- going to present the us government with proof. if this happens, i believe the united states should head to turkey. amy: koray caliskan, thank you for being with us, associate professor of political science at bogazici university. in our second hour, another perspective. that does it for our show. 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