hiroshima. >> if they do not accept our rain ofhey may accept a fire from the air, the like of which has never been seen on the earth. of: on the anniversary nagasaki, are we heading towards a nuclear war? will speak with a long time investigative journalist and activist. >> will, trumps provocation of north korea should qualify for impeachment. havetil now, his crimes been in, racism, stupidity. with this, he is actually threatening real u.s. security. amy: all that and more, coming up. now, ando democracy democracynow.org, the war and peace report. tension between the u.s. and north korea escalated sharply tuesday after president trump suggested he was prepared to start a nuclear war threatening to unleash "fire and fury" against north korea. president trump: north korea does not make any more threats to the united states. they will be met with fire and fury. like the world has never seen. threatening,ery beyond a normal state. and as i said, they will be met with fire, fury, and frankly, power, the likes of which this world has ver seen before. amy: hours later, north korea threatened to strike the u.s. territory of guam in the western pacific. guam is home to 163,000 people as well as multiple major u.s. military bases. secretary of state rex tillerson is traveling to guam today, amid the escalating tensions. in response to the threats, china has called on all sides to deescalate their rhetoric, with the china's ministry of foreign affairs issuing a statement encouraging the u.s. and north korea to "avoid remarks and actions that could aggravate conflicts and escalate tensions." the threat of nuclear war between the u.s. and north korea has been escalating in recent weeks. over the weekend, the un security council imposed a new round of sanctions against north korea over its test launches of two intercontinental ballistic missiles last month. the sanctions ban north korean exports of coal, iron, lead and seafood, which could slash up to one-third of the country's export revenue. meanwhile, the washington post reported tuesday north korea has successfully produced a miniaturized nuclear warhead that can fit inside its missiles. the post said the finding was made by u.s. intelligence officials in a confidential assessment. in north korea on tuesday, residents spoke out against the sanctions and threats by the united states. theo-called big countries which have fabricated the sanctions are the ones who have conducted most of the nuclear tests and test launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles, whenever they want. we cannot accept such a legal resolution which is trying to incriminate the development of our defensive nuclear force. morning, they released the longest held western prisoner in north korea. the escalating tension comes as, in japan, residents marked the 72nd anniversary of the u.s. atomic bombings of nagasaki on august 9, 1945 and hiroshima on august 6, 1945. over the weekend, nearly 50,000 residents and world leaders gathered to mark the anniversary of the hiroshima bombing, which killed 140,000 people. this is hiroshima's mayor, kasumi matsui, calling for dialogue to avoid nuclear war. government should work in earnest to act as a bridge between nuclear and nonnuclear the japanesenifest constitution so the ratification of a nuclear weapons convention can be upheld. amy: we'll have more on the rising tensions between the u.s. and north korea after headlines. in news on syria, former top war crimes prosecutor carla del ponte has quit the united nations independent commission of inquiry on syria, saying the un security council lacks the political will to bring the perpetrators of war crimes to justice. del ponte formerly served as a war crimes prosecutor in tribunals on rwanda and yugoslavia. she said "right now it looks as if president bashar al-assad will escape justice if we want to negotiate peace. but one day he will have to face justice. justice must do its work because without justice there is no real peace." unquote meanwhile, syrian human rights lawyer noura ghazi safadi has announced that her husband, prominent syrian palestinian internet activist bassel khartabil, was executed by the assad regime in 2014. the news of his death has sparked international outcry and mourning, particularly among internet activists. khartabil was open source software programer who fought for an open internet and helped people across syria evade regime censorship and surveillance. in 2012, foreign policy magazine listed him as the 19th most influential thinker of the year for "insisting, against all odds, on a peaceful syrian revolution." he was arrested by the syrian military in 2012 in damascus. the white house is considering an unprecedented plan to privatize the war in afghanistan at the urging of erik prince, founder of the now defunct private mercenary firm blackwater. prince told usa today the plan would include sending 5,500 private mercenaries to afghanistan to advise the afghan army. it would also include deploying a private air force -- with at least 90 aircraft -- to carry out the bombing campaign against taliban insurance hints -- against taliban insurgents. prince says the plan would cost $10 billion a year of taxpayer money, which would presumably be funneled directly to private mercenary firms. the trump administration is divided over the plan, with trump's chief strategist steve van and supporting it and national security adviser hr mcmaster and defense secretary jim mathis, both former military generals, opposing the plan. the plan's consideration comes as a federal appeals court has overturned the prison sentences of former blackwater contractors who were involved in a 2007 september massacre in nisoor square in central baghdad, killing 17 civilians when they , the blackwater guards, opened fire with machine guns and threw grenades into the crowded public space. the international red cross has issued a rare statement saying it is extremely alarmed by the recent wave of airstrikes in killed dozensave of civilians and hit homes, and public spaces such as markets. the airstrikes are being carried out by the u.s. backed saudi-led coalition. this comes as the un is calling on the saudis to end its year-long blockade of yemen's main airport, demanding commercial flights be allowed to bring in aid, and allow sick patients get out. the blockade and bombing of hospitals and critical infrastructure has sparked the world's worst cholera epidemic. vice news is reporting that trump perceived a 20 page propaganda folder twice a day filled with positive news about himself. three current and former white house officials who spoke with vice news say the folder includes positive tweets, fawning news stories, and sometimes even just photos of trump looking good on television. according to the article, the propaganda files were delivered personally by reince priebus and sean spicer. spicer disputes the article, although he refused to say which parts are inaccurate. president trump has retreated a fox news article that includes classified information leads to a reporter by a anonymous u.s. official. the retweet comes as he and jeff sessions, as well as his new chief of staff, jim kelly, have launched an administrative crack down on uighurs and journalists. in technology news, a sexist manifesto written by a google engineer has sparked outreach by stating that women are biologically inferior. manifesto, the now fired google software engineer also argued against programs to promote more women and workers of color in the tech industry. toemailed his manifesto coworkers on friday, sparking widespread condemnation. the american civil liberties union has filed a lawsuit against maine governor paul lepage, over his practice of deleting comments and blocking people from his official facebook page in order to censor dissent. the aclu says "free speech must be protected from government censorship on facebook just as is it in any other public forum." in kenya, early election results show current president uhuru kenyatta leading the vote against his challenger, former prime minister raila odinga, who is claiming an overnight hacking effort has manipulated the election results. odinga's supporters organized a handful of protests as the election results were released. some fear the election may cause increased violence in the coming days. the united nations is warning of possible genocide in the central african republic, as violence in the country continues to worsen. in may, fighting between various militias killed at least 300 people and displaced 100,000 more. the central african republic has been plunged into violence since 2013, much of it sparked by a 3-year-long military intervention by former colonial ruler, france, aimed at ousting a muslim-majority rebel group from power. meanwhile, the united nations is also warning of a humanitarian crisis in the neighboring democratic republic of the congo, amid fighting between the government and rebel groups. the un has accused the government forces of carrying out massacres that could spiral into ethnic cleansing. opposition groups in the congo have launched a general strike in order to demand new elections by the end of the year. this is market seller maman jeanne, who backs the call for new elections. >> they are aligned to us. they distract us but we want to have elections be organized so that we, the people, can elect people to be a president. someone begin trust so our children will have better lives. we do not need wars and useless contract, we have to be organized. that is all i have to say. amy: in tunisia, a group of fisherman have stopped a ship of far-right anti-immigrant european activists from docking, in a protest aimed at prevent -- preventing the ship from carrying out its goal of blocking boats of refugees from reaching europe. the boat, called the c-star, is manned by white, far-right-wing activists with the french group generation identity. in response to its planned docking to refuel at tunisia's zarzis harbor, workers and fishermen organized protests and vowed to blockade the refueling channel, forcing the ship to turn away. one port official told the bbc "us let in racists here? never." -- indigenous territories in a national park in the amazon. opponents of the highway say it will further the deforestation of the amazon and destroy the land and livelihood of indigenous communities. widespread protests defeated the plan in 2011, but the bolivian congress has voted to revoke the protections won in 2011. this is indigenous leader fernando vargas. approval, the destruction of the habitat of indigenous people has begun. this is the start of destruction of the national park but also of the 22 protected areas nationally of indigenous property. therefore, indigenous people are going to make our territory and habitat the respected. amy: in ferguson, missouri, dozens of people gathered tuesday night to build a memorial on the spot where unarmed african american teenager michael brown was killed by white police officer darren wilson three years ago today, sparking an uprising in ferguson and nationwide protests against police brutality. the -- police brutality. the memorial of teddy bears, candles, and handwritten notes sits on the exact spot where michael brown's body lay in the street for more than four hours after the fatal shooting. in the baking hot sunshine. and beloved mexican cartoonist eduardo del rio, known to the world as rius, has died. for five decades, rius authored dozens of books and thousands of comic strips satirizing politicians, educating people about socialism, environmentalism and history. expressing solidarity with revolutionary movements across latin america. he's the author of the bestselling book "marx for beginners." he died in morelos, mexico, at the age of 83. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. we begin today's show looking at north korea. tensions escalated sharply after trump suggested he is preparing to start a nuclear war, threatening to unleash fire and fury against north korea. korea best not make any more threats to the united states. they will where fire and fury like the world has never seen. threatening,ery beyond a normal state. and as i said, they will be met with fire, fury, and frankly, power, the likes of which this world has never seen before. thank you. amy: trump was speaking from his golf resort in new jersey where he is on vacation for 17 days. stroke -- hours after he spoke, north korea threatened to strike the u.s. territory of guam in the western pacific. guam is home to 163,000 people as well as a major u.s. military base. tension has been rising over north korea in recent days. the un security council recently imposed a new round of sanctions against north korea over its test launches of two intercontinental ballistic missile's last month. the sanctions ban north korean exports of coal, iron, lead and seafood, which could slash up to one-third of the country's export revenue. on tuesday, the washington post are or head u.s. intelligence officials have completed an assessment where north korea has successfully produced a miniaturized nuclear warhead that can fit inside its missiles. china has called on all sides to deescalate its rhetoric. concern is growing that the north korean crisis might result in a new arms race in asia. some conservative politicians are calling for the u.s. to deploy tactical nuclear weapons. in japan, senior officials are pushing for the country to acquire long-range missiles. we are joined now by allan nairn. who spends a good deal of time in asia. your response to fire and fear -- fire andark fury? : the u.s. nuclear system was already dangerous, irresponsible and insein because , theof the weapons missiles and the silos and the submarines, they could be fired which could easily lead to a mistaken firing. and now there is a president who is on hair trigger. for years there was a complete consensus in the u.s. establishment. with conventional artillery, sea korea could devastate oul. discussion around north korea has shifted. pentagon and nato official last year wrote an article calling for the u.s. to strike nuclear policy. to be willing to use nuclear weapons against a country. usehe event that they conventional weapons. he wrote that last year. nominated himmp to be the assistant secretary in defense of nuclear policy. wrote that the u.s. should consider a ground invasion of north korea, lindsey graham, recently quoting trump as saying -- of: let me go to that quote lindsey graham, the republican senator from south carolina, being questioned last week on the today show by matt lauer. : everyntative graham military expert says there is no good military option but they are wrong. to destroy north korea's program and north korea it self. he is not going to allow president trump the ability of this man to have missiles to hit america. if there is a war to stop spam it will be over there. if thousands die, they will die over there. he has told me that to my race. amy face. amy: that was lindsey graham. allan: given yesterday, it sounds like he was accurate. even mother jones wrote an article asking why they shouldn't do nuclear strikes a north korea. the campaign, trump talked about nuclear weapons for south korea and japan and said well, if there is a north korea -japan war, go for. and this is not something that trump just stumbled upon. there are only three substantive issues that trump has been engagement through his career. one is trade. one is racism. he is for. he called for the them -- for the execution of the central park five who were innocent. thealso weapon during regular administration, trump tried to get appointed as a u.s. special envoy to negotiate a nuclear weapons deal with the soviet union. he has been thinking about this for decades. amy: i wanted to turn to recent comments by admiral scott swift. he recently spoke at a security conference in australia and took questions. >> when you turn to your command ans week, you are to receive order from the commander-in-chief, the president of the united states, to make a nuclear attack on china. would you do that? [laughter] so far, these have been yes and no answers. the answer would be yes. every member of the u.s. a note toas sworn defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies foreign and domestic and to obey officers. and the president of the united states is the commander-in-chief. amy: that was admiral scott swift. the significance of what he was saying? allan: i had read that quote but i hadn't seen that tape before. the laughter is interesting. the establishment is an organism. it has an ethos. and they discuss nuclear armageddon very easily. very casually. about is justking following the normal authoritarian chain of command that exists within the u.s.. in the executive branch. and he and other officers do swear an oath to carry out orders like that from the top. in more rational times, which trump said yesterday would be an article of impeachment. there has been a lot of talk about impeachment up until now for things like his crimes of racism and injustice and to pdt, regarding the threat of climate change, all sorts of things. but all of those things fit within the northern parameters -- within the normal parameters of being a u.s. president. all presidents have engaged in behaviors like that. although not as intensely as trump. korea,oking north risking actual destruction to ist of the u.s., he violating the system's rules on its own terms. he is committing a threat against u.s. national security. pragmaticink that in a little terms, that's the kind of thing that could be grounds for impeachment. but as long as he sits in that chair, commanders are obligated to obey his order. i wanted to turn to the dan coats. he was speaking at the security forum about kim jong-un. >> he is a very unusual type of person. he is not crazy. there is rationale backing his actions, which are survival. survival for regime and his whatry and he has watched has happened around the world relative to nations with capabilities and the leverage they have and has seen that having the nuclear card in your results in a lot of deterrence capability. the lessons that we have learned out of libya having up its nukes and ukraine having up its nukes it if yourtunately, have nukes, never give them up. amy: that was dan coats. he has a point. can gotten -- kim jong-un conducts himself like a crazy but they always say there are no good options with north korea. no good military options. but as part of the gold with survival, the north korean regime has always said, they have two principal goals. stop the u.s.-south korean military exercises, which are provocative. and number two, and the korean war. there is an armistice now that the korean war is not formally over. and that is the kind of thing where if the u.s. was serious, they could sit at the table and negotiate. to rexwas just listening tillerson, who made a surprise trip today who went from , where you have also spent time. covering the indonesian occupation in an we would go military guam site of installation. on the airplane, he said this thea very good week for u.s. and the international community. he said this today. allan: maybe he is referring to what used to be nuclear doctrine. an idea promoted a kissinger and nixon, where you had to persuade potential adversaries that you are actually crazy enough to launch nuclear weapons. and during his presidential campaign, trump said he was ready to use nuclear weapons and reportedly in briefings he would ask, what is the point of having you can't use them. it is good for the trump agenda? but it is dangerous for the world. and the idea that the general's trump, general kelly, general mathis and general mcmaster, that they somehow will stop him, it doesn't make sense. litter that is not their responsibility. their responsibility is to carry out orders. and politically, i think trump curingmore away from most of his political elements. the establishment press has been critical of trump. they have given him a lot of heat. this is because they want to worship the u.s. president. they do. they want to stand up and. that they are frustrated that trump doesn't do them because of his acting in a way that undermines the mystique of the presidency and the u.s. power. and he attacks then. and the press as well. and the main critique of trump hisin, not the substance of republican agenda but rather, the claim that he has failed to officially implement it. and they praise general kelly because they say maybe he will make it efficient as the new chief of staff i certainly hope not. does this is a rightist evolution under way. most new administrations that come in follow the judicial principle of accepting precedent, most of what is already in place. , not trump and the republicans who control all branches of the government. they are a rollbacto rollback ar achievements that have been just obama at back to franklin roosevelt and teddy roosevelt. and on the racial justice and civil rights front, they are looking at a rollback. principle, if you look at the statements of jeff sessions or steve, they are looking to ignore any right for african-americans. a projectve amassed of the dismantling. it is a revolutionary movement. it hasn't gotten as far as it could because of trump's incompetence but god help us all. you mentioned as history -- you mentioned history. i want to go back to the words of president harry truman. today marks the 72nd anniversary of the u.s. bombing of makkah sake killed 74,000 people. that came three days after the u.s. dropped the first atomic bomb on hiroshima, killing people. killing 140,000 people. this is harry truman speaking on august 6, 19 45, hours after he bombed here mishima. >> if they do not accept our terms, they may expect a rain of fire from the air, the likes of which has not been seen on earth. amy: you can liken that to president trump. allan: truman was speaking, even though it was an act of mass murder that he did to hiroshima and nagasaki, and he was in the midst of a brutal war against the mass killing japanese and nazi regime so it was a different context from now. sense, it goes back to the point that this is a .ollback administration human rights and civil rights activist, standards since then do to human rights and civil rights activism, standards of policy have changed. trump is seeking to eliminate those. casualties as a result of u.s. airstrikes in syria and iraq, they have magnified fourfold. he has told commanders, do what you will. , trying tong back rollback, u.s. foreign-policy regarding violence to where it stood decades before. even back in the years of teddy roosevelt. when you use to speak about the glory of war, the glory of violence and killing, howard was essential to the national character and personal character, that was the kind of thing that trump is even today. amy: we will continue this discussion after the break. we are speaking with a long time investigative journalists, allan nairn. stay with us. ♪ ♪ [music break] i am a lineman for the county and i drive the main road overload for another i hear you singing in the wires the wine you through and it is still on the line ♪ that was "wichita lineman" by glen campbell. campbell passed away tuesday at the age of 81. this is democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. allan nairn.e is while trump speaks from his vacation home, his golf resort, rex tillerson is flying to warm, making a surprise trip. saying it was a good week for the u.s. and the international community. as tension escalates, there is no u.s. ambassador to south korea, no secretary of asian civic affairs, no secretary of east asian affairs. can you talk about the significance of this? trump says, and he has the u.s.epeatedly that is exploiting u.s. affairs. if he believes that, it makes sense to dismantle that. the states of department, he is dismantling that to an extent. looking to slash the budget by more than one third. this comes from several places. one, the view of trump. two, that he is leading in ofernment a coalition rightist backed koch brothers types, racist, neofascist. different groups. descendedroup that is from the john birch society, the u.n. always viewed and state department as inherently evil. and they have managed to get control of state department policy. thethat dovetails with right-wing deficit hawks who/the budget, overall. the republicans face a deep problem in congress because they spending but they want to expand the pentagon budget. the solution up until now has been to cut domestic discretionary spending and try andlash social security medicaid but it is becoming more difficult because of the grassroots activism. so the state department becomes a national target. this is one of the things that drives the establishment crazy acause state department is symbol of u.s. power and trump is in the process of tearing it up. there is a very relevant quote from edward gibbon, the and he talks about the empire in the second century and he says "they endeavored to convince men find that their motive was not the temptation of conquest but was actuated by the love of order and justice. you can say the exact same thing about the u.s. today, what the u.s. says today to the world. but trump comes along and says yes, it is about conquest. you want to take afghanistan's s minerals. and it damages power because it upsets people. talktalk about polls which about the decline of opinion. is getting more opinion a stick. trump affairs is more violence and less democracy. let's talk about tomorrow and right and more is. in the world is seeing this. and it has a long-term effect of making the u.s. less of a player. amy: what does it mean specifically to not have ambassadors in the world? and the role of rex tillerson? who sometimes looks like the restraining force on trump, the former ceo of the largest private oil corp. ration in the corporation in the world. what are his intentions? allan: it is remarkable. he has embraced the white house policy of dismantling the state department. there are others who have filed suit against the epa and you have said publicly that he wants to kill. and no, there's the opportunity to go inside and kill. rex tillerson doesn't come from that kind of background. he has his own kind of government from when he was running exxonmobil. now, he has embraced the idea of undermining the agency. at the same time, he seems to recognize the aspects of trumps rhetoric and make it harder for the u.s. to hold its power, internationally. saysis there anything that -- there is a good deal discussion talking about laws but they are actually just the --ms that trump is violating should there be embassies? maybe the next step would be, you don't have ambassadors in different places. you just have u.s. corporations acting as ambassadors? setting their own rules? princeas you mentioned, is proposing for afghanistan sentiment as a private contractor with a private air force. to call in airstrikes over afghanistan. amy: i want to turn to erik prince so people can hear the interesting discussion earlier this week. when the former blackwater ceo erik prince had with cnn's aaron burnett. the proposal he put forward to trump. >> you have to put someone in charge. there has to be a lead official. they have to stay there for a while. so you have a continuity of decision-making. >> and american viceroy? allan: a colonial -- it cameonial term but from a british empire that had little communications when you had that someone in charge you could make decisions. case, it means someone who can rationalize the mess that is u.s. policy events. >> 20 use the word, you went out it is a colonial word. exercising authority. a loaded word. are they talking to you about this? talked to plenty of afghans about this. when they understand we are not viceroy colonize, the is someone who will rationalize so we don't go through different ambassador every two years. there has been a fragmented command and it has to change. amy: that was the former life water founder, erik prince. talking about an american viceroy. mattis about how james is opposed to this and there is a defamation campaign going on by conservative horses against push thister to through. but an american viceroy -- in the same week at these sentences for three of four blackwater in iraq,o opened fire the overturning of the sentences and a fourth one, his murder conviction was overturned? few years ago, i met with the president of afghanistan and i doubt that he would be happy about prince's plan and him personally being put in charge of a private army. present because of his own .riminal in iraq and elsewhere. but what prince is talking about with a private corporate war could be the way of the future. both in terms of pentagon policy , subcontracting to corporations, it also the next stage. corporations having their own private armies. many already have their own private police forces, dating back to the old pinkerton's and at the dakota access pipeline's, private forces. in the eastern congo and the mineral region, you have mining withrations making deals local militias. but you don't have corporations that has itsbil own air force that drops bombs machineps with a shee guns. i think that what prince is proposing, i think it could be the way of the future. amy: the military times reported tot erik prince lobbied assemble a private air force including aircraft, helicopter gunships, drones. the plan would partly rely on an iphone mobile app called "safe strike" that soldiers could use to target airstrikes. allan nairn. allan: yes. know, trump has already said, don't ask the white house, regarding u.s. operations in iraq and syria. don't ask the white house and use your own judgment. know, he is talking about corporations using their own judgment in who to kill from the air. theough he says, "under guidance of a colonial viceroy." amy: we will break and come back. we are speaking with allan nairn. this is democracy now. we will be back in a moment. ♪ ♪ [music break] ♪ i see washington from the gate where she stands a woman with a torch mother of exile mother of exile give me your tired give me your poor come inside our open doors a worldwide welcome eyes commandd where we open to the world tiredme your give me your poor come inside our open doors ♪ "mother of exiles" by peter gould . we will post that on our website. that was challenged at a press briefing last week. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. am amy goodman. our guest for the hour is allan nairn. i wanted to play some clips introducing guests. >> joining me now, former cia analyst fred -- >> i am joined by a cia undercover opera's. he former chief of staff of the cia. a national security analyst. amy: there you have some of the hosts introducing commentators. from cnn and msnbc. , increasinglytary populating the pundit classes on the airwaves. many liberals relying on authoritarian institutions to save them from the institutionss, like the cia and pentagon, if you come from one of those places, you have a better chance of getting on msnbc that if you do if you are an activist. amy: so what about what is happening today in the media? what about the coverage we are seeing? you talk about a righteous revolution taking place. the main thrust of cnn and msnbc -- not fox, which talked about how much trump has accomplished -- in the six-month mark they and he tweeted 900 times passed no laws and only got one supreme court justice. so basically nothing has happened. he is a do-nothing-speak everything president but you feel different about this? allan: they have a radical agenda to rollback social progress. amy: the trump administration? allan: the trump administration and the radical party now controlling both sides of congress and state legislatures. and they have already done a lot. trump has an executive order demanding the two regulations on things like health and safety. ,abor rights, air pollution everything you can imagine, new one thatvery is put in. they're allowing institutions broadcasting, which had an actual financial deal exchange with the trump campaign. a radical right-wing outfit, to expand their tv station holdings nationwide to twice the level that would usually be allowed under the regulatory regime. there are many steps that are being taken that will not be able act, even if there is a change in the administration. you had a left-wing president, once sinclair takes ownership of stations, there is no piece of paper they can find to roll that back. many of these are irreversible. the various estimates of that isn't even compared to the amount of deaths that are happening because they fail to implement full coverage under single-payer. these consequences are irreversible. and they haven't achieved nearly as much as they could. because of trumps craziness. but they are moving. but they are seeking to take advantage of the fact that the system is much less democratic than many people realize. there are a series of letters used to overcome democracy, ranging from the electoral college, to a senate system where a minority of voters, a congressional and state legislative level gerrymandering, the possibility of voter suppression, the house and senate rules. support.t has big the only way to overcome these so that iss to amass why they are so involved in voter suppression. they want to block that. they want voters to be dominated i their supporters. we are the media, covering these issues. if you turn on msnbc or cnn and you go away for an hour or two, and you come back, you might think you had put it on hold and they were just completing a sentence. it is invariably about russia. talk about coverage? an 18-20u have seen ratio of coverage. russia to other matters. and i think the press has done that and many liberals have let these commercial outlets of cnn the politicalnate agenda which is one reason why trump's approval rating is as high as it is. -- high amy: you are saying it is high? allan: yes. i think if it was reversed, 20% to russia and 80% to republican governors and trump's actions, i think he would be down in the 20's. structural of the lessons that is controlled on every front, because of the structural advantages, if they , i think republicans would lose seats but would maintain control of congress. amy: many people must be shocked when you say that. trump, during the general election campaign, his approval ratings were often lower than they are right now. but it shouldn't even be close. if the press were hammering away at the substance of what this revolution is doing, they would be wiped out. amy: and what about the fact that they say a foreign power intervened in the election to trumps advantage? allan: the basic allegation is that russia used u.s. style election tactics against the u.s. that is why the cia was created, to intervene in foreign elections and governments. there was one study that cited 81 systems of intervention. personally, my guess is yes. russia did do an intervention like that. but even if the charges are true, even if russia was the source of the wikileaks material and they sent in all the false , you could say it tips the election. anyone one of a dozen factors influencing the election. if you look at voter suppression , those numbers vastly -- theyin wisconsin -- outplayed be winning margin. state legislators can be built across the country. it wouldn't be able to get away with it. amy: i want to go way back in time. i want to talk to you about jeff sessions during a 2015 radio interview with steve bannon when he was a radio talkshow host, senator jeff sessions praise the immigration act of 1924 whose chief author in the house was -- nded to end >> some people think, well, we have always had the numbers but that is not so. it is very unusual. it is a radical change. and when numbers reach this high in 1924, the president and the power anded it slowed down significantly. and we have assimilated through 1965 and we have created a solid middle-class america. with assimilated immigrants. and it was good for america. it went far beyond what anybody realized and we are on to go beyond where we were. amy: that was jeff sessions speaking to steve bannon on his in 2015.w cracking down on voting rights and immigrants in the country. allan: the trump immigration policy as announced by miller the other day is inspired by the immigration act of 1924 and the old white australia policy. the 1924 act blew out the u.s. movement, and is claimed to be based on merit. they were using standardized test results to argue at that and aryanshe nordics intellectually advanced. this led to the passage of the and immigration act inspired things like a forced sterilization law. did the nuremberg racial laws, the specific recited these u.s. measures as a large part of the inspiration. i did a chapter on this in a report i did years ago for the educational testing service. andthat is what sessions miller and trump are proposing, again. as miller was talking about the other day, he was saying this would be based on merit and that is exactly what they said in 1924. because the basic claim is that aryan whites have more merit. bogus then, vocus now. bogus now. amy: we want to thank you very much allan nairn. allan nairn is a longtime investigative journalist and activist. democracy now is produced by mike burke, deena guzder, nermeen shaikh, carla wills, laura gottesdiener, sam alcoff, john hamilton, robby karran, >> i am lidia bastianich, and teaching you about italian food has always been my passion. i want to always make it prettier and better and tastier, but this doesn't need a single thing. now it's time to learn the basics of the italian kitchen. so join me and master all things italian. tutti a tavola a mangiare! >> at cento fine foods, we're dedicated to preserving the culinary heritage of authentic italian foods by offering over 100 specialty italian products for the american kitchen. cento -- trust your family with our family. >> grana padano, made with passion for almost 1,000 years, helps bring authentic flavor to meals. grana padano -- italian excellence. >> fish and vegetables. it doesn't get any better than this in an italian kitchen. as you can see, i went fishing,