Noam Chomsky Assesses Trump’s First 75 Days: ‘One Crazy Thing After Another’ (Video)

In a new Democracy Now! interview, professor and political dissident Noam Chomsky evaluates the first 75 days of President Trump’s administration and analyzes a range of domestic and foreign issues. Alongside hosts Amy Goodman and Juan González, Chomsky examines violence in the Middle East, the nuclear capabilities of foreign powers, the Republican effort to repeal Obamacare and the failures of the Democratic Party.

Watch Chomsky’s take on America’s “extremely unpredictable” president below:

The three begin by discussing health care and the GOP effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

“The U.S. health-care system is an international scandal,” Chomsky states. “Trump is all over the place. You don’t know what he believes. … But the people who are really setting the policy in the background—essentially, the [Speaker of the House Paul] Ryan ultra-right Republicans—they understand what they’re doing. And they want to destroy any aspects of the health-care system that are beneficial to the general public.”

Goodman and González also ask Chomsky about the focus on Russia and whether that government intervened in the U.S. election. The U.S. outrage over Russia’s alleged actions in the presidential campaign is hypocritical and “a joke,” Chomsky responds. “Half the world is cracking up in laughter.” He goes on to argue that the Democrats shouldn’t be focusing on this issue when there are so many “extremely destructive and harmful” policies advancing in Trump’s administration.

“[Y]ou can understand why the Democratic Party managers want to try to find some blame for the way they utterly mishandled the election and blew a perfect opportunity to win, handed it over to the opposition,” he says. “But that’s hardly a justification for allowing the Trump policies to slide by quietly.”

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Chomsky also evaluates Trump’s Cabinet, which he describes as “a caricature” of income inequality in America.

“It’s as if they’re kind of purposely trying to flaunt the fact that this country is run by Goldman Sachs and billionaires, and nobody else counts,” he says.

—Posted by Emma Niles