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Wilmer J. Leon III is a political scientist, columnist and radio host; his new book is a collection of columns from the Obama era, Politics: Another Perspective.
Leon grew up in South Sacramento, and we open with a discussion of segregation in “post-racial” America and the open racism of Trump and his supporters. We discuss that racism–more than economic issues–was a main driver of the Trump campaign last year.
Asked why Clinton lost, Leon says she ran a “lousy, lousy, lousy” campaign that was undermined by the GOP voter suppression efforts, including the “interstate crosscheck list” used to delist voters in 29 states.
In his book, he expresses strong criticism of the policies of Israel, but doesn’t agree that Obama was “played” by Israel and its allies. He’s critical of Obama’s “risk-averse” approach to incarceration reform, and says Obama was “a president who happened to be black” as opposed to a “black president”.
For more info and to get a copy of the book, click here.