The past is not even past (E9)

GONZO remains in New Orleans and continues chowing down on beignets with journalist, Max Blumenthal, who says that while Donald Trump has, indeed, energized ‘the basket of deplorables,’ his campaign slogan ‘Make America Great Again’ won the election because Hillary did represent the ‘winners’ of globalization post-Nafta and he had intentionally appealed to the ‘losers’ in places like Michigan. They also discuss the proliferation of conspiracy theories as unsurprising when the ordinary people of America are some of the most conspired against people in the world, including, for example, the Tuskegee syphilis experiment on African-American males from 1932 until 1972. As they reminisce about the GONZO journey encountering ghosts on the trail, Blumenthal notes that Donald Trump is the perfect American ghost who brings all the dark ghosts of our past into one orange skinned, dead fox haired character who has so much energy it’s as if he’s powered by fish filets. Later in the day, Max visits Dr. Clyde Robertson, director of African and African-American Studies at Southern University in New Orleans, to discuss the problem with our racist past that is not even past. Racism still haunts society and politics today as the nation went from slavery to Jim Crow to the prison industrial complex. They discuss the history of the Black Panthers in the area and the gentrification of the city in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Dr. Robertson also mentions that Barack Obama did not deliver a post-racial society as he kowtowed to special corporate interests instead. Finally, Max and Stacy head out toward Florida, passing through rain storms in Alabama and Mississippi.