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Matt Duss says the Gaza war is causing a rupture in the Democratic Party, similar to the Iraq War's effect in 2008, with senior Democrats like Brian Schatz and Chris Van Hollen calling for a new foreign policy staff and moral clarity.
Duss accuses the Biden administration of a disinformation campaign on Gaza. He cites its refusal to assess Israeli violations of international law, contrasting it with a swift war crimes assessment against Russia within a month of its Ukraine invasion.
Duss argues Biden's 'no daylight' policy toward Israel, where differences were kept private, and his rejection of conditioning aid as 'preposterous' during the 2020 primary, created guardrails that led to complicity in atrocities.
Duss proposes the Democratic Party's position should be to end aid and arms sales to Israel, citing existing laws like the Leahy Law and Arms Export Control Act that are ignored for key allies like Israel, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia.
He contends U.S. policy has empowered extremist actors by imposing all consequences on Palestinians while allowing Israel to pursue de facto annexation with impunity, weakening prospects for peace.
Duss rejects the argument that continued U.S. support provides leverage, citing a 2019 letter from former Obama officials who admitted staying engaged in Yemen to influence Saudi Arabia was a mistake that only affirmed a terrible war.
Duss questions the strategic benefit of the U.S.-Israel alliance, arguing the costs outweigh the benefits. He says a progressive foreign policy should start by doing less harm and advance safety, prosperity, and solidarity.
He agrees with Congressman Jason Crow's analysis that Trump is a symptom, not the cause, of a rigged system. Duss links lost public trust to elite failures like the Iraq War and the 2008 financial crisis.
Duss notes that in every post-Cold War election except 2004, the more anti-war candidate has won. He says Democrats abandoned that lane in 2024, allowing Trump to claim it politically.
Duss argues Biden's Middle East policy, including maintaining Trump's pressure on Iran and pursuing the Abraham Accords to sideline Palestinians, contributed to the conditions for Hamas's October 7th attack.
He asserts the Biden administration's overriding focus on strategic competition with China to sustain American primacy drove flawed policies, including in the Middle East, and advocates for a positive-sum approach to global trade.
Duss says elite impunity and a rigged system are core to the political crisis. He supports Senator Schatz's call for new foreign policy staff and Van Hollen's push to bar officials who carried out Gaza policy from future service.
He endorses AOC's view that we are in a 'pre-rules-based order,' where hypocrisies have stripped the system of legitimacy. Duss advocates rebuilding international rules to constrain power, seeing it as a positive-sum project versus Trump's zero-sum view.
Duss emphasizes Congress must reclaim its war powers to provide accountability, citing the Iraq War debate and the impossible congressional approval for Trump's war in Iran as examples of the process's value.
On immigration, Duss argues for a legal, orderly system while making a positive case that immigrants drive growth. He says addressing the sources of grievance that fuel anti-immigrant sentiment is part of the needed political reordering.
He proposes centering anti-corruption in foreign policy, starting domestically with campaign finance reform and internationally by cracking down on the U.S. and U.K. as destinations for kleptocratic wealth.
Ken Silva's book is the first forensic investigation into the 2024 Trump assassination attempts, while other accounts like Selena Zito's focus on political fallout and affirm the official lone gunman narrative.
The official Butler story is that Thomas Crooks, a radicalized lone gunman with no online profile, exploited a security failure, fired eight shots, and was killed by a Secret Service sniper. Silva disputes key details, including who fired the fatal shot.
Ken Silva argues the official account of David King saving Trump is false. The fatal shot was fired by local Butler ESU officer Aaron Zaloponi, not the Secret Service sniper. Trump incorrectly credited King.
Judicial Watch's FOIA lawsuit revealed the FBI has 75,000 responsive records on Thomas Crooks but has released only about 200 pages over four months, a pace Silva calls egregious and revealing.
On the day of the Butler rally, Secret Service agents arrived late after reportedly drinking, and a Pennsylvania trooper was barred from their security briefing, highlighting coordination failures.
Thomas Crooks visited the Clariton Sports Club range 43 times in 10 months. On four occasions, he signed in simultaneously with a mystery person, and he once emailed a professor to be late for class to go to the range.
Crooks was first spotted on the AGR building roof at 6:03 PM. Despite multiple sightings and a local cop's radio alert at 6:08 PM, Secret Service Command Center leader Jeffrey Burr claims he never heard the warning.
Secret Service sniper David King testified he didn't see Crooks until after the shooting, but his own post-incident notes state he saw a man 'low crawling' with an AR-15 before shots were fired.
Ken Silva dismisses theories the shooting was staged, citing the real local police response, real bullets, real injuries, and Trump's treatment by a local Butler doctor, not his personal physician.
Crooks's body was held until 6 AM and sent to Allegheny County, not Butler. Medical Examiner Ariel Goldschmidt, a dual Israeli citizen, performed an incomplete toxicology test and released the body for cremation with bullet fragments still inside.
The DOJ told Ken Silva the Crooks investigation was 'open but not active,' a designation he argues is a legal excuse to avoid FOIA disclosure after previously claiming it was closed.
Silva's central unanswered question is why Secret Service sniper David King waited up to 23 seconds to engage Crooks after he started firing, and why Trump publicly praises him despite contradictory testimony.
Silva found bombs in Crooks's car and bomb-making materials in his home, including racing fuel ordered via his college email in January 2024, but the intended use remains unknown.
Ken Silva argues the alleged Iranian plot involving Asef Mershant was an FBI-controlled sting with no capacity to harm Trump, and the hype around it directly led to deploying Secret Service snipers to Butler - which may have worsened security.