Today, Raw America managing editor Carl Gibson interviewed MS NOW opinion columnist Zeeshan Aleem for an in-depth discussion about some of the biggest issues Democrats are grappling with heading into the November midterms. Gibson and Aleem covered various topics including:
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s comments on “woke” politics and whether they hurt or helped Democrats and the criminal justice reform movement
The differences between abolishing police and abolishing ICE
Why far-right pundit Tucker Carlson is really endorsing progressive Democratic Michigan U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed
Hunter Biden’s $LAPTOP memecoin, his questionable decision to normalize far-right conspiracy theorists and whether he’s damaging his reputation
The politics of Donald Trump’s proposed $5,000 checks to voters if Republicans keep their majorities in Congress in the midterms
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Did AOC’s Quip About ‘Woke’ Politics Alienate the Democratic Base?
Gibson opened the interview by asking Aleem about his August column on Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York’s attempt to distance herself from the “defund the police” slogan that sprung out of the George Floyd uprising of 2020. Aleem said that Ocasio-Cortez’s comment that “Woke 1.0 was crazy” — which she attributed to a Democratic member of the New York City council — probably did more harm than good, even when quoted in proper context.
“‘Woke one was crazy’ was not the sort of language that I would use, and I can understand why that was alienating to some people,” Aleem said. He added that the congresswoman was “sort of throwing the criminal justice reform movement under the bus a bit.”
Still, he applauded the Bronx congresswoman for noting that the 2020 uprising that was also in large part defined by the Covid-19 lockdown was an unusual political moment that produced a diverse array of ideas, and that “language should evolve to reflect the change in moments.”
Why Police Abolition and ICE Abolition Are Totally Different
Both Gibson and Aleem acknowledged that while “abolish the police” and “defund the police” were politically unpopular, Gibson pointed out that “abolish ICE” has become a mainstream plank of Democratic politics in 2026.
Aleem observed that while police abolition never enjoyed high approval ratings even during the height of the George Floyd and Breonna Taylor protests, this could be due to its association with more fringe anarchist movements rather than democratic socialist ideals, which call for a robust state that allows for greater “regulation of human affairs.” Both he and Gibson also noted that while local police are seen as an extension of elected municipal governments, ICE is broadly viewed as the private “goon squad” of the president.
Gibson also pointed out that Michigan U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed has openly supported abolishing ICE, even though he’s running in a statewide election in a purple state that flipped between Trump, Joe Biden and back to Trump between 2016 and 2024. The MS NOW columnist suggested that just as Trump’s approval rating has cratered, so has mainstream America’s opinion of his immigration crackdown.
“[ICE] has obviously been a militarized kind of quasi-secret police force that Trump has used... to degrade and to dehumanize... immigrants of all kinds and U.S. citizens,” he said.
How Tucker Carlson’s Endorsement of El-Sayed Is a Fox-in-the-Henhouse Moment
Aleem then pointed out how far-right commentator Tucker Carlson has sought to distance himself from Trump by throwing his endorsement behind El-Sayed, despite him being what Gibson described as a “progressive leftist Muslim running in a swing state.” In his most recent MS NOW column, Aleem suggested that Carlson’s endorsement “is a product of his flipping on President Donald Trump over the war with Iran.”
Aleem told Raw America that Trump’s decision to go to war with Iran was widely seen as a betrayal of the MAGA coalition due to its longstanding belief in isolationism. However, he cautioned against taking Carlson’s endorsement in good faith, saying that the former primetime Fox News host “engages in a lot of sophistry and disinformation” and that his opposition to Trump should be taken with a grain of salt.
“Sometimes he will present as an ally of the left, seemingly to some people because of his criticisms of Israel,” Aleem said. “But again, his motives and his end goal, while they might overlap on a policy standpoint of cutting off aid to Israel, does not mean that he is a true ally of the left.”
Is Hunter Biden’s $LAPTOP Meme Coin a Grift?
Gibson then pivoted to Aleem’s September 10 column about Hunter Biden’s recent announcement that he was launching a meme coin dubbed “$LAPTOP.” In the essay, Aleem argued that the timing of Hunter Biden’s meme coin was suspicious given that he’s been on a media blitz doing interviews with various news outlets (like Raw America) as well as with far-right conspiracy theorists, extremists and white supremacists like Nick Fuentes and Candace Owens.
“He sat there and sort of normalized [Owens], and also praised some of her conspiracy theories,” Aleem said of Hunter Biden.
The MS NOW writer connected the launch of $LAPTOP to Biden’s reported financial troubles, referncing court documents revealing that the former president’s son was “several million dollars in debt” after years of legal battles.
Aleem was also blunt about Hunter Biden’s choice of using a meme coin as a money-making vehicle, rather than writing a book or joining the lecture circuit. Gibson observed that meme coins are particularly susceptible to “rugpull” schemes in which ordinary investors are left holding the bag while the person who launched the meme coin — as Donald Trump did himself in 2025 — makes millions.
“It should pretty much always be understood as scammy and as a grift,” Aleem said of meme coins. He added that they’re “a purely speculative asset” that “can only derive value from demand and expectation of future value” and that some people are “probably in the process going to get screwed over by this.”
Aleem did credit Hunter Biden for his genuine and earnest reflections on his own sobriety journey, suggesting that his battle with addiction was “something he could write a book about.”
Will Trump’s $5,000 Check Promise Work on Voters?
To close out the interview, Gibson asked Aleem about Trump’s proposal to send Americans $5,000 checks if Republicans keep their House and Senate majorities after the November midterms, which was the subject of Aleem’s September 11 column.
As the MS NOW columnist explained in his piece, the idea is already seen as particularly dubious by both the American electorate and by Congress. This is partially due to the estimated $1.3 trillion cost of the proposal, as well as Trump’s lack of credibility after failing to follow through on previous promises to send out checks.
However, Aleem cautioned that Americans shouldn’t underestimate the president’s ability to connect with large numbers of voters, whether it’s through promises of free money or anything else.
“I thought people could see through his con from 2016, and I was wrong about that,” Aleem said. “He has an extraordinary ability to defy our expectations and our predictions.”
At the same time, the columnist argued that the idea of sending out $5,000 checks is particularly cynical given Trump’s dismal record on affordability, both in his tariffs that dramatically increased the price of imported goods, to the expiration of Affordable Care Act subsidies that have caused health insurance premiums to go up by hundreds of dollars a month for millions of Americans. He said Trump’s check proposal was “dripping with condescension for the American voter,” and that it wasn’t unlike “the way you might dangle a toy in the face of an infant.”
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