CNN this week aired a report examining past comments made by James Talarico, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Texas, that appear to conflict with the more moderate tone he has adopted on the campaign trail.
CNN host Erin Burnett introduced the segment by noting that Talarico’s earlier statements reflect a “very different political vocabulary from the one he’s using in his campaign today.” According to the report, Talarico had previously said Texas’ oil industry “wouldn’t last” and had linked climate change to white supremacy and capitalism.
CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski, who reported the piece, said Talarico had thanked activists for drawing a connection between capitalism, white supremacy and climate change, saying that link would help in “dismantling them” — a reference, Kaczynski noted, to dismantling capitalism itself.
Kaczynski also pointed to Talarico’s past comparison of oil and gas to “cassette tapes,” a characterization Kaczynski said has been undercut by data showing oil and gas production in Texas has actually increased since Talarico made the remark.
Burnett summarized the findings on air: “This is obviously a number of progressive positions and comments that Talarico has taken. He sounds a lot different on the campaign trail.”
Panel Debate Over Capitalism Follows
The segment was followed by a separate panel discussion on CNN NewsNight in which The Atlantic’s Jemele Hill argued that capitalism is oppressive and bound up with white supremacy.
Telecommunications entrepreneur and political commentator Kmele Foster pushed back directly. “It’s one thing to not think capitalism isn’t working ideally. It’s another thing entirely to insist that it is oppressive, that it is bound up with…” Foster said, before laying out his own view of the system.
“I’ve always preferred Adam Smith’s description of capitalism as the natural system of liberty. The idea that people can own property, that they can exchange it freely with one another for profit, that they can find ways to put their resources to good use and profit in a way that is actually beneficial to everyone else, that there can be gains from trade that are mutually beneficial. These are foundational ideas that have created more wealth than any other system in human history. That is what capitalism is! That is not white supremacy.”
Hill responded that capitalism has not always operated the way Foster described. Foster countered by noting that slavery predates capitalism by a wide margin.
“Slavery is an institution that is older than writing. It predates capitalism. The notion that white supremacy and all these other things are bound up with capitalism in an intrinsic and fundamental way is so absurd and laughable, it barely needs to be defended.”
Foster pressed Hill to substantiate her claim, asking her to explain the specific connection between private property rights and white supremacy. “You actually have to articulate what the connection is. How are these two things the same? I’m talking about private property, the right to exchange and sell with whomever you like. What does that have to do with white supremacy? … What is the white supremacy dynamic of private property?” Foster asked.
The exchange has circulated widely on social media, drawing attention both to Talarico’s Senate campaign and to the broader debate over capitalism aired on the CNN panel.
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