The Bloc vs. The Blob?

Bloc Party

Guido and Amira unpack interviews with two foreign policy experts, Matt Duss, Bernie Sanders’ foreign policy advisor, and Yasmine Taeb, human rights attorney and progressive foreign policy activist, circling one central question: What happened to the reigning foreign policy consensus in D.C - also known as the Blob - when Congressman-elect Jamaal Bowman unseated the hawkish Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Eliot Engel this summer? Guido interviews Matt about his experience pushing the constraints of the Blob, how a progressive vision for foreign policy was shaping up before the defeat of Eliot Engel and then how Jamaal Bowman’s victory changed the politics of what’s possible all over again.
Bowman’s race was watched closely for months by grassroots organizations and once it was clear Engel was going to lose his seat as Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC), activists like Yasmine Taeb were on the frontlines working to champion a progressive replacement for Engel. For Yasmine, who grew up in a refugee family - and many others who are critical of US foreign policy - the fight against the Blob isn’t just political, it’s personal.