For years, Kat Abughazaleh worked ferociously to expose what right-wing talking heads were telling the MAGA masses, uncovering misinformation and offering facts and data to help counter their lies. Her work was so instrumental that it helped in taking down Tucker Carlson at FOX News. Now, she’s taking that energy to the campaign trail, after announcing early last year she would be running for Congress in Illinois’ 9th District.
Kat joined Lincoln Square Executive Editor Susan J. Demas to talk about her campaign, but also to talk about so much more, like literally putting her body on the line to protest ICE.
Abughazaleh stressed the harsh conditions many in ICE detention are facing and then reflected on her own treatment outside the Broadview ICE facility. “They consistently threw me, dragged my friend. But they started deploying gas. They started shooting us with pepper bullets. The next week, it was even worse. They shot the ground with pepper bullets at our First Amendment rights were on the sidewalk before kidnapping a protester. And then a van came out and tried to run people over. And then they threw tear gas, not just at the people protesting, but also at the media. There was a second tear gas canister thrown by the media trucks. The week after that, it just got worse and worse and worse. And once again, this is what they’re willing to do on camera.”
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Abughazaleh lambasted the lack of bold leadership coming from the Democratic Party and its cautious incrementalism.
“I was very clear in our launch that I just saw an issue with the Democratic Party. And I kept sitting around wondering, ‘When is someone going to do something? When is someone going to be the person that I want to see in Congress? When is someone going to do something? When is someone going to be the person that I want to see in Congress?’ And that’s someone who understands the far right. My colleagues and I have spent years trying to convince Democrats and educate Democrats on the threat of the far right. We told them about January 6th before it happened. We told them about where the DEI, CRT, anti-trans panic would lead and they didn’t listen. So I got sick of waiting for someone to listen and I decided to run myself.”
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Check out more of this amazing conversation between Kat Abughazaleh and Susan J. Demas here on Lincoln Square.
