Dump Trump and the system too

A turn to the right in the United States (pic: Gage Skidmore on flickr)

Figures on the right and far right across the world are looking to president Donald Trump with envy of his success. Far right parties such as Reform UK in Britain and the Alternative for Germany (AfD) want to replicate what Trump has achieved in the United States.

They admire how he has dragged politics to the right, and emboldened racism, sexism, climate denial and nationalism. They look at how Trump has whipped up division for his advantage and see a formula to aim for.

His presidency will fuel the confidence of the far right, adding to the sense that they are on the march across the globe.

And when the president of the world’s largest economic and political power embodies the language, ideas and imagery of the far right, these ideas seep deeper into the mainstream.

But what does Trump actually represent? He is both a continuity and a break. Trump didn’t invent the racist and sexist ideas he embodies. Those at the top have long mobilised these ideas to turn working class people against each other.

Racism from the top isn’t a new strategy, but one embedded within the logic of capitalism—the capitalist class has always tried to divide workers.

Yet Trump is also a break, as he represents an intensification of far right ideas, taking the politics of division to the extreme.

Just look at his ambitions around mass deportations. An explicit aim of Trump’s administration is to deport 1 million people a year, with the military set to lead Trump’s “mass deportation programme”.

Trump is set to establish one of the most racist offensives against migrants and refugees in decades. He is lining up a team of racists, reactionaries, conspiracy theorists and the super rich to fill his cabinet.

Yet the momentum that is currently behind Trump and the far right can be stopped if people fight back.

In the US, this means militant resistance to stop Trump’s deportation programme and mass mobilisations in defence of migrants and refugees.

It means resistance to bigoted attacks on women and LGBT+ people and a movement on the streets in solidarity with Palestine. It means workers taking strikes to demand better wages and conditions and start to build an alternative pole of attraction.

But more fundamentally, it requires a fight against the very system that creates the far right—the capitalist system of profit.

This is a system that has class divisions at its heart. It is a system where the bosses and the rich, holding economic and political power, are free to use racism to their advantage.
And it is a system that creates horrors for the working class, enabling racist ideas to gain purchase. A fight against the far right and the capitalist system can win.

Good riddance to Genocide Joe

Joe Biden is on his way out. On life support towards the end of his presidency, his administration was kept alive by the apparatus of his Democratic Party.

The left’s response to the Democrat’s electoral failure has been telling. Some blamed minorities for not voting for his replacement, Kamala Harris. Some blamed the Democrats for clinging to Biden for too long.

A few pointed to the reality—the Democratic Party itself. The Democrats were part of a ruling class that was hostile to ordinary people, and Biden was simply its temporary, tired henchman.

He backed Israel’s genocide in Gaza and armed Ukraine to the teeth to fight US imperialism’s bloody wars. Biden abandoned working people and failed to address the US’ social crisis.

Trump capitalised on widespread class anger with his trademark promise to “Make America Great Again”.

Biden—and the Democrats—denied reality, claiming America was already great. Their failures paved the way for Trump’s return. But the legacy of “Genocide Joe” proves the Democrats are no alternative.