Behind “Shock and Awe”: What is Trump’s real strategy?

Is there a method to Trump’s madness? There is a dizzying array of new policies, extraordinary pronouncements, and constant policy shifts. It’s meant to feel like an unstoppable and overwhelming tsunami. But there’s a reason for this course of action by Trump. It’s what long term advisor Steve Bannon calls “flooding the zone”, unleashing so many actions that opponents are blinded and stunned. The purpose of this article is to begin to “drain the zone” and explain what the real objectives of the Trump administration are. Knowing the enemy is the first step to fighting him.

Lumpen capitalists

Trump has a fundamental, overarching objective: the personal enrichment of himself and his allies. A number of terms have been used to describe this type of rule: crony capitalism, kleptocracy, and lumpen capitalism. The phrase lumpen capitalist, originated by Sam Farber, is probably the most accurate of them. Personal capital accumulation is the key motivating factor. Everything else flows from this goal. Trump sees three main ways to achieve this goal: tax cuts, deregulation, and privatization.

A centerpiece of Trump’s agenda is the plan to make the 2017 tax cuts permanent as they are due to sunset this year. We can be absolutely assured that further proposals for tax cuts for the wealthy will be coming down the pike. Taxation also plays a big role in another key component of the new administration, Elon Musk’s DOGE offensive against the federal government. If taxes are to be cut without increasing the federal budget deficit, then the money must come from somewhere to fund those parts of the government that Trump supports, such as the military and immigration enforcement. Cutting government functioning and social programs are the way to those. Medicaid will be a particular target.

Deregulation will be a means to remove any limits or restraints on the business owners in the Trump circle. The regulatory agencies have been a prime victim of the DOGE. Nineteen Inspectors General have been fired. We, therefore, have seen the destruction of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, cutbacks at the FDA and the Interior Department, no more mandatory climate impact statements by companies, and the appointment of oil and gas industry figure Kathleen Sgamma to head the Bureau of Land Management. Nothing is going to stand in the way of “Drill, Baby, Drill!”

Much of the reason for the attention that the Trump administration is paying to the Department of Education is the massive amounts of money that could be made by privatization of this sector. The same is going to be true in health care.

Trump has eliminated traditional norms and practices regulating government officials and personal profit. He issued his own meme coin just before the inauguration. He met officially with capitalists from the Gulf States to discuss opportunities for Trump golf courses there. Elon Musk met Indian leader Modi at Blair House, the Vice-President’s official residence, to discuss Tesla’s opportunities in India. In a not particularly Freudian slip speaking of Gaza, Trump said, “I would own it”. The corruption of the Teapot Dome scandal and the nineteenth century railroads is child’s play in comparison.

Using right wing ideas to build a social base

Trump needs a strong social base in order to carry out such a huge enrichment program. This is where right wing social ideas come in. Trump’s personal political proclivities are certainly towards the far right. One of his first steps on the political scene was buying a full-page ad in The New York Times calling for the execution of the (totally innocent) Central Park Five. However, right wing ideas are more than just ideology for Trump. He consciously and deliberately uses them to build a popular base. He could not create a massive following on the basis of “more money for me” so he has positioned himself as a far-right ideologue. The new President has been very successful in casting himself as a populist standing up for the “common man against the elites”. Of course, like any skilled demagogue, he not only reflects popular feelings and emotions he also fans and deepens them.

The first months of the Trump administration have been Christmas come early for the MAGA base. There has been the crusade against DEI, the repeal of the historic 1965 ban on racial discrimination by Federal contractors, the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico, proclaiming English as the country’s official language, lifting the Federal ban on the death penalty, and the attempt to end birthright citizenship. We have also seen the pardoning of the J20 far right rioters, the incessant series of attacks on the rights of trans people, and, of course, the crescendo of attacks on immigrants. Perhaps the nadir of this atrocious list is the invitation to South African Afrikaners to immigrate to the United States.

A strong executive branch to carry through the program

A social base alone is not enough to carry out the massive shift of wealth that Trump and his supporters envisage. They need a strong command center to carry out this operation. A very powerful and centralized Executive Branch is the vehicle that they have chosen for this project. Trump sees the White House as a bulldozer for the interests of himself and his cronies.

In this regard, there have been threats to prosecute local officials who stand in the way of anti-immigrant measures, measures to freeze funding of institutions that Trump is hostile to, the very frequent use of Executive Orders, the theory that the President has power over the courts in matters of Executive functioning, and more use of the impoundment of funds designated by Congress for specific purposes. This is all crowned by the statement, “He who saves his country does not violate any law”.

“Against all enemies, foreign and domestic”

Having secured a social base and created a means of implementing its project, the next task for the Trump administration is the intimidation and neutralization of all potential opponents. This process takes place on several fronts.

Internationally, Trump’s plans to drastically increase the wealth of himself and his allies does not stop at the border. It begins by showing the world that US imperialism is back with a vengeance. There will be no kowtowing to the “rules-based order” and the post World War Two organizations such as the United Nations. The real subtext to all of this is inter imperialist rivalry with China. This is one of the dominant themes of world politics today. Trump wishes to show US might against China in the crucial dispute over who is going to be the number one imperialist power. Much US strategy, such as in the Ukraine, can be traced back to this objective.

There is also a general increase in bullying and hostility to economic rivals and those whom the US wishes to dominate. The focus on tariffs is part of this strategy. We have also seen the hostility towards Canada and Mexico. Vance’s implied threats of internal disruption of the European Union likewise fit into this pattern.

Trump being Trump, foreign policy includes an unadulterated quest for US profits. The talk of taking over the Panama Canal and Greenland are examples of this. Floating ideas of financial deals in the midst of the chaos of the Gaza genocide and the war in Ukraine are examples of this goal.

Perhaps the most important neutralization of a potential source of opposition has been Trump’s securing the tacit, if uneasy, support of the mainstream of the US ruling class. Trump represents just one component of the ruling class. He finds his support from the new tech millionaires, industries that believe they will benefit from tariffs, capitalists with far-right political ideas, and a host of opportunist hangers-on who see Trump as today’s rising force and wish to ride that wave.

But Trump’s ideas challenge many long held tenets of ruling class thought. The mainstream of the capitalist class does not want tariffs, as they impede the free flow of capital. They also do not want the chaos and instability that follows Trump. They want a functioning capitalist society. They want safe aviation which won’t happen if the FAA is devastated. They want public health so as to ensure the stability of both their workforces and consumer spending. RFK, Jr.’s anti-vax craziness and running down of medical research will have the opposite effect. There are a multitude of other examples that show how Trump and Musk’s rampage will disrupt the social stability necessary for capital accumulation.

But much of the bourgeoisie has made a Faustian bargain with Trump: give us tax cuts, deregulation, and privatization and we will put up with tariffs and the general chaos. There also is an element of pandering to Trump to avoid getting on his bad side. We have, therefore, seen a veritable parade of leading capitalists going to pay homage to Trump. Businesses have stampeded to drop the DEI policies begun after the murder of George Floyd.

Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JP Morgan Chase, has always been a good bellwether of the mainstream ruling class. He used to be quite opposed to Trump. Now he supports Trump’s tariff policy and endorses the DOGE. He has gone as far as comparing Elon Musk to Albert Einstein and saying that he and Musk have “hugged out” their past differences. For now, Trump has neutralized the central core of the ruling class as potential adversaries. Fractures in this relationship will be one of the key events to monitor as events unfold.

Obviously, a key component of Trump’s process of intimidation is his vendettas against past opponents. Bizarrely, the FBI has earned a place on his “enemies list”. He has threatened any number of judges and lawyers involved in past legal cases against him. Democratic Party elected officials and Republicans who have opposed him have been intimidated. His feuds can take the pettiest forms. For example, security guards have been removed from Dr. Anthony Fauci, former foreign policy advisor John Bolton, and former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley.

The flip side of this is the rewarding of allies. For example, the dropping of charges against former New York City Mayor Eric Adams. We have also seen a plethora of the most unserious and incompetent supporters nominated for cabinet positions, ambassadorships, and high-ranking government positions.

In a Trumpian fashion

Marxism does not deny the role of the individual in history. Trump’s erratic and unpredictable functioning plays a real role in all of this. Policies are unclear and frequently changed. His speeches and pronouncements are rambling and often seem improvised on the spot. There’s a sense that no one knows what will be in tomorrow’s news.

His boasting of his own accomplishments often exaggerates the successes of his offensive. The number of immigrants deported is actually down from corresponding time periods during the Biden administration. The DOGE figures on cuts in federal spending are notoriously inflated. There have been exaggerations of the number of federal employees who have actually been dismissed. This is not a reason for us to be complacent. The reality is bad enough and there’s worse to come. But it does show the bombast and self-congratulation that are features of the Trump White House.

Some of Trump’s actions could have been lifted from the pages of The Onion. In the midst of the world changing measures that have been described in this article, he decided that the Rose Garden should be paved over, that Air Force One should be painted a darker shade of blue and prohibited the use of paper straws in federal buildings. The Executive Order goes as far as to say, “The Order requires the development of a National Strategy to End the Use of Paper Straws within 45 days to alleviate the forced use of paper straws nationwide.” These moves show something of the man who is now dominating the US capitalist class.

Conclusion

The Trump offensive is a project by lumpen capitalists to increase their wealth. For this project to be successful, they need to develop a social base, use the Executive Branch as a powerful command and control center, and neutralize and intimidate all opposition and rivals. Trump and his supporters have now done these things.

Our task is to begin to take the first steps towards a counter-offensive. These first steps are to support the actions that have already begun: the Palestinian solidarity movement, the work of the federal workers’ unions, and the demonstrations and rapid response networks being built by the immigrant rights movement. Participating in this work is the task of the hour for Marxists.