As always, the Democrats hope that the fear of Trump and Project 2025 will be enough to hold their supporters in line. But the fact that Trump continues to lead among people who say that the economy is their main concern, and that concerns about inflation—which hits lower income people the hardest—is still top of mind, both work against the incumbent vice president.
A commitment to arming Israel and to providing it impunity to violate international law is a bipartisan pillar of U.S. foreign policy. On that score, Harris is and will be no different from her predecessors. But many ordinary Democrats and activists—including many on the marches outside the convention center—will be encouraged to believe otherwise.
The reality is that there is no evidence, no serious reason, to believe that Kamala Harris will have a better or different approach to Palestine than Joe Biden. Fortunately, large sections of the movement understand this very clearly.
Throughout US history, the only way democratic rights have been expanded is through mass struggle—from the Civil War to the labor upsurge of the 1930s; from the Civil Rights movement to the fight for marriage equality—and it’s the only way they can be won today.
The Republicans are the right-wing party akin to the Liberals or the Nationals, and the Democrats are the “center-left” party like the Labor Party. While this is a quick way of sorting out the two main parties in the US bipartisan system, it doesn’t adequately account for what is unique about the Democrats in the taxonomy of political parties across the democratic world.
Harris’ rhetoric has tended to be more progressive than Biden’s, but Biden’s policies are very likely to be Harris’ policies in a future presidency because Harris has never strayed far from them—whatever language she has used.
The country was built on the violence of chattel slavery, the extermination of the native population, and wars of conquest. It fought a bloody civil war that killed the equivalent of seven million people, in today’s population.
It may not be apparent now, but it’s hard to see how Trump’s status as a serial predator, fraudster and, now convicted felon, is a benefit to him. And if the November election proves to be as close as all analysts are expecting right now, even a small defection from or deflation of Trump’s support base could doom him.
It is true that O’Brien’s two meetings with Trump and the Teamsters’ contribution to the GOP don’t constitute a formal endorsement. The question is: what kind of message does it send?
Last fall, a Gallup Poll reported that 63 percent of U.S. adults said a third party was needed because the major parties do such a “poor job of representing the American people.” While this was the highest level of support for a third party that Gallup found in the 20 years it has conducted the survey, support for a third party has remained at roughly that level since 2013.
We should vigorously argue for class independence and for a labor party. But it does mean that we should recognize that we are working in a labor movement where most activists disagree with us. It would be better if it wasn’t that way, but it’s where things stand today.
Even though major business organizations issued statements condemning January 6 and worked with major media and non-governmental organizations to assure a “peaceful transition” from Trump to Biden, it was always a farrago to trust big business to champion democracy. As always with U.S. politics, following the money is the best way to understand what happened.
The crisis in the Teamster leadership threatens to overwhelm recent strike victory strikes at DHL and US Foods, as well as a local organizing campaign in Virginia at Costco. Future projects like organizing Amazon have already stagnated.
Get ready for an ugly and interminable election season. As of right now, polls showed that Biden and Trump are essential tied with support in the low-to-mid 40s nationally. But because of the ridiculous and undemocratic Electoral College, the election will come down to how each fare in a small number of “swing states,” where the electorate is more closely divided between the candidates and their parties.
As the US presidential election begins to gather steam, Joe Allen looks at the far right threat and the dangerous game being played by the Democrats. Allen asks if Genocide Joe has the support to win or whether a new left alternative should take their place instead.
