International Socialism Project

It’s clear that the left and the labor and social movements are in a very precarious state today, and debates about how to fight back against Trumpian authoritarianism will be crucial. But elections and the courts won’t save us…

There are too many differences between the mechanics of an electoral campaign and a social movement needed to win reforms. Marxists have long contended that elections are the “lowest form” of politics that don’t require the type of political commitment or mobilization that a true social movement entails.

In a very short time—and due largely to the grassroots “Tesla takedown” protests that started in February—Musk became a major political liability to Trump. Musk’s “chainsawing” of the federal workforce and essential services, along with his embrace of far-right politics, transformed him into one of the most hated figures in global politics. Even Trump knew it was time to cut him loose.

Trump, and Biden before him, have used charges of “antisemitism” against all pro-Palestinian protesters to justify violently cracking down and expelling students who had taken part in opposing Israel’s genocide in Palestine.  Trump has ratcheted up punishment to detention and deportation, using the Cold War era “Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952″—which allows the State Department to deport non-citizens who it deems pose a threat to “U.S. foreign policy.” This was a key tool used in the persecution and deportation of communists during the McCarthy era, which for good reason has been likened to the witch hunt against pro-Palestine activists today.

In the early days of the Trump administration when most establishment Democrats were treating Trump as a political colossus and telling their supporters that they couldn’t do much to stop him, the Sanders/AOC road show helped rank-and-file members of the liberal side of U.S. politics to break from feelings of isolation and despair. But Sanders and AOC are engaged in a project that the Rev. Jesse Jackson used to call “keeping hope alive” in the Democratic Party…

“This expansion is a disastrous waste of billions of taxpayer dollars that will only line the coffers of the private prison industry,” said one ACLU attorney.

Trump seemingly wants to surpass Ronald Reagan, who famously fired all members of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) when they went on strike in 1981—thus giving a green light for corporations to likewise fire striking workers and permanently replace them with strikebreakers.

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. 

Trump’s actions have been labeled a “coup” and a “constitutional crisis”. These descriptions are not conspiracy theories but attempts to understand events unfolding in real time. While it is unclear exactly how to label Trump’s actions, it is clear that the outcome depends on how far he is allowed to continue on this destructive path.

Trump is a great fan of the presidential “executive order,” which he believes gives him unlimited power to shape U.S. society by issuing a flood of personal edicts, rather than face even a hint of congressional scrutiny. But with both the House and the Senate dominated by a slim margin of Trump’s minions, not much scrutiny is emanating from Congress.

The liberals—the leaders of the Democratic Party and its associated non-governmental organizations (NGOs), intellectuals, media and fundraisers—said the 2024 election was a referendum on U.S. democracy. Maybe even the last ditch effort to stop “fascism” riding in on Trump’s coattails. Yet despite the heated rhetoric, they ran an uninspired campaign in defense of a status quo that most Americans had already rejected.

Millions of Americans are avid supporters of Trump, and, at the very least, don’t consider Trump’s racism and misogyny disqualifying. But it’s harder to extend those observations to all Americans, or even to the around 64 percent of eligible voters who voted.

There’s absolutely no point in denying reality. At the time of this writing, Trump has won the presidency, the Republicans control the Senate, and the House of Representatives’ results are still being counted.