American election
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A LESSON FROM TRUMP
The day after the outcome of the American presidential election became clear, someone wrote on our party’s Facebook page: ‘I can’t help but feel a lot happier this morning, knowing that the odious vile strange orange man has been sent packing’. There can be no doubt that, on a visceral level at least, many other workers worldwide felt a similar sense of relief that the unspeakable individual in charge of America had been dismissed from office. When I wrote to my sister-in-law the same day to wish her a happy birthday, she replied that ‘getting rid of the monster is the best possible present’. On a political level too many people were relieved, in view of the widely expressed claim that, if re-elected, Trump would have proceeded to establish some kind of dictatorship stamping on all dissent and in particular taking draconian measures, Mussolini or even Hitler style, against all ‘progressive’ forces.
Yet could this actually have happened? There is no doubt that Trump showed psychopathic traits similar to dictators like Mussolini, Hitler and Stalin – arrogant, narcissistic, bigoted, racist, authoritarian, demagogic, etc. But could he have gone ahead and taken control of the American state in the same way as former dictators have taken over their state and wreaked havoc on those who they opposed or who opposed them even to the point of genocide? Part of the answer to that lies in what actually happened in the American elections. What happened was that Trump, would-be dictator or not, was dismissed from office via that country’s democratic electoral process, in much the same way as many other leaders have often been dismissed from office in advanced capitalist democracies. The point is that the US has a well-entrenched mechanism for doing that regardless of whether the incumbent leaves quietly or, as Trump, kicking and screaming. It also has a mechanism (many mechanisms) for preventing an individual, whether deranged or loathsome or anything else, from exercising personal unrestrained power. This means that, even had the result gone the other way and Trump had strutted on as before, he could not have installed himself as the kind of ruthless dictator who rides roughshod over all opposition as Mussolini, Hitler and Stalin did and as others still do today in places where capitalist democracies have not yet – or not yet fully – emerged.
So, continuing the comparison with Mussolini and Hitler, why then were those dictators able to take over in Italy in the 1920s and Germany in the 1930s? They were able to because Italy and Germany had not at that time reached the same relatively secure level of capitalist economic and political development of countries as the US (and others such as the UK, Germany, France, Holland, Sweden, etc.) has today. Italy and Germany in that era did not have the same well-rooted system of political administration that exists today both in those countries and elsewhere and so were always a possible prey to the nationalist demagoguery of a dictator promising to cure all ills while spreading division and crushing opposition.
That same kind of demagoguery has of course echoed favourably with the over 70 million Americans who voted for Trump. And that can only be dispiriting for socialists who see as a prerequisite for the kind of society we advocate – leaderless, moneyless, wageless, frontierless and entirely democratic – the active agreement and support for that society by the majority of the world’s workers. What has happened in the US seems aeons away from that, especially as even the half of the electorate that voted for Biden were only choosing at best a ‘lesser evil’. That ‘lesser evil’, the Democrat Party, will, by the very nature of the system it is in charge of, continue to run that system in a business-as-usual way, i.e. in the profit-seeking interests of the tiny minority who monopolise the majority of the wealth. And this will continue to be the case as long as most wage and salary workers continue to have a mindset that supports, or at least acquiesces in, capitalism and the profit-seeking force that drives it.
Yet, having said that, what the example of Trump’s fall from office has shown is that in the US, as in other advanced capitalist countries, there is a well-entrenched system of democratic voting in place which, when the time comes, can be used by a socialist majority to ‘vote in’ socialism when the necessary consciousness has spread sufficiently for that to happen. And when it does, no would-be demagogue or dictator will be able to do anything to prevent the majority from making it happen.
HOWARD MOSSI know that there have been other attempts made by right wings extremists on government buildings. There was another one made by Puerto Rican nationalists headed by Lolita Lebron and five members of the Congress were wounded in 1919, and I know that the capitol police collaborated with them. I know they can try again, but that was not the point, I was talking about fascism
More Americans voted in 2020 than in any other presidential election in 120 years. About 67% of eligible voters cast ballots this year, but that still means a third did not. That amounts to about 80 million people who stayed home.
Non-voters’ reasons for not voting include:
1. not being registered to vote (29%)
2. not being interested in politics (23%)
3. not liking the candidates (20%)
4. a feeling their vote wouldn’t have made a difference (16%)
5. being undecided on whom to vote for (10%)Voters feel a sense of alienation and apathy. They are generally detached from the news and pessimistic about politics, the survey found. Politics is simply not the way to make change, they said. Two-thirds of nonvoters agree, for example, that voting has little to do with the way that real decisions are made in this country. A majority also said they believe it makes no difference who is elected president and that things will go on just as they did before.
There was a group of young peoples who did not vote because they supported Bernie Sanders, and they thought that voting would not make any difference at all. Greg Palast also demonstrated that there was a large vote suppression
I know they can try again, but that was not the point, I was talking about fascism
Of course the US far-right is not the same as the German National Socialists, but then neither were the Italian Fascists or Spanish Nationalists.
But I think there’s enough of a family resemblance to make a comparison valid. The far-right is deeply embedded in a section of US politics and they’re not going away on the 20th January. Liberal-democracy is not the end of history, and history isn’t the ever-forward march of ‘progress’. Unfortuantely, I think we have to take seriously the threat these people could represent.
The US political scene has always been polarised and toxic. We recall the stand-offs with the Bundy’s and their allies in the fight against the Federal land agencies.
As often asserted, it is now the accessibility of phones with video cams which are highlighting the tensions and conflicts which have always been there but previously hidden.
Calling right-wing populism and MAGA extremists fascists may be the loose use of the word for some but it reflects the mind-set of many Americans. A blind faith in nationalism, and in particular white nationalism and their constant trust in a leader. I find the whole of the American right difficult to define as much as i do its left-wing.
With such entrenched opposing views, just how can socialists such as ourselves make the socialist message resonate. The Right spurn with a knee-jerk reaction any reference to socialism and the Left still fail to comprehend it as anything more than a mixed economy and FDR.
i don’t think Biden is capable of any reconciliation. If he makes overtures towards the Right it means meeting them on the right. It will be seen as appeasement and embolden the armed militias to repeat their tactics of intimidation. Already pledges on immigration are being deferred to an indeterminate future.
I doubt a civil war will break-out. If it did the liberals are out-gunned and the Right hold the sympathy of law enforcement and the military. The Iron Heel would grind radicals into the ground.
I think a coup can only take place if the USA military apparatus support the coup but it looks like the USA military are loyal to the constitution and they have said that they do not have to follow a president that they must follow the USA constitution
I know that the far right is a big threat but they can also be smashed by the forces of the state and a civil war is not going to take place either and if they do they are going to confront a force that is stronger than them which is the armed forces of the state
It is not the end as DJP has said but they are not going to succeed, but also repetitive attempts of the far right might create the conditions to create a national destabilization
I might be mistaken, but Donald Trump is not coming back in 2024, Joe Biden is going to be a better representative of the USA ruling class,
In 2024 the demographic situation is going to change a lot and more Latinos, natives, and blacks are going to vote for the Democratic Party, and it is not true that many Latinos supported Trump, it did take place in Florida only
The journalist Juan Gonzalez from democracy now debunked that distortion invented by the republicans
Alan wrote: The US political scene has always been polarised and toxic. We recall the stand-offs with the Bundy’s and their allies in the fight against the Federal land agencies.
There was also a big opposition against Roosevelt made by the bankers and wall street
https://timeline.com/business-plot-overthrow-fdr-9a59a012c32a
https://bigthink.com/politics-current-affairs/fdr-coup?rebelltitem=2#rebelltitem2
https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2017/06/american-nazis-in-the-1930sthe-german-american-bund/529185/. The German American Bund
The American military take an oath to be loyal to the constitution, not the head of state
I,do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office to which I am about to enter. So help me God.
Nevertheless, the President is Commander-in-Chief. So the question is has he the authority to order the army to do his bidding?
Whereas those enlisting in the British military swear to be loyal to the Queen.
I, (Insert full name), do swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, her heirs and successors, according to law. So help me God.It is this statement that separates the enlistment of Gurkhas and Fijians and other non-UK citizens from being classed as mercenaries or so i was told.
Before 2024, we have the 2022 midterms and a couple of the Trump clan have shown an interest in creating a political dynasty.
In 1973 the War Power Resolution was passed by the US Congress
The American Right might outgun the left, but it’s interesting that when it all kicks off, three of the fat fuckers have a heart attack
Bijou Drains,
What an image!
… Such a loss of humanity when people are killed for a lie. These right wing vanguards- for want of a term- have taken lives for a deceit.
… There may be a momentary media ban to stop the distribution of extremism pouring out of the White House’s porcelain throne, but the tarnish will stink for a time to come.
No one deserves to be killed in a mob- not everLB –
I don’t think it was the mob participation that killed them, it was more likely the 35 years of pancakes with maple syrup, deep fried chicken, countless Big Macs, etc. Wot done it.The point I was making is that a lot of the trumpists talk a good game, but in terms of being a real threat against the real agents of the state, they are a bunch of no hopers.
It’s a bit like their “survivalist” compadres, who had prepared for the apocalypse/zombie invasion, but who couldn’t manage a two week lockdown, because without a trip to the mall they were going to have a nervous breakdown.
The fact is that although they stormed the capitol, once they’d done that they didn’t have a bloody clue what to do next.
We used to have a phrase for the posh kids who turned up to play football with brand new expensive boots and kit etc. “All the gear and no idea”. I think for the majority of Trumpists that’s exactly where they are, unfortunately instead of football boots they have automatic assault rifles.
I get it BD,
Fist full of pancakes- and not a clue what to do.
But it is good they had no idea- or who knows what!
Regarding the deaths, not of the cholesterol guzzlers, but of the others… sad.
They should trade in their guns for football boots: much safer.I have seen some video of the protesters which show the political confusion that they have when they are talking about a revolution, fighting for the ruling class and capitalist leaders is not a revolution, and there is not a revolutionary situation in the world or the USA, the times of the Bastille is already gone and the capitalist class controls the whole world, and the peasants are wage slaves
The minds of some of them are stationed in 1776 when the USA ruling class established a capitalist nation and the 4th of July is the beginning of US capitalism, and slavery continued, the real anti-slavery revolution was made by the Haitian Jacobins and George Washington was scared of them because they would have influenced in the minds of his own slaves. Mexico abolished slavery after its bourgoise revoulution
They should attend the SPGB summer school to learn about real politics and real economic, and to understand that the capitalist class is our class enemy, and our real revolution would be when we replace capitalism with socialism instead of fighting for the continuation of capitalism
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