Editorial: Donald Trump – No Workers’ Champion

[Sympo]

The SPGB don't have many articles about Donald Trump, nice to see a new one.I wonder if Trump will win. If he does, I hope that he won't establish a dictatorship. Some people seem to genuinely believe that he will become a dictator if he wins.

[PJShannon]

Following is a discussion on the page titled: Editorial: Donald Trump – No Workers’ Champion.
Below is the discussion so far. Feel free to add your own comments!

[ALB]

I don't think that's likely. The US President is not all powerful and, if he or she oversteps the mark, can be impeached and removed from office and no doubt would be if they tried to establish themself as dictator.

[alanjjohnstone]

But he may well exercise temporary dictatorial powers… "The United States Constitution has clause stating that the President "may adjourn [congress] to such Time as he shall think proper". However, this can only be done when the two houses are on disagreement over when to adjourn. Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States during the American Civil War, exercised extraordinary powers to preserve the Union. Lincoln's dictatorial actions included directly ordering the arrest and detention of dissenters and the suspension of the right to writs of Habeas Corpus. Yet Lincoln remained subject to Congressional oversight, judicial review and periodic elections……Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States during the Great Depression and the Second World War, also exercised extraordinary powers in response to both emergencies. Roosevelt's actions included the temporary suspension of the right of contract, in violation of the United States Constitution, as well as the closing of banks and a moratorium on foreclosures. Later, meeting a perceived threat by Japanese nationals and Japanese-Americans, Roosevelt ordered their relocation to internment camps. [He vetoed legislation 635 times out of a total of only 2571 vetoes by ALL presidents combined He issued an average of 290.6 executive orders EACH year of his 12-year term as President – often defying Congress and the Courts to block him. He's the only president to serve more than 2 terms and would have probably served even more if had not died in office John Yoo, attorney and legal theorist, has offered a theory of the unitary executive supporting virtually unconstrained authority to be wielded by the United States President in his capacity as commander in chief of the armed forces. The Yoo theory provided the intellectual foundation for many of the actions undertaken by the administration of George W. Bush in the aftermath of the attacks of September 11, 2001."https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitutional_dictatorship

[Sympo]

alanjjohnstone wrote:

But he may well exercise temporary dictatorial powers…

Do you believe that there's a big risk of this happening?

[alanjjohnstone]

Here is something that lists his despotic proclamations.http://www.filmsforaction.org/articles/a-final-response-to-tell-me-why-trump-is-a-fascist/I do think he will try to rule the US as his personal fiefdom as his whole management experience has been one of capitalist owner exercising his authority and will.He will learn politics of the boardroom is not the same as national or international politics but it will be a painful learning curve for ordinary folk around the world. Having seen his current advisors, i have concerns that his future appointees won't be a steady hand on the tiller steering him on a safe course.I'm not so sure that the US has a similar structure of senior civil servants such as Sir Humphrey Appleby of Yes Minister in their State Departments acting as moderating and conservative influences upon elected politicians.  

[Anonymous]

Sympo wrote:

alanjjohnstone wrote:

But he may well exercise temporary dictatorial powers…

Do you believe that there's a big risk of this happening?

The dictatorship already exists, which is the dictatorship of capital. They can place Mickey Mouse as president and he will do the same job. In one country in Europe capitalism continued running, and walking like Johnny Walker  without a prime minister.The presidency in the US function different to others country where the president has sole power of everything, and the institutions are not totally established, anybody who proclaim himself permanently as dictator would be replaced by another puppet, thru a palace coup, or he or she can be impeached, the US ruling class is a very well established ruling class, they know what they want, and they know what to do

[Anonymous]

alanjjohnstone wrote:

But he may well exercise temporary dictatorial powers… "The United States Constitution has clause stating that the President "may adjourn [congress] to such Time as he shall think proper". However, this can only be done when the two houses are on disagreement over when to adjourn. Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States during the American Civil War, exercised extraordinary powers to preserve the Union. Lincoln's dictatorial actions included directly ordering the arrest and detention of dissenters and the suspension of the right to writs of Habeas Corpus. Yet Lincoln remained subject to Congressional oversight, judicial review and periodic elections……Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States during the Great Depression and the Second World War, also exercised extraordinary powers in response to both emergencies. Roosevelt's actions included the temporary suspension of the right of contract, in violation of the United States Constitution, as well as the closing of banks and a moratorium on foreclosures. Later, meeting a perceived threat by Japanese nationals and Japanese-Americans, Roosevelt ordered their relocation to internment camps. [He vetoed legislation 635 times out of a total of only 2571 vetoes by ALL presidents combined He issued an average of 290.6 executive orders EACH year of his 12-year term as President – often defying Congress and the Courts to block him. He's the only president to serve more than 2 terms and would have probably served even more if had not died in office John Yoo, attorney and legal theorist, has offered a theory of the unitary executive supporting virtually unconstrained authority to be wielded by the United States President in his capacity as commander in chief of the armed forces. The Yoo theory provided the intellectual foundation for many of the actions undertaken by the administration of George W. Bush in the aftermath of the attacks of September 11, 2001."https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitutional_dictatorship

 Roosevelt did that in order to favor one sector of the capitalist class, as well he imposed high taxes on them too, but created a heavy war machinery  with the enormous accumulation of surplus value at the level of the state, and all the industries were working for the war machine

[Anonymous]

alanjjohnstone wrote:

Here is something that lists his despotic proclamations.http://www.filmsforaction.org/articles/a-final-response-to-tell-me-why-trump-is-a-fascist/I do think he will try to rule the US as his personal fiefdom as his whole management experience has been one of capitalist owner exercising his authority and will.He will learn politics of the boardroom is not the same as national or international politics but it will be a painful learning curve for ordinary folk around the world. Having seen his current advisors, i have concerns that his future appointees won't be a steady hand on the tiller steering him on a safe course.I'm not so sure that the US has a similar structure of senior civil servants such as Sir Humphrey Appleby of Yes Minister in their State Departments acting as moderating and conservative influences upon elected politicians.  

As the article from the SPGB well said, he will start to realize that the main objective of capitalism is to produce profits, It is like the left winger government and leaders, they make a look of promises at the beginning, and they even create free incentives for the workers, but then the law of capital shows to  them that they must produce profits in order to survive. 

[alanjjohnstone]

We have Marx's idea of Bonapartism when a political leader usurps the ruling class. Or have i misinterpreted him?

Quote:

But under the absolute monarchy, during the first Revolution, and under Napoleon the bureaucracy was only the means of preparing the class rule of the bourgeoisie. Under the Restoration, under Louis Philippe, under the parliamentary republic, it was the instrument of the ruling class, however much it strove for power of its own. Only under the second Bonaparte does the state seem to have made itself completely independent.

 

Quote:

like a juggler, under the necessity of keeping the public gaze on himself, as Napoleon’s successor, by springing constant surprises – that is to say, under the necessity of arranging a coup d’état in miniature every day – Bonaparte throws the whole bourgeois economy into confusion,

 I read this and i think it is a very apt description of Trump's persona

Quote:

Bonaparte, who precisely because he was a bohemian, a princely lumpen proletarian, had the advantage over a rascally bourgeois in that he could conduct the struggle meanly,

[ALB]

Bonaparte Trump ! Alan I think you been looking at too many conspiracy-type sites I don't think Trump has any chance of being elected. Remember Barry Goldwater, the last way-out rightwing bugbear who stood for president? He got thrashed by LB Johnson in the 1964 presidential elections. I expect Trump to meet the same fate. America isn't that backward. But then I was wrong about Brexit …

[Anonymous]

The one blessed by the rulers is Hillary Clinton, and she has more support and endorsement than Donald Trump, and she has much  better chances of winning the presidential election

[Author]

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