Largely re-elected and taking both houses of the United States
Parliament with him, Trump returns to power with an even more liberaland reactionary agenda, and strengthened by a Republican Party that has
completely reconfigured itself around him. What can we learn from this
election, and how to deal with it? ---- Some had predicted a close
election, or even endless recounts of the votes. This was not the case:
on November 5, it quickly became clear that Donald Trump would have a
clear victory. Leading in all seven swing states, he also came out on
top in the popular vote, something that has not happened to a Republican
candidate in twenty years. The Republicans also emerged from the
majority elections in the House of Representatives and the Senate,
guaranteeing an unbridled exercise of power.
A shipwreck for the Democrats
How can we understand this result? Before looking at Trump - whose vote
total has barely increased compared to the previous election - it must
first be said that this election is above all the result of the sinking
of the Democratic Party, which has lost nearly 9 million votes in four
years. After a last-minute replacement, Kamala Harris led a
self-satisfied campaign, refusing to question any policy of the outgoing
government. This was particularly the case with regard to Palestine:
despite strong mobilizations in the country, no change was conceded on
the pro-Israeli line of the American state. The Biden/Harris government
has also largely participated in the shift to the right of American
politics, reversing very few of the decisions of the first Trump
administration, and even resuming construction of the wall on the
Mexican border in 2023.
In a country that cultivates a visceral anti-communism anchored by
decades of propaganda and repression, we can also read in this result
the inability of the Democrats to respond to a demand for an
alternative, faced with a population that increasingly questions the
liberal doxa[1]. Trump felt this protest and campaigned strongly on
economic issues, putting forward protectionist and nationalist policies,
presented as opposed to liberal policies. Unable to bring out a
left-wing alternative, the American bipartisanship gave birth to the
only one it could imagine: a fascist alternative. This project was able
to count on the massive support of several American billionaires,
including the boss of X (ex-Twitter) Elon Musk, who poured millions into
the campaign, even setting up a lottery where a pro-Trump activist drawn
at random would win a million dollars every day. In the shadows, we also
find Peter Thiel, who helped the rise of many figures of the American
far right, including J.D. Vance, the new vice president.
Following the results, demonstrations took place on November 9 in
several cities across the country.
FIBONACCI BLUE
While Trump's victory in 2016 could be seen as an accident that
surprised a large part of the Republican Party itself that did not
believe in him, things have changed in eight years, because the party
has quickly begun to mutate. The 2016 victory allowed many far-right
groups to take root in the conservative party: former Tea Party members,
evangelicals, and even integralist Catholics, to whom the elected vice
president J.D. Vance is very close[2]. These far-right factions have
pushed a radical misogynistic, homophobic, transphobic and racist agenda
that is now hegemonic in the party.
A Fascized Republican Party
Supported by two parliamentary chambers committed to his cause and an
ultra-conservative Supreme Court, Trump's return to the White House
risks having terrible consequences. First, we must expect a surge of
racist violence, from far-right activists and the police, but also in
the implementation of one of the billionaire's flagship promises, "mass
deportations" of illegal immigrants. A significant hardening of
anti-immigration policies could be one of the first measures of the
president-elect, who had already started his first term with an
Islamophobic decree that banned entry into the United States to refugees
from seven predominantly Muslim countries.
A masculinist government
We must also expect attacks on the rights of women and LGBTI people. In
terms of abortion rights, the situation is complex.
In 2022, after Trump appointed several conservative justices to the
Supreme Court, the court overturned Roe v. Wade, which had protected
this right at the federal level. But on November 5, referendums on the
subject were also held in a dozen states, which were mainly victories
for feminist struggles, most of which adopted measures guaranteeing or
relaxing access to abortion[3]. Nevertheless, the restriction of this
right remains a priority for Trump's religious supporters, who seek to
exploit the Comstock Act, a century-and-a-half-old law revived by the
repeal of Roe v. Wade, to prohibit the transport and delivery of any
equipment allowing abortions to be performed[4]. Trans people also risk
being victims of attacks by activists and the Republican government, who
have constantly targeted them during the campaign. Trump has already
announced a multitude of transphobic measures such as the ban on "the
promotion of the concept of gender transition", or the ban on
gender-affirming care for minors[5].
More broadly, we can expect a dismantling of many public services, Trump
having quickly announced his desire to appoint Elon Musk as "Minister of
Government Efficiency", with the mission of reducing the US federal
budget by 30% by 2026, or 2,000 billion in annual "savings". With, among
other things, the questioning of the current status of civil servants,
both to facilitate the elimination of positions, but also to more easily
place individuals who are committed to the ideology of the Republican
Party in various important positions in the federal administration.
Tesla shares and cryptocurrencies jumped after the announcement of the
results of the US elections. The arrival of Elon Musk as a minister in
the Trump government seems to excite the capitalists.
WHITE HOUSE
Militaristic escalation
Finally, the international consequences will be numerous. If there was
nothing to hope for from Harris against the genocide in Palestine, Trump
brings to his team profiles that augur a complete alignment with the
Israeli government, which he could support in the colonization of the
West Bank but also in the event of an escalation of tensions with
Iran[6]. Concerning Ukraine, Trump assured that he would end the war "in
24 hours", but his vision remains vague, with many points of view
clashing within the Republican Party. The stated goal remains a
withdrawal of the American army on different fronts, which instantly
relaunched discussions on a "Europe of defense", with the prospect of
increasingly militaristic European policies.
Faced with this new accession to power of the extreme right, we will
have to tirelessly strengthen our internationalist solidarity, to help
the comrades present on the ground to build struggles and resistance. In
this regard, we are thinking of the comrades of Black Rose/Rosa Negra,
anarcho-communist activists from the United States whose latest press
release we are reproducing in this issue. The landscape of the American
election also reminds us of the urgency of building and defending
alternatives to capitalism, because in the absence of credible proposals
from the revolutionary left, it is the conspiracy and reactionary
proposals of the extreme right that will continue to advance.
N. Bartosek (UCL Alsace)
Validate
[1]All opinions perceived as obvious.
[2]For more details on this movement: "Who are the Catholic
integralists, this young conservative guard that supports J. D. Vance?"»
by Benoît Gautier and Ludivine Gilli in La Croix, October 2, 2024.
[3]«Arizona, Missouri, Colorado... The right to abortion reinforced in
several American states», Le Parisien, November 6, 2024.
[4]«One hundred and fifty years later, the ghost of a law against
obscenity still hangs over abortion», Courrier international, May 24, 2023.
[5]David Crary, «Transgender-rights advocates say the election of Trump
and his allies marks a major setback», AP News, November 15, 2024.
[6]«The Trump team for the Middle East, a "dream team" for the Israeli
right?», Courrier international, November 15, 2024.
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Reelection-de-Trump-comprendre-et-resister
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