President Trump and Opportunities for the Left
Many of us where shocked in the early hours of November 9th, as we heard the news that Donald Trump had won the state of Ohio. The inevitable was made real when he won Pennsylvania, and Hilary Clinton conceded defeat in the US Presidential election. The majority of polls and major media had predicted a sure victory for the very confident Clinton camp, but it was not to be. Many of us on the left were, at first, shocked and deeply disheartened at the victory of this racist, super-rich, neo-fascist, borderline white supremacist, but it is not all bad.
For many of the more moderate socialists, the Green Party’s presidential candidate, Jill Stein, provided some good news, as she increased the Green vote to over 1.1 million, with over 1% of the vote. She and her party are self proclaimed eco-socialists, and many in the left will be glad of her successes, although they may not be that impactful on government. In addition to this, Maine, California, Nevada, and Massachusetts have legalised recreational marijuana, as Florida and North Dakota legalised medical use of the drug. I’m sure the majority of leftists will treat this as good news, especially in the most populous state of the US, California, although some may not. This is a very important outcome of November 8th, and should not be sidelined.
Despite Trump’s victory, there is a silver lining to all this, in shallow electoral terms at least. Hilary Clinton is a hard right, neo-liberal, corrupt liar, and we, at least, should celebrate her loss. However, we must get back to the matter at hand, why is this good for the left? First, this undermines the establishment. Clinton was, without a doubt, the establishment candidate, and it is a positive thing that the establishment has been rejected (despite winning the popular vote but losing in the hugely undemocratic electoral college system). Even if this is, of course, an out of the frying pan into the fire scenario, at least we are out of the damn frying pan! What I mean is that maybe we have to have something ghastly and horrible, Trump, so that we can get away from the ghastly and horrible establishment, so to achieve something outside of it. Furthermore, let’s face it, even though Trump is a neo-fascist, he is hardly much worse than the current establishment and ever more grinding capitalism and endless wars for the military industrial complex. He has made many millions of people realise that there is vast space outside of the political consensus. The left can then appeal to his vote, the disenfranchised working class of the US. Many of them voted on the illusion of prosperity from their poverty, which Trump is unlikely to give them.
Secondly, Trump’s victory angers an enormous amount of people, including party line, establishment liberals. This is part of the bigger problem for the revolutionary left. While the desire, thought and awareness is there in many, they are not willing to take action, or to embrace real change. As Peter Kropotkin once said: “when we have but the will to do it, that very moment will justice be done; that very instant the tyrants of the Earth shall bite the dust.” The mass dissatisfaction, shown in the extremely low approval ratings of both former candidates, Clinton at -21 and Trump at -33, the two lowest scores in history, needs to be harnessed.
This mere dissatisfaction needs to be charged up, with anger, with a spark of outrage. Trump has been and will be that spark for many people, which may result in more moderate liberals joining real leftism and socialism. This will also make protests more militant, with direct action taking priority over polite complaint. This, however meager, is progress in social attitudes towards political change. It is much harder to attack social Democracy than a neo-reactionist state, in spite of the fact that both represent a theft from the working people and a continuation of state aggression. Trump and Clinton, are both authoritarian capitalists, however Trump may force people to realise the underlying ideology of the system itself is flawed. This is the key positive of Trump’s election; dissent can spread to become action.
However, we must still treat his election with seriousness. The alt-right, KKK, and Nazis have all cheered Trump on, and we, as leftists and moral humans, have a duty to crush fascism in all its forms. We must respond strongly to this reactionary tide, and beat it back into the history books and into the grave. Take action against tyranny and fascism, if you can do nothing else, show solidarity with those that do.
However, do not be too frightened. Trump will not have free reign, and, even though congress is still controlled by the Republicans, it will hold him on some kind of a leash. Despite all this, all the terrible turns government is taking right now in the US, the American electoral system (or any so called “Western Democracy”) easily merits horrific outcomes, because any government, especially in a capitalist system, is deeply flawed. We should not look too deeply into the workings of our capitalistic governments, as reformism is a tried and failed path. Elections are important, but they often merely account to choosing a new lord, an opinion poll on your next oppressors. Whatever happens in any election, we the people have a revolutionary card up our sleeve. This is no time to be distraught. Don’t get scared, get angry.
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