Groucho Marxism

In January this year, Donald Trump began his second term as President of the United States. Unlike last time he was elected, when he had to rely on the hopelessly antiquated electoral college system to get him over the line, this time he won by a landslide, winning the popular vote. Immediately upon taking office Trump made clear that he wouldn’t be hanging around this time and that there would be no sacred cows during his second term. Most worryingly for the Palestinians living there, he began referring to Gaza as ‘real estate’ and made clear (via a bizarre AI-generated video) his intentions to ethnically cleanse the area, raze it to the ground, and build a resort on the ashes. Clearly, the man is a dangerous buffoon. So why did the American public elect him for a second time?

It should be noted first that the majority of Americans do not support Trump or his policies; although he won the popular vote, less than one in three Americans actually went out and voted for him. But still, nearly 80 million Americans did go out and vote for him. To understand why, we need to take a Marxist approach and look at the material conditions facing ordinary Americans today, which have been deteriorating for many years. These voters are understandably fed up with the status quo and are looking for an alternative; but America’s anti-democratic political system cannot provide them with one. The closest it can provide is a populist like Trump, who pretends to be against the status quo but is really just an extreme version of it.

It’s important that we place this result within a global context. Far-right politicians are enjoying success across the western world, with six EU countries — Italy, Finland, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia and the Czech Republic — currently having hard-right parties in government, and France, Germany, and the UK likely to follow soon. (It was notable that the main reaction to Trump’s election this time round seemed to be a kind of weary resignation, in contrast to the indignant ‘how could this happen?!’ that greeted his first election as president.) Again, the explanation for this trend lies in the worsening material conditions of ordinary people in these countries, and the lack of anywhere else to turn other than to right-wing populists.

It’s also important that we place this result within a historical context. The parallels with the rise of fascism Europe around 100 years ago, although not exact, are nonetheless striking. The Nazi slogan ‘make Germany great again’ now sounds chillingly familiar, as does the fact that many people thought Hitler should be allowed into power on the basis that he would be booted out again as soon as everyone realised he was a fool. Trump and his fellow right-wing populists today may not be fascists in the same way Hitler and Mussolini were, but they aren’t far off. The rise of fascism in the 1930s is again attributable to the material conditions of the time; it is no coincidence that both times support for the far right has significantly increased, it has been off the back of a global financial crisis.

Another striking parallel is the way that the tech oligarchs all lined up to support Trump, similar to the way business leaders of the 1930s supported Hitler. However, this election has highlighted a rift in the American capitalist class, with the tech oligarchs supporting the Republicans and the ‘rank-and-file’ capitalists mainly supporting the Democrats. The explanation for this rift lies in the fact that whereas most capitalists worry about the instability a Trump presidency could bring, the oligarchs are unlikely to be negatively affected by this instability and may even gain from it. They can see that change is coming and are backing the side that will benefit them – namely, the far-right. Hence Elon Musk’s now infamous Nazi salute (although as I write this the bromance between him and Trump appears to be over).

This rift in the capitalist class gives us revolutionary socialists reason to be cheerful. A split in the ruling class was one of Lenin’s three preconditions for revolution, the other two being the suffering of the oppressed classes growing more acute than usual, and an increase in the activity of the masses. All three of these conditions seem to pertain at the present moment, and we seem to be witnessing a growth of class consciousness the likes of which has not been seen for a long time. At some point people will surely realise that right-wing populism will not improve their material conditions and will again look for an alternative. We just have to hope that Trump and his cronies don’t blow up the world in the meantime.