Donald Trump was recently re-elected as President of the United States. As with any election, it is unique in its own way. However, the particularities of this election are rather noticeable: no President has been twice-impeached in U.S. history after leading an insurrection against Congress (simply for counting votes), much less (then) convicted of crimes and then re-elected as President. The very fact that this is possible pulls back the curtain on what any critical historian, political theorist, or political economist has long been aware of: the U.S. is a plutocratic oligarchy, not a democracy.
In a democracy, the people, or the people elected by the people, could remove the head of the Executive branch by a supermajority vote. None of this is possible in America. Impeachments are symbolic votes of shame, and as of last July (2024), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the U.S. President is immune from all prosecution and is essentially “above the law” when acting in “official capacity.” British monarchy has been restored more than the actual King of Britain in Britain (and yes, terrible timing for that!)
Although, it should be said that American history shows that America prefers autocratic and authoritarian dictatorships all across the world; the CIA has installed numerous dictators on multiple continents and various countries to serve American financial interests, for example. So those kinds of leaders within the American empire would not be unexpected.
Anyway, studies have also shown that around 90% of elections are determined by which candidate has the most campaign donations. That is, unlike many other countries in the world, elections can be legally purchased. This too, is radically undemocratic.
The existence of the office of President is also anti-democratic. The other two branches (the Judiciary and Congress) are plural; they are composed of a group of people that make decisions according to consensus, not ruled by one human being. The same should be true of the Executive: run by a (say) 11 or 15 or 21-person Executive Board. This is why the state of Pennsylvania proposed in 1776 that a committee instead of a governor manage executive functions (why hold on to monarchy?).
Finally, the United States operates on a two-party system that ruthlessly prosecutes, alienates and attacks third-parties. Progressive parties, like the Green Party, are targeted the most. But, why? The duopoly of the GOP-Democratic Party (“one party,” as everyone from Malcom X to Ron Paul testified) ensures corporate control over the political and legal system. This is why companies spend billions on both Democratic and Republican parties, and not on third parties.
There are many reasons why Harris lost. But perhaps the biggest is because her policies were 90% the same as Trump’s policies. In fact, within the first two weeks of her campaign, she reversed on virtually all of her progressive positions–from the ban on fracking, to Medicare for all, ICE, mandatory gun buybacks, federal job guarantee, etc. –so she could earn $100 million to spend on the Democratic campaign. Then, she capitulated to AIPAC for more millions (probably hundreds of millions) in exchange for endorsing the Israeli genocide in Gaza, despite the fact that Democrats are largely against the genocide, and that this could be determinative of winning the Presidency.
Then, she repeatedly and publicly stated that she will add Republicans to her cabinet, which baffled people who were voting Democrat specifically to keep Republicans out of the White House.
All of this, she accurately stated, was basically the same platform as Joe Biden, thinking “well if Joe Biden won on policies that were essentially Republican – except for the rainbow flags – then why couldn’t I?” It was a campaign based entirely on (a) Trump-hate, and (b) vibes (“Choose Joy!”) and identity (tokenization of a nonwhite nonmale candidate) and (c) unrealistic voting expectations; Harris already ran for President in 2018-2020 and failed miserably; the NYT stated: “Ms. Harris is the only 2020 Democrat who has fallen hard out of the top tier of candidates.” Harris didn’t even get elected during a primary election the “Democratic” Party, skipping that layer of choice altogether.
In short, Harris never really had a chance, and the strategies for electing her were poor, and sometimes downright ridiculous (like asking Bill Clinton to justify killing hundreds of thousands of Arab civilians in front of an audience of thousands of Arab-Americans in Michigan? What in the actual triple-cheeseburger f*ck?)
It is true that the January 2021 insurrection indicated Trump’s distain for the American election process. The gallows hanging outside the Capitol for Mike Pence was really something. (Spoiler: they didn’t hang him.) But, from a wider, historical perspective, that’s not saying much. We expect little more from Trump and there has hardly been a democracy to “save,” especially in the 21st century where a foreign agent openly brags about determining American elections and Blackrock (the largest private equity firm that aims to basically own everything) openly admits that whoever gets elected, whether red or blue, it makes no difference for Wall Street. As Michael Parenti brilliantly points out in his chapter on the President in Democracy for the Few, the President is the protector of capital. That is the primary purpose of the office, and that is why both Trump and Harris continually fall over themselves to publicly prove themselves loyal to war factories, the oil industry (Biden’s oil drilling permits exceeded Trump’s!), AIPAC, and all the other players of the elite class.
Trump’s disregard for American politics (which is loved by conservatives) is therefore not a big concern: insurrections, constitutional amendments, broken rules of decorum, all of these should and must occur in an unjust and undemocratic system. Jesus himself would surely be crucified and locked up by American Congress for his behaviors and policies. But Trump obviously isn’t aiming to make anything better, reform policies to make them more democratic, or acting on the behalf of an exhausted American working class that’s being squeezed by terrible rent, labor, and cost-of-living demands. And, despite being a dude in an empire targeted for charges, Trump doesn’t seem much like Jesus either. In fact, something quite the opposite.
In the end, Harris ran a campaign against her base. Trump ran a campaign with his base. That made all the difference.
Trump earned his base by more successfully tricking the masses into believing that he’s sympathetic of the working class (the mass of voters). Trump’s language is crude and ordinary; he openly brags about his sexual exploits and makes racist remarks like we’re in a gym locker room; he’s a TV star known for saying “you’re fired”; he’s a cutthroat businessman in America (and, so the story goes, if you’re wealthy here, it’s because you’ve earned it and worked hard); he never gives in to criticism and always doubles down (a “tough guy”); he promises to defend the people from “them” (the “swamp,” the “bureaucrats,” the “liberals,” the “Mexican rapists,” “the Muslims terrorists,” “the woke mob,”- “the black transgender marxists”—whatever scapegoat or imaginary enemy that lurks in the collective consciousness of the American masses); he eats fast food while talking down on ‘ugly fat’ people, marries the hot model with a Russian accent, has affairs with porn stars, etc. In short, for his base, Trump is a true American. The stars and stripes asshole. What the white boys with abusive parents want to be when they grow up.
And there’s something ironically true about that: Trump really does espouse “American values,” like racism, patriarchy and violent masculinity, corporate capitalism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, hatred of taxes, unhealthy living, consumerism, chasing fame and fortune (“American dream”), etc. However, Trump isn’t a working class American who can relate to your problems. He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and lives as a sleezy landlord, a casino-mogul, who installed six Goldman Sachs executives into his team within months of being elected, donated to Clinton’s campaign and had Hillary attend his wedding, employed the former mayor of NYC to be his lawyer, was a close friend and client of Jeffrey Epstein, and is now the face of the GOP.
This is not an “anti-establishment” person that’s going to “protect” working class people. Trump is a swamp creature and fascist making as much money as he can, and doesn’t care who gets hurt in the process–especially his own followers. Conservatives just don’t get that. They see Trump as iconic of something that he simply isn’t; they’re delusional.
And that’s where mainstream liberalism is, also ironically, delusional: America is not a “great democracy” and “shining light on a hill,” a “beacon of freedom in a dark world,” a “respectable society,” etc. America was established as a settler colony to profit London investors, built off the back of millions of Black slaves, the extermination and starvation of millions of indigenous people, and the theft of 4.4 billion acres of their land. Today, over 12 million children needlessly suffer from malnutrition; medical bankruptcy is an industry; poverty is skyrocketing. The halls of Congress, contrary to Nancy Pelosi, are not “sacred halls.” They are the halls in which the death of millions upon millions of innocent people–from the Philippines, to Japan, to South America, to Vietnam, to Iraq and Libya, to Indonesia, to Cuba, to Palestine, to Central America–have been formally decreed and sacrificed in the name of corporate profits, for centuries. Focusing on Trump’s demeanor, his appearance, his crudeness, is precisely what doesn’t matter. The same goes for Obama, who didn’t think twice about drone bombing hundreds of children and destroying Libya so much that it earned continual condemnation by fellow Black progressive Cornel West – but, Obama was certainly a nice, clean, articulate, respectable person who kept order.
If Americans voted on the basis of policies instead of identities, appearances, and impressions, we’d live in a different world. But instead, we get world-class election entertainment, the ultimate puppet show.
Who is to blame for Trump’s election, other than the framers of a poorly constructed Constitution, and Congresses that have Amended it 27 times but failed to address the fundamental problems of democracy in the American political system? The blame for Trump’s win lies on the shoulders of (in order of importance):
- The GOP, who made him their candidate.
- Those who voted for him.
- Those who funded his campaign (corporate and individual).
- The Democratic Party, who (a) learned absolutely nothing since Clinton lost to Trump, and (b) chose to ignore their base, commit the most documented genocide in human history, and try to win on donations and vibes alone.
“I’m not voting for Trump and i’m not voting for Harris…
… genocide is a red line for me. I won’t vote for the Democrats, they are complicit in the genocide…”
Renowned scholar, author and political scientist John Mearsheimer: pic.twitter.com/rVoSpgarLI
— Hamza Yusuf (@Hamza_a96) November 5, 2024
Notice what isn’t on this list of people to blame:
- Poor people
- Arabs
- Mexicans/Hispanics
- People against genocide
- Third Parties
- “The Jews”
- Muslims
- Young people
- Old people
- (insert other favorite scapegoats here)
I think this is important to highlight because these kinds of divisions have led to some super horrible events in and outside of American history. It also exposes the hypocrisy of liberalism:
We can expect more of the same in America: the genocide of 500 kids per week will continue (and veteran and IDF suicides); the conditions of working Americans will continue to degrade; infrastructure and public services will continue declining; commodification in every sector; elections will continue to be primarily symbolic of a democratic past that never was, and so on.
However, more worryingly, the rights of minorities will now more increasingly be attacked. This second presidency, now with full legal immunity, will empower Trump to take more aggressive targeting of Muslims, Hispanics, immigrants, and a number of others groups that need not be targeted for anything. Roe vs. Wade was overturned (when Democrats had many opportunities to codify it into law, but like with so much else, chose not to), and I suspect gay marriage may become illegal again, as well as other landmark cases that will get sent to a Supreme Court largely ran by criminals. All of which is bringing us another step closer to Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale and Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower.