Violence erupted Friday inside a Donald Trump rally at the University of Illinois-Chicago, which was surrounded by thousands of protesters denouncing his presence.

More... (http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/03/12/trum-m12.html)

Surrounded by fascists.....but, as we're constantly admonished, know them by their deeds. Capitalist swine, shameless liar and demagogue Trump may be, but he doesn't have the blood of Libya(for starters..) on his hands. To level the charge of 'fascist' against Trump may be a bit too exclusive.

Dunno where Trump is going with this but it's really hard for me to take him very seriously and I don't think it's Fuhrerville. Yeah, some people called Hitler a clown too but Trump hasn't written 'Mein Kampf'. The whole damn thing is like a reality show.

The purveyors of official fiction are aghast that Trump has tapped into an ugly aspect of human behavior which the ruling class has long nurtured, even as they kept Nazism on life support for decades in Ukraine.

Surrounded by fascists.....but, as we're constantly admonished, know them by their deeds. Capitalist swine, shameless liar and demagogue Trump may be, but he doesn't have the blood of Libya(for starters..) on his hands. To level the charge of 'fascist' against Trump may be a bit too exclusive.

Dunno where Trump is going with this but it's really hard for me to take him very seriously and I don't think it's Fuhrerville. Yeah, some people called Hitler a clown too but Trump hasn't written 'Mein Kampf'. The whole damn thing is like a reality show.

The purveyors of official fiction are aghast that Trump has tapped into an ugly aspect of human behavior which the ruling class has long nurtured, even as they kept Nazism on life support for decades in Ukraine.

It appears that the "establishment" - both sides of it - fear Trump primarily for not being a "professional" politician. "Professional" politicians understand that engaging the American public (almost all working class) is like taking a tiger by the tail; Trump seems not to "get it". After centuries of living in the American capitalist meat grinder, generation after generation of being fed shit and pretending to like it, the American public is a tinderbox. The gun violence that is coming more and more to the fore in this country is a product of the brutal violence that is the everyday life of all of the American working class. "Professional" politicians understand that you have to handle the public in a certain way, lie to them, pour shit over their heads, pull wool over their eyes, bait and switch - whatever it takes, but you cannot set them off, ever. Trump isn't a fascist, he's just a dumb sonofabitch who hasn't quite gotten the rules down well. All of the "professional" Republicans vilify Trump to the point of no return, then they turn right around and swear they will support him in the fall. They get it; it is lies and slight of hand all the way. If Hillary isn't indicted, she will stroll into the white house and (as Bill Maher says) nominate Bill Clinton for the Supreme Court. Anyone who does not recognize by now that the USA is a fucking loony bin, has not been paying attention. A loony bin created by capital...

It appears that the "establishment" - both sides of it - fear Trump primarily for not being a "professional" politician. "Professional" politicians understand that engaging the American public (almost all working class) is like taking a tiger by the tail; Trump seems not to "get it". After centuries of living in the American capitalist meat grinder, generation after generation of being fed shit and pretending to like it, the American public is a tinderbox. The gun violence that is coming more and more to the fore in this country is a product of the brutal violence that is the everyday life of all of the American working class. "Professional" politicians understand that you have to handle the public in a certain way, lie to them, pour shit over their heads, pull wool over their eyes, bait and switch - whatever it takes, but you cannot set them off, ever. Trump isn't a fascist, he's just a dumb sonofabitch who hasn't quite gotten the rules down well. All of the "professional" Republicans vilify Trump to the point of no return, then they turn right around and swear they will support him in the fall. They get it; it is lies and slight of hand all the way. If Hillary isn't indicted, she will stroll into the white house and (as Bill Maher says) nominate Bill Clinton for the Supreme Court. Anyone who does not recognize by now that the USA is a fucking loony bin, has not been paying attention. A loony bin created by capital...

Agreed, and we know that fascism never gains power without ruling class connivance. Which is not to say that that Trump gets a pass, only that we be aware of the games and not get conned.

Agreed, and we know that fascism never gains power without ruling class connivance. Which is not to say that that Trump gets a pass, only that we be aware of the games and not get conned.

My son, who is a liberal Democrat (*shutter*), was talking with me about the election in general (he 'feels the Bern'). I told him he should vote in the Republican primary and vote for Trump. It seems a sure fire way to wreck the Republican Party. He said that he couldn't do it. "What if Trump actually won the Presidency?!", he said. I said, "What if Hillary does?" And he goes into his lesser of two evils thing and I change the subject.

The problem is that most everyone in this country lives the con, daily. Trump is a fool, living in a capitalist bubble. He thinks you say all kinds of macho shit and everyone just nods and laughs it off. He doesn't realize that he is talking to people who don't know what "macho" means. They just roll-up their sleeves and start kicking ass. When Trump says something like, "I'd like to punch that guy in the mouth!" He is talking to large numbers of people who actually punch people in the mouth on a relatively regular basis. It isn't bluster to that old redneck coot who sucker-punched that black guy the other day at one of The Donald's events. When he wants to punch someone, he punches them. Trump is absolutely clueless regarding the lives and times of the working class men and women in his crowds. This is the glaring difference between Trump and Mussolini or Hitler. The two fascists were working class stiffs who knew exactly what they were doing when they incited crowds to violence. The Donald has no idea what he is doing, besides "winning" the reality show he is currently on.

My son, who is a liberal Democrat (*shutter*), was talking with me about the election in general (he 'feels the Bern'). I told him he should vote in the Republican primary and vote for Trump. It seems a sure fire way to wreck the Republican Party. He said that he couldn't do it. "What if Trump actually won the Presidency?!", he said. I said, "What if Hillary does?" And he goes into his lesser of two evils thing and I change the subject.

The problem is that most everyone in this country lives the con, daily. Trump is a fool, living in a capitalist bubble. He thinks you say all kinds of macho shit and everyone just nods and laughs it off. He doesn't realize that he is talking to people who don't know what "macho" means. They just roll-up their sleeves and start kicking ass. When Trump says something like, "I'd like to punch that guy in the mouth!" He is talking to large numbers of people who actually punch people in the mouth on a relatively regular basis. It isn't bluster to that old redneck coot who sucker-punched that black guy the other day at one of The Donald's events. When he wants to punch someone, he punches them. Trump is absolutely clueless regarding the lives and times of the working class men and women in his crowds. This is the glaring difference between Trump and Mussolini or Hitler. The two fascists were working class stiffs who knew exactly what they were doing when they incited crowds to violence. The Donald has no idea what he is doing, besides "winning" the reality show he is currently on.

Trump treats this election as though it were a reality TV show. They are used to making up their reality from whole cloth, it's what everybody on TV does, from the news to National Geographic.As powerful as that medium is(is there any doubt?) they may be pushing it too far(as is their wont), and when people start believing nothing that is on TV instead of everything on TV, then the game is afoot. Because I swear, you can look out the window and see that it is raining but people gotta check with *News Channel 7* to verify their lying eyes.

Trump treats this election as though it were a reality TV show. They are used to making up their reality from whole cloth, it's what everybody on TV does, from the news to National Geographic.As powerful as that medium is(is there any doubt?) they may be pushing it too far(as is their wont), and when people start believing nothing that is on TV instead of everything on TV, then the game is afoot. Because I swear, you can look out the window and see that it is raining but people gotta check with *News Channel 7* to verify their lying eyes.

Upon reflection I realize that I may have projected my personal experiences upon the working class in general. Highly unscientific, that. Still, I do believe tv to be a significant factor, of however unknown weight.

Upon reflection I realize that I may have projected my personal experiences upon the working class in general. Highly unscientific, that. Still, I do believe tv to be a significant factor, of however unknown weight.

The "feel" that things are coming to a crisis, politically, is hard to avoid - and in political crises it is difficult to separate "personal" from "scientific" (even if we should). I agree with you that TV has a profound effect upon us, an effect none of us probably fully grasp (not even our scholar at "missing").

How can we determine if the explosion that appears to be coming is real or TV hype, breathlessly yearning for ratings. One thing pointed out this morning on the news was the similarity between the rhetoric of Trump in 2016 and George Wallace in 1972. They played a clip of Wallace addressing a crowd while protesters were disrupting, then showed Trump from this weekend's debacles and it was, almost, word for word the same. So, similar things, politically have happened without the descent into thunder-dome, but those pesky conditions keep changing. The US in 1972 is not the US in 2016; Donald Trump is not George Wallace; and the "middle class" (i.e. working class) is no longer the same. One thing looks very plain: Trump's draw may have begun as mostly petty bourgeois, but has expanded into hugely working class - not "consciously" working class, but working class. The Republicans have been milking the working class vote for generations by appealing to visceral, heart-felt ideas and attitudes that have been hammered into the working class since at least the 1930s. But there is one thing these political elites (both Republican and Dem) forget, the working class don't play. You stir up a frenzy in the working class and you got blood on your hands. One of the things that make the working class vital is its capacity for violence. This violence has been inculcated in the class since the 1700s, we live the violence everyday of our lives.

It is this fear of the unwashed that seems to percolate just beneath the surface with, not just the news spokesmen, but with the politicos especially. I saw some kind of Republican apparatchik on TV this morning, with dire predictions of the apocalypse if Trump should be nominated. And he seemed mostly to fear the violence that Trump appears to illicit in his crowds. If Hillary wins, what will Trump's legions do? Actual possibility? Or blustering hype? Or something in between?

Here you go:


Congratulations to the people, young and old, Black, Latino, Asian and White, Muslim, Christian and Jewish. They did what neither his competitors nor the Republican Party have been able to do - still the voice and the vitriol of Donald Trump.

The protestors, a loose amalgam of labor, women, immigration, students and Black Lives Matter activists, didn't do it through violence, or shouting. No dirty tricks, just the old fashioned way. They organized.
It all began early this week with an online petition to the University of Illinois-Chicago to deny Trump the use of the publicly-supported facility on the basis that the rally posed a threat to the security and safety of students. This, tactic, in turn, led to two others. First, using their extensive email lists, they encouraged us to secure tickets through Eventbrite. It ensured that opponents of Trump's racist, anti-choice, anti-immigrant policies and statements could secure seats in the pavilion. It appears that hundreds, if not thousands, took the opportunity to secure a free ticket. I know that I did. Trump was denied the backdrop of 10,000 adoring supporters. Second, they organized dozens of civil, women's, labor and immigrants' rights organizations to protest outside of the venue and to reflect the vision of the diversity and unity that makes our cities and our nation great.
And they succeeded. Faced, not with the threat of violence but lack of control of the message or the montage, Trump retreated. What is now clear is that the answer to the rise of Trump is, as always, organizing for action.
The media has given Trump a pass, covering his brilliantly staged events, playing right into his hand. It's a natural synergy. He knows that his most outrageous statements will draw media coverage because the media has found that Trump stories draw large audiences and improve ratings. The more outrageous the statement, the more coverage. More coverage means more adulation by the thousands of people facing financial precarity and social dislocation who find it easier to turn on the poor, on women and on minorities, than on the corporations or Wall Street that have robbed them of their jobs or their future. Even when the media criticizes any Trump position the coverage results in new recruits.
Similarly, the Republican establishment's effort to thwart Trump's rise has failed; from George W. Bush's and Mitt Romney's denunciations, to Marco Rubio's expose of Trump's failures and the Koch brothers' massive advertising expenditure. It is like watching a singles tennis match where one player always wins.
What the people of Chicago did was turn a tennis match into a team sport, relying not on the comments or stature of a few alternatives to Trump but on the power of thousands of ordinary people, in the full bloom of their diversity, to come together to create the effective force needed to shut him up.
It will not be the Democratic alternative that saves this nation from an inalterable shift to the right under the leadership of Trump or the even scarier Ted Cruz. It will not be slick commercials, targeted vote operations or thoughtful editorial condemnations. As in every successful forward movement, it will be organized people, on the ground, aided now by the power of technology, that will have the power to stem the tide of reaction (some might call it fascism) that is the danger our nation faces.
Whether Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton ultimately leads the Democratic Party, what Bernie says is true. To change the course of this election, indeed the nation, will take a political revolution, of the people, by the people and for the people. Chicago has given us a glimpse of how it can be done.

(My bolding)

Okay, where to start? This is so muddled and "Occupation Wall Street-esque" that it is almost pointless. If the entire "Republican establishment" is against Trump, including the Koch brothers, how is opposing Trump, opposing Wall Street or the big bankers or whomever it is this author is indicating? And if Cruz is "even scarier", why haven't these folks disrupted Cruz events? One of Trump's greatest claims to support among his followers is that he is independent of "big finance", he won't owe anyone anything, except the people who voted for him. The idea that Trump supporters are too stupid or misinformed to be able to make good decisions is one of the huge factors that drives them into Trump's camp. He appears to treat them as adults; he appears to side with them against all comers; he appears to agree with them on almost everything. Republicans and Democrats and "progressive" liberals and "staunch conservatives" can all stand, looking down their noses at the dim-witted, uneducated rabble and wag their manicured fingers at them; and Trump will get the nomination.

Trump is a classic example of an American demagogue. He is playing on the fears, hopes, aspirations, and bigotry of the public - as almost all American politicians have, do and will. My guess is that if he is nominated, he probably won't win the election in the fall - his "own" party will have damaged him too much or there will be a fairly large third party bit that will do him in. If he should win the election (if Hillary gets indicted or her basic corruptness finally tips the scales), then Trump will be no better or no worse than any other bourgeois politician would be or has been. The sad thing is that at this late date it seems that a sizable part of the public still believe that this voting farce has merit or any real meaning.

One final thing, the revolution that established a government "of the people, by the people and for the people" took place over two hundred years ago and gave us what we have today, so any "revolution" would have to be for something else. But In These Times and The Bern want nothing to do with a real revolution, they just want to use the term to mean something else, because the word is so cool...

http://inthesetimes.com/article/18968/how-to-stop-trump-the-chicago-model

The "feel" that things are coming to a crisis, politically, is hard to avoid - and in political crises it is difficult to separate "personal" from "scientific" (even if we should). I agree with you that TV has a profound effect upon us, an effect none of us probably fully grasp (not even our scholar at "missing").

How can we determine if the explosion that appears to be coming is real or TV hype, breathlessly yearning for ratings. One thing pointed out this morning on the news was the similarity between the rhetoric of Trump in 2016 and George Wallace in 1972. They played a clip of Wallace addressing a crowd while protesters were disrupting, then showed Trump from this weekend's debacles and it was, almost, word for word the same. So, similar things, politically have happened without the descent into thunder-dome, but those pesky conditions keep changing. The US in 1972 is not the US in 2016; Donald Trump is not George Wallace; and the "middle class" (i.e. working class) is no longer the same. One thing looks very plain: Trump's draw may have begun as mostly petty bourgeois, but has expanded into hugely working class - not "consciously" working class, but working class. The Republicans have been milking the working class vote for generations by appealing to visceral, heart-felt ideas and attitudes that have been hammered into the working class since at least the 1930s. But there is one thing these political elites (both Republican and Dem) forget, the working class don't play. You stir up a frenzy in the working class and you got blood on your hands. One of the things that make the working class vital is its capacity for violence. This violence has been inculcated in the class since the 1700s, we live the violence everyday of our lives.

It is this fear of the unwashed that seems to percolate just beneath the surface with, not just the news spokesmen, but with the politicos especially. I saw some kind of Republican apparatchik on TV this morning, with dire predictions of the apocalypse if Trump should be nominated. And he seemed mostly to fear the violence that Trump appears to illicit in his crowds. If Hillary wins, what will Trump's legions do? Actual possibility? Or blustering hype? Or something in between?

Of course 'the last time' ended with Wallace with a cap in his ass. Something 'The Donald' had better consider, I don't think he wants the gig or the ratings that bad, and he's pissed off the Bush clan....(better luck with the Gambinos or Clintons)

As we are given to looking to history it might be worth recalling 1789.(We keep pushing the clock back...) This time though the government is being blamed for all the wrong things(welfare queens, anchor babies, Gitmo in your backyard) while all the hideous damage it wreaks at home and abroad gets a pass. The anti-communism which has been innoculated so successfully, especially since 1991(Communism don't work!) makes it damn near mission impossible to get a hearing, even in our own homes. Nonetheless, the guilty always have reason to fear and rich paranoids certainly have enemies.

Here you go:



(My bolding)

Okay, where to start? This is so muddled and "Occupation Wall Street-esque" that it is almost pointless. If the entire "Republican establishment" is against Trump, including the Koch brothers, how is opposing Trump, opposing Wall Street or the big bankers or whomever it is this author is indicating? And if Cruz is "even scarier", why haven't these folks disrupted Cruz events? One of Trump's greatest claims to support among his followers is that he is independent of "big finance", he won't owe anyone anything, except the people who voted for him. The idea that Trump supporters are too stupid or misinformed to be able to make good decisions is one of the huge factors that drives them into Trump's camp. He appears to treat them as adults; he appears to side with them against all comers; he appears to agree with them on almost everything. Republicans and Democrats and "progressive" liberals and "staunch conservatives" can all stand, looking down their noses at the dim-witted, uneducated rabble and wag their manicured fingers at them; and Trump will get the nomination.

Trump is a classic example of an American demagogue. He is playing on the fears, hopes, aspirations, and bigotry of the public - as almost all American politicians have, do and will. My guess is that if he is nominated, he probably won't win the election in the fall - his "own" party will have damaged him too much or there will be a fairly large third party bit that will do him in. If he should win the election (if Hillary gets indicted or her basic corruptness finally tips the scales), then Trump will be no better or no worse than any other bourgeois politician would be or has been. The sad thing is that at this late date it seems that a sizable part of the public still believe that this voting farce has merit or any real meaning.

One final thing, the revolution that established a government "of the people, by the people and for the people" took place over two hundred years ago and gave us what we have today, so any "revolution" would have to be for something else. But In These Times and The Bern want nothing to do with a real revolution, they just want to use the term to mean something else, because the word is so cool...

http://inthesetimes.com/article/18968/how-to-stop-trump-the-chicago-model

They have to treat him as a fraud, if only to contrast the rest of the establishment as 'responsible', his illegitimacy to their legitimacy.(and by extension, his supporters) That he is one just makes it easier yet a lot of folks don't seem to care, and it seems that they are doing this because he represents their frustrations and will not be dismissed by the arrogant assholes. His lies are cruder that Obama's, laughable to awful, yet on the net the results will be in the ruling class consensus ballpark.

Trots for Trump

Championing the right to speak out and organize is crucial for the working class

The following statement was released March 12 by
Alyson Kennedy, Socialist Workers Party candidate for
.U.S. president
Yesterday members of left and liberal groups and others
organized to disrupt and force the cancellation of a
Chicago rally where thousands of workers, middle class
proprietors and others had come to hear Republican
Party presidential candidate Donald Trump speak. This
was a serious blow to free speech. I was there at the
meeting talking to workers about the Socialist Workers
.Party campaign and getting serious interest
Most of those who came are hard hit by the smoldering
worldwide economic depression and are fed up with
the political establishment of all the bourgeois political
parties, who have no proposals to deal with the
persistent joblessness, growing attacks by bosses on
.wages and working conditions and other indignities
They’re attracted to Trump because he thumbs his nose
at the party bosses and says he is his own man. He
claims he knows how to create jobs. Many of those I
met simply wanted to hear what he had to say. And they
were interested in what the Socialist Workers Party had
.to say as well
,Thuggish efforts to shut down those you disagree with
including bourgeois politicians such as Trump, set back
the workers’ movement. It is the working class who
most needs free speech to discuss and debate how
to defend ourselves from the attacks of the bosses
and their government. And who need an independent
working-class political alternative to the bosses’ two
parties. Attempts to shut down political expression
,will inevitably be turned against the working class
our unions and other organizations by the capitalist
.government, their courts, cops and hired goons
The members of various radical political groups who
came to shout Trump down, saying he’s a fascist and
“,carrying signs such as “Shut down white supremacy
are a danger to the working class. Their arguments
go hand-in-hand with bourgeois commentators of
all stripes who argue that Trump’s support is based
among bigoted Caucasian workers. This is a slander
against the working class, something we are able
to confirm daily as we campaign — including at the
.Trump rally
There is no growing ultrarightist or fascist movement
today. The bosses have no need for one. The working
class is not strong or organized enough yet to pose a
Championing the right to speak out
and organize is crucial for the working class
challenge to their rule. And we won’t be able to make
progress in that direction unless we can see and tell
the truth about the real world and chart a course to
.fight effectively
,When it was announced that the rally was cancelled
many of those bent on disruption cheered their victory
“,over free speech, chanting “Bernie, Bernie, Bernie
praising Bernie Sanders, candidate for the Democratic
presidential nomination. But Sanders is a bourgeois
“,politician whose goal is to make capitalism work “better
.not to fight to overthrow it
Disrupting the meeting will bring more support to
Trump. It will increase the number of reactionaries
attracted to his meetings. And it lets Trump, who often
,does use crude anti-Mexican and anti-Muslim rhetoric
to say he’s the champion of free speech and take the
.moral high ground
Some of the protesters carried signs protesting
government deportations, defending equal rights
for Muslims and against racism. To strengthen these
working-class struggles requires the widest support
for free speech. The disruption was a blow to the fight
.for Black rights
The Socialist Workers Party urges working people
to join in the fight for $15 and a union and other
labor actions, protests against cop killings, rallies
supporting a woman’s right to choose abortion, against
,deportations and attacks on Muslims and mosques
in defense of ranchers and farmers taking action to
defend their livelihood and other social struggles. And
to join in taking advantage of growing opportunities to
.win support for the SW

http://themilitant.com/SWPCampaign2016/pdf/SWPFreeSpeechStatement.pdfthe

It is a zero sum game, if it hurts Trump it benefits his enemies. OTOH we are bound to oppose the racist crap that comes out of Trump's mouth...makes ya pine for Huey Long.

It is a zero sum game, if it hurts Trump it benefits his enemies. OTOH we are bound to oppose the racist crap that comes out of Trump's mouth...makes ya pine for Huey Long.

It makes you wonder what would have happened if the "establishment" had simply stayed mum and not gotten excited about Trump. As it is, they played right into his hands - the more the elite denigrated Trump the more "the downtrodden" supported him.

Trump's racist dog-whistles, as well as his outright slurs, must be confronted, but the Republican establishment cannot do it. Their protestations of "unity" and "coming together" is belied by decades of abusive divisiveness and violence against minorities. The Republicans are upset that Trump has trumped them on the "Southern thing". The Republicans have managed to extend the Southern strategy to the whole country, now they reap the whirlwind. And the Trots? Well Trots be Trots...

It makes you wonder what would have happened if the "establishment" had simply stayed mum and not gotten excited about Trump. As it is, they played right into his hands - the more the elite denigrated Trump the more "the downtrodden" supported him.

Trump's racist dog-whistles, as well as his outright slurs, must be confronted, but the Republican establishment cannot do it. Their protestations of "unity" and "coming together" is belied by decades of abusive divisiveness and violence against minorities. The Republicans are upset that Trump has trumped them on the "Southern thing". The Republicans have managed to extend the Southern strategy to the whole country, now they reap the whirlwind. And the Trots? Well Trots be Trots...

The 'whirlwind', indeed. It is tempting to say, "They didn't have to 'go there', that they might have taken the 'high road' and allow political racism to fade away. I believe that would have gone a long way towards putting that 'ruling idea' out of the popular mind. But of course they really did have to 'go there', to do otherwise would have led to political extinction. As the Dems were getting all the credit for the advances in civil rights, black Republicans were leaving Lincoln's Party and scads more newly registered voters were all going Democratic. How to answer this existential threat? Only thing to do was snap up that voter bloc at loose ends and out of sorts....The duopoly, which they swear makes for the best super duper democracy that the world has ever seen, made this turn of events inevitable.

It gets better and better.....


Ku Klux Klan Grand Dragon Will Quigg Endorses Hillary Clinton for President
He says he's retracting his endorsement of Donald Trump.

Hillary Clinton can add a new name to her list of endorsements – a prominent Ku Klux Klan member who says he likes her because of her "hidden agenda."

Will Quigg, a grand dragon of the Ku Klux Klan's California chapter, told the Telegraph Monday that he would be switching his support from Donald Trump to Clinton.

Quigg had endorsed Trump on Twitter in September:


@realDonaldTrump You Sir are the only hope we have of getting WHITE AMERICA BACK! WE all will be voting for you! CHURCH OF INVISABLE EMPIRE

— Wm. Quigg (@GrandDragonCa) September 17, 2015

Now, though, he says he's changing his tune.


"We want Hillary Clinton to win," he said. "She is telling everybody one thing, but she has a hidden agenda. She’s telling everybody what they want to hear so she can get elected, because she’s Bill Clinton’s wife, she’s close to the Bushes. Once she’s in the presidency, she’s going to come out and her true colors are going to show. Border policies are going to be put in place. Our second amendment rights that she’s saying she’s against now, she’s not against. She’s just our choice for the presidency."

When asked about the "hidden agenda," Quigg said, "I cannot reveal my sources.”

When the Telegraph asked Quigg why he reneged on his promise to support Trump in the race, he replied: "We don’t like his hair. We think it’s a toupee. He won’t do what he says he will do. He says he’s going to build a 20-foot high fence along with border with Mexico and make them pay. How’s he going to do that?"

Clinton has yet to address the unexpected new endorsement, but some analysts say Quigg's statements seem "suspect."

"Based on his past statements, it doesn’t appear highly credible that he has changed his effusive allegiance to Donald Trump,” Brian Levin, a former New York police officer who is director of the Centre for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University in San Bernardino, told the Telegraph. “The timing seems suspect. I think this is a function of not wanting to undermine the Trump campaign.”

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-03-14/ku-klux-klan-grand-dragon-will-quigg-endorses-hillary-clinton-for-president?src=usn_tw

Why a United Front Against Trump is Dangerous Territory for the Left
by Danny Haiphong
“The "lesser of two evils" has been centered on the false dichotomy of Trump versus everyone else.”

A Donald Trump rally at the University of Illinois erupted in protest on March 11th, forcing the Republican presidential candidate to cancel the event. The protest was led by a multinational group of activists angry with Trump's white supremacist rhetoric. Sanders supporters, Black Americans, Chicanos, Arabs and Muslims confronted Trump's followers and denounced his racist remarks. Thus far, Trump has received the most corporate media attention out of any candidate in the 2016 Presidential elections. His campaign has also received the most attention from the US left.

There is a strong tendency on the US left to unite against the Republican Party. This tendency has only intensified in response to the Trump campaign. Trump's call to build a wall on the US-Mexican border and institute a Muslim identification system has united liberals and radicals against the leading Republican Party candidate. So while Hilary Clinton has received some negative media attention for her connections to unpopular politicians such as Rahm Emanuel, George W. Bush, and Nancy Reagan, there remains an absence of organized opposition to the Democratic Party in the 2016 elections. A united front against Trump alone leaves open the possibility that "lesser-evil" politics will dictate the left's approach to the 2016 elections.

Generally, Presidential elections further promote the most reactionary characteristics of US society. Anti-intellectualism, a staple of US corporate rule, rises to the surface of political debate. The talking points of the two corporate parties become what Antonio Gramsci called "common sense." Cognitive dissonance reigns supreme. The left’s attachment to the "lesser of two evils" ideology is the most marked example of the anti-intellectualism and cognitive dissonance inherent in the US electoral circus.

“The talking points of the two corporate parties become what Antonio Gramsci called ‘common sense.’"

In 2008, Barack Obama's victory was heralded by the Democratic Party establishment as a historic achievement. Obama was framed as the progressive alternative to Republican John McCain. In the eyes of the left, McCain represented a continuation of Bush-era policy of endless war and economic crisis. Four years later, Barack Obama was once again given the "lesser of two evils" pass over Republican Party candidate and Bain Capital founder, Mitt Romney. So far in 2016, the "lesser of two evils" has been centered on the false dichotomy of Trump versus everyone else.

Donald Trump's racist comments have received numerous condemnations from Democratic Party politicians across the country. Hilary Clinton, Barack Obama, and New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio have all distanced themselves from Trump's racist remarks toward Muslims, Black Americans, and Chicanos. Yet, while Trump's rhetoric may be obscene, the Democratic Party's record is arguably worse. Trump has made billions exploiting workers all over the planet. But the Democratic Party as a whole and President Barack Obama in particular have established a deep record of service to Trump's class and have done so without protest.

Trump has called Mexicans rapists and proposed that a wall be built along the US-Mexican border to prevent migration. In less than eight years, the Obama Administration has deported more migrants than any other President and further militarized the US-Mexican border. Trump has called for a system to identify Muslims in America yet the Obama Administration has waged war on Muslims domestically and conducted an extensive drone program against Muslims abroad that has killed thousands of people, including two US citizens. Few have protested the Obama Administration over these policies, but thousands have come out against Trump's rhetoric. Trump is indeed evil, but Obama and the Democratic Party remain the far more effective evil.

“The Democratic Party as a whole and President Barack Obama in particular have established a deep record of service to Trump's class and have done so without protest.”

A united front against Trump without equal attention and resistance to the Democratic Party can only be of benefit to US imperialism. Imperialism's foundation of war and profit is crumbling and the 2016 elections reflect the crisis of the system. The increased space the left has secured to raise real questions about the character of US society will be wasted if Trump is allowed to scare the left back under the Democratic Party umbrella. The Democratic Party apparatus has been where movements go to die and capitalism turns to stabilize. The true test in the 2016 elections is not whether Trump can be defeated by a united front but whether radical forces in the US can find a way to defeat the plague of lesser evil politics.

http://blackagendareport.com/danger_of_front_against_trump

The crucial point is: Trump does not accept the fundamental premise that these bases exist for U.S. “security” interests, but rather, he frames them as a kind of “service” that the clients should pay for. Once the “national security” veneer is withdrawn, the military-imperial rationale evaporates and all that is left is a business transaction – not enough to call a nation to war, or to risk a world over.

snip

The job of the Left, at this historic juncture, is to ensure that the two-party duopoly is permanently broken, to create the space for a much broader national discourse and, especially, to free Black America from the “trap within a trap” of the corporate-controlled Democratic Party. As we have written before in these pages, the best scenario of 2016 would be a fracture at both ends of the Rich Man’s Duopoly. It is insane – although perfectly explainable – that the most leftish constituency in the nation, Black America, is aligned with the right wing of the Democratic Party in the person of Hillary Clinton, while white Democrats man the barricades for the nominal socialist, Bernie Sanders. Blacks are the most pro-peace ethnicity in the nation, but have also been the indispensable bloc behind Hillary Clinton, the warmonger who is on her way to becoming the sole candidate of both Wall Street and the Pentagon.

It is magnificent, grand and glorious that the duopoly system is in deep trouble. But it is sad beyond measure that the near-extinction of independent Black politics has placed African Americans in the most untenable position imaginable at this critical moment: in the Hillary Clinton camp. Fortunately, key elements of the Movement for Black Lives have pledged not to endorse any candidates this election season. We hope that they stick with that commitment, continue to build a grassroots movement, and resist the corporate Democratic hegemony that has strangled and subverted Black politics for the past 40 years. The Black Left, broadly defined, must engage in a thorough reassessment of its politics and practice, in light of the great fissures that are occurring in the structures of the rulers’ system. That’s why the Black Is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations is holding a National Conference on the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election and the Struggle for Black Self-Determination, on April 9th, in Harlem, New York City. This electoral season will see massive realignments of parties and coalitions – events that will happen whether Black people are organized or not. But Black self-determination is only moved forward if people push it. The most optimum time to press issues of Black self-determination is when the larger polity is in flux, such as exists today – thanks, in great measure, to the racist billionaire, Donald Trump.
http://blackagendareport.com/trump_anti-empire


The way things are going the notion that Trump is 'working for' Hilary seems less far fetched. But equally this might be what a billionaire narcissist sociopath looks like, and his pronouncements have all the relevance of a Magic Eightball. I am sure that no one in the political hierarchy is happy about the dirty laundry that Trump is airing, and the Rs less than the Ds. For the Republicansit could be an extential problem when coupled withhe implied rejection of austerity, as Ford says. Hilary can and will simply scoff and mock him for an amateur because imperialism as it has been practiced for decades is the only way to keep the capitalist boat afloat, and though she can't say it the implications will be clear enough.

Whatever, let's see some action. I cannot see any way that Trump can help but damage the Republicans. Whether it will be a head or gut shot remains to be seen. As for the dems, can't see any weakening from all this unless Bernie goes 3rd party, as likely as cold beer in hell.

The Dems have to disqualify themselves. I had expected Obama to go far in that regard but the Republicans sacrificed long cherished policy goals in the face of political reality. Together with Obama they might have administered a sound thrashing to the working class but their rank and file didn't care, oreo cookie or not, and non-hostile dealings with the Black President were treason.

[quote]The crucial point is: Trump does not accept the fundamental premise that these bases exist for U.S. “security” interests, but rather, he frames them as a kind of “service” that the clients should pay for. Once the “national security” veneer is withdrawn, the military-imperial rationale evaporates and all that is left is a business transaction – not enough to call a nation to war, or to risk a world over.

snip

And this is the real reason the "establishment" is against a Trump Presidency. He doesn't follow a script. The bosses don't care that he is racist, they don't care that he's misogynistic, they don't even really care that he doesn't take much of their money; the bosses care that he might derail or otherwise impede the business of empire. There's gold in them "boots on the ground" and either Trump doesn't get it or (more likely) he is using it as a wedge issue for the disaffected TP folks and the Libertarians - not to mention loads of "millennials" who don't like it, even if they don't know why. This is one of the big lapses in Bernie's appeal to the "youth vote" - imperialism. The young do not know what that means, but they don't like it; Bernie is a dyed-in-the-wool aggressive imperialist who wants more and more of the world under a US thumb. If Trump can continue to frame US imperialism as an unpaid service to selfish, effete, lazy Europeans and assorted Asians, someone may be compelled to actually explain what imperialism really is. Can Clinton be forced to explain and define what the US security needs are? Can Bernie be forced to explain it? It is hilarious that it is the Republican who is questioning US imperialism, while the Democrats (those darlings of the CPUSA) are in lock-step, full-throated support of global domination. Man, conditions change and the only people who remain sure-footed are the KKE and similar parties - everyone else has put on "looking-glass" eyewear.

[QUOTE=blindpig;494689]

And this is the real reason the "establishment" is against a Trump Presidency. He doesn't follow a script. The bosses don't care that he is racist, they don't care that he's misogynistic, they don't even really care that he doesn't take much of their money; the bosses care that he might derail or otherwise impede the business of empire. There's gold in them "boots on the ground" and either Trump doesn't get it or (more likely) he is using it as a wedge issue for the disaffected TP folks and the Libertarians - not to mention loads of "millennials" who don't like it, even if they don't know why. This is one of the big lapses in Bernie's appeal to the "youth vote" - imperialism. The young do not know what that means, but they don't like it; Bernie is a dyed-in-the-wool aggressive imperialist who wants more and more of the world under a US thumb. If Trump can continue to frame US imperialism as an unpaid service to selfish, effete, lazy Europeans and assorted Asians, someone may be compelled to actually explain what imperialism really is. Can Clinton be forced to explain and define what the US security needs are? Can Bernie be forced to explain it? It is hilarious that it is the Republican who is questioning US imperialism, while the Democrats (those darlings of the CPUSA) are in lock-step, full-throated support of global domination. Man, conditions change and the only people who remain sure-footed are the KKE and similar parties - everyone else has put on "looking-glass" eyewear.

Sumbitches can explain it all away simply by repeating the mantra 'keeping America safe', as always. A little judiciously applied Fear keeps it on the front burner. Don't you want to be safe? Whatever it takes....Haven't you seen it at every workplace? "Saftey is Number 1!"

[QUOTE=Dhalgren;494690]

Sumbitches can explain it all away simply by repeating the mantra 'keeping America safe', as always. A little judiciously applied Fear keeps it on the front burner. Don't you want to be safe? Whatever it takes....Haven't you seen it at every workplace? "Saftey is Number 1!"

Yeah, and when one of the machines cuts a guy's hand off, it was his own fault. He should have been more careful! And when the woman running the lathe has to have back surgery because of the her work, well that's just bad luck, don't you see? Don't get me started.

I want a resourced and reviewable breakdown of the threats to US safety in the world and how US troops in other countries address these threats. I will never get any of this, but it would be fun to put the question to any of these rubes.

The 2016 Elections Reflect General Crisis of Imperialism
Submitted by Danny Haiphong on Tue, 04/05/2016 - 16:53

by Danny Haiphong

“The forces of US capital neither want an unpredictable Commander in Chief nor one that will inspire masses of people to push for concrete demands.”

Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders are products of US imperialism's post-Obama stupor. After eight years of bipartisan consensus on nearly every venture of imperialism, from privatization to endless war, Washington's corporate duopoly finds itself in a delicate moment. Trump has split the Republican Party with his unorthodox combination of white supremacist vitriol and populist appeal. The Bernie Sanders campaign, on the other hand, has galvanized a large section of the Democratic Party base to support a New Deal politician. The two-party establishment has not been kind to the Trump and Sanders development because it reflects the general crisis in the system.

However, there should be no illusions about whether Trump or Sanders would alter the course of US imperialism. The answer is no. Both are running on establishment party tickets, which are fully indebted to US imperialism. War, privatization, and racist terrorism will exist and persist as long as the US is ruled by capital. However, the significance of Trump and Sanders cannot be ignored. Both present a potential nightmare for imperialism as discontent with the rule of capital reaches a high point.

The forces of US capital neither want an unpredictable Commander in Chief nor one that will inspire masses of people to push for concrete demands. Trump is the former and Sanders is the latter. Although the corporate media has given Trump the most attention of any candidate, the Republican Party establishment has revolted against him. Sanders has survived multiple attacks from the Democratic Party establishment, including the media. Trump and Sanders are not threats to the two-party duopoly in and of themselves. However, what their campaigns represent certainty is and the ruling class knows it.

“Masses of people are frustrated and are looking for an alternative.”

The Sanders and Trump phenomenon emerged from the internal revolt occurring in the respective bases of the Democratic and Republican Party. Young people across racial and gender lines favor Sanders while older Democrats favor Clinton. Donald Trump has become the most popular Republican Party candidate by attaching allegiance to white supremacy to real economic grievances. Since the Reagan era, the Republican Party has relied solely on appealing to racism for popular support. Over this same period, large sections of Republican Party supporters have lost significant economic ground to the forces of Wall Street.
Trump and Sanders have promised to reverse this trend in their own way. US capitalist society is crumbling and the 2016 elections reflect the growing cracks. Persistent joblessness, poverty, and debt have left workers disillusioned with the enormous profits raked in by lords of capital. US imperialism's endless path of destruction all around the world no longer provides material benefit to any section of workers in the US. Mass surveillance, police brutality, and mass Black Incarceration have plummeted trust in the US state. Masses of people are frustrated and are looking for an alternative.

But workers and oppressed people remain stuck in the two-party corporate duopoly because the revolt of the 2016 elections has taken place within the establishment parties. However, in the coming months, the capitalist class will be forced to choose which candidate is best suited to run the Empire. This President will be tasked with managing the affairs of capital in a much more hostile political terrain. Trump and Sanders have energized a large section of the population around legitimate concerns about the various ills that stem from capitalist rule. However, the atmosphere of enthusiasm around this election should not replace a concrete analysis of where the left should go from here.

“US capitalist society is crumbling and the 2016 elections reflect the growing cracks.”

The left is visibly torn about this election cycle. Some have focused energy primarily on preventing a Trump victory while others have become enamored with Bernie Sanders. Some believe that Hilary Clinton is the most dangerous candidate in the race while others think that Trump represents the rise of fascism in the US. The contradictions of this election cycle have opened up room for debate that didn't previously exist in the Obama era. It is what principled forces of revolutionary struggle do with this room that matters.

The two-party corporate duopoly will always be a duopoly regardless of which candidates happen to speak to the issues afflicting the oppressed. The oppressed and working class inside the Empire has yet to grasp onto a political language and direction necessary to spur a mass movement. Even so, the US ruling class is genuinely concerned that this election cycle will inspire people to rebel against its two-party dictatorship of capital. The sooner this concern becomes a reality, the closer imperialism’s crisis comes to a revolutionary conclusion. The post-Obama hangover has the potential to be a violent one.

http://blackagendareport.com/duopoly_crisis_of_imperialism_2016

bolding added

It’s not just Trump; It’s Imperialism, stupid!
April 8, 2016 | 8:16 am
Πέμπτη, 31 Μαρτίου 2016

It’s not just Trump; It’s Imperialism, stupid!
http://communismgr.blogspot.gr/2016/03/its-not-just-trump-its-imperialism.html

Special to the In Defense of Communism.

The enemies of Donald Trump have used numerous words in order to describe the multi-millionaire republican presidential candidate: “Bully”, “arrogant”, “racist”, “misogynist”, “intolerant”, “narcissist” etc. Maybe Trump is, indeed, all the above. But the major issue isn’t Trump’s character or the way he presents himself in the media. The primary issue- the one that the working class in the US should be aware of- is the following: How the ‘Trump phenomenon’ was born and what feeds it?

On that point it would be useful to clarify that the so-called ‘Donald Trump phenomenon’, independently of the result in November’s presidential election, is not an unprecedented or incomprehensible phenomenon in the world’s major imperialist power. The rise of Trump reflects the interests of a significant part of US capital which, especially in times of inter-imperialist contradictions, choose to promote specific personalities for the political leadership.
We ‘ve seen this in the past. US politicians, lobbyists or prominent personalities rise into nationwide fame and consequently become tenants of the White House. That happens with the significant support of the- each time strongest- US monopolies and companies. For example, in the beginning of the so-called “Star Wars” (SDI) policy the ‘appropriate’ president – posed as an example of american ‘patriotism’- was Hollywood actor Ronald Reagan. When the interest of America’s capitalist establishment moved towards the Middle East, by the end of 1980s, an experienced politician and former vice-president, George Bush Sr. became the choice. After all, the same happened in 2008 with Barack Obama. Senator Obama, under the slogans of “Change” and “Yes, we can”, posed as the moderate reformist African-American who would stop the Bush administration’s wars and express the underprivileged minorities (african-americans, hispanic and latino americans, poorer citizens, etc).

However, under Obama’s Presidency the US Imperialism tried to ‘wash out’ the crimes of the previous years. President Obama himself was rewarded with the Nobel Peace Prize only for his good intentions! But who can forget the Obama administration’s role in Yemen, in Egypt, in Libya and recently in Syria? President Barack Obama -a charismatic personality in terms of media communication- worked as the ‘smiling face’ of US Imperialism. Under different circumstances and possibly with a different tactic, the Obama government served the interests of the US capitalist establishment.

Donald Trump poses as the ‘aggresive face’ of the superpower. He expresses dangerous ideas and, without doubt, he is an enemy of the american working class. But the plain truth is that Trump is actually a political servant of US monopoly capital- like Hillary Clinton is. The ugly, aggresive strategy of US Imperialism does not depend on who is the tenant of the White House. After all, Imperialism always needed political puppets in order to do it’s job.

The working class of the United States lacks of a powerful revolutionary leadership. Bernie Sanders, a moderate social democrat who is compromised with the Capitalist system, is not an option. Americans do not need a new ‘white Obama’. America’s working class needs a revolutionary force which will create the political circumstances for a real change in the balance of power. It may take too long to happen, but that’s the only perspective for a positive future for the masses in the United States.
Αναρτήθηκε από In Defense of Communism

http://houstoncommunistparty.com/its-not-just-trump-its-imperialism-stupid/