Donald Trump, Avatar of his Class, Capitalism & the Decline and Fall of Bourgeois Democracy

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Re: Donald Trump, Avatar of his Class, Capitalism & the Decline and Fall of Bourgeois Democracy

Post by blindpig » Wed Jun 24, 2020 4:38 pm

Is Trump deflating?
BY OAKLANDSOCIALIST ON JUNE 22, 2020 • ( LEAVE A COMMENT )

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Trump after his rally in Tulsa

Hold up! What is that sound we’re hearing? Is it the sound of the air being let out of the Trump balloon?

Trump’s moves to consolidate his grip on the various branches of the US government did prevent further dissension within those branches, as long as he appeared invincible. But the movement in the streets severely weakened that image. He tried to move to outright military repression, but that was a step too far for even the Wall St. Journal editors, never mind the military brass. (See Trump in Trouble.)

Unable to repress the movement in the streets and stymied at least temporarily in his drive towards one-man rule, the defeats are mounting and the cracks in his regime have started to widen.

Supreme Court rulings
The Supreme Court gave him two stunning defeats – their rulings on the rights of LGBTQ people and on DACA (the right of immigrant children to remain in the US). Contrary to how they like to portray themselves, the judiciary responds to political pressure just like every other branch of the capitalist government. Take the first ruling – on LGBTQ people. That opinion was written by Neil Gorsuch. The Wall St. Journal editors pointed out how his opinion on that issue completely contradicted a previous ruling of his. They explain the reversal by the fact that this case was so “politically charged”. Yes, indeed!

As for the DACA ruling, Chief (in)Justice John Roberts was the swing vote. Back in November of last year, the NY Times had reported that Roberts appeared headed towards siding with Trump. “Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. indicated that the administration was on solid legal footing in saying the program was unlawful,” they reported in an article headlined “Supreme Court Appears Ready to Let Trump End DACA Program”. What caused Roberts to change his mind? Clarence Thomas got it right, when he wrote in his dissenting opinion that it was an attempt to avoid “a politically controversial… decision.”

These two decisions further undermined Trump’s appearance of strength, and they were due to the power of the movement in the streets.

Resignations Image
Now, like rats leaving a sinking ship, a series of former loyal members of Team Trump are starting to resign.

One is Joseph Hunt, head of the (in)Justice Department’s civil division and former chief of staff for former attorney general Jeff Sessions. He announced his resignation just hours after signing the lawsuit to try to prevent the publication of John Bolton’s book. The week prior, Brian Benczkowski, former head of the criminal division, and Noel J. Francisco, solicitor general, had announced their plans to leave.

Next came Mary Elizabeth Taylor, former assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs. A lifelong Republican functionary, she formerly was a top aide to Mitch McConnell. The Washington Post reported that she had been “a pivotal behind-the-scenes figure in the administration.” As a black woman, she knew that once Trump was gone, and with the possibility of a Republican wipeout in the Senate, her chances for a cushy professorship somewhere were severely diminished if she continued to be associated with the Racist in Chief. So she resigned.

Berman defies Trump
Next came the firing of Geoffrey Berman, chief prosecutor for the Southern District of New York for the Department of (in)Justice. Under Berman’s watch, that district had prosecuted Trump associates Rudy Giuliani and Michael Cohen and was investigating Deutsche Bank, which is reputed to have handled much of Trump’s shady business deals. The S.D.N.Y., located in the heart of Wall St., is reputed to be proudly “independent” of political advantage for Republicans and Democrats. Berman refused to resign at the request of Attorney General Barr, forcing Barr to inform him that Trump had fired him. When questioned about it, Trump in effect threw Barr under the bus, denying any “involvement” in the affair.

Berman did not resign; on the contrary he refused to step down. But the whole situation developed exactly because he was doing his job independently of the immediate political interests of Trump. In other words, he was burnishing his image of indepencende rather than as being a Trump flunky. And what gave him the fortitude to openly defy Barr? Especially considering that Berman was a Trump ally, it would seem that it was Trump’s weakening position. Equally significant, Trump was forced to back off from having his lap dog and golfing partner Jay Clayton appointed in Berman’s place. The reason he had to retreat was that South Carolina’s Senator Lindsay Graham refused to back Trump. Graham, who is usually one of Trump’s most vicious attack dogs, is facing an unexpectedly close race for reelection, which his lead in the polls having shrunk down from double digits to 4%.

Tulsa fiasco
Then, finally, came the Tulsa fiasco on Saturday, June 20. The very fact that he had to change the date was significant. Normally, Trump never bows to any criticism, not even the slightest. The rally itself, was a serious defeat for Trump, with the Tulsa fire department estimating the crowd size at 6,200 in an arena that holds 19,000. At least in part, Trump’s claims that one million had signed up was due to having been fooled by thousands of teen age fans of K Pop and users of TikTok. As Ocasio Cortez put it, “you just got ROCKED by teens on TikTok who flooded the Trump campaign w/ fake ticket reservations & tricked you into believing a million people wanted your white supremacist open mic enough to pack an arena during COVID.” The New York Times reported that Trump “was stunned, and he yelled at aides backstage while looking at the endless rows of empty blue seats in the upper bowl of the stadium, according to four people familiar with what took place. Brad Parscale, the campaign manager who had put the event together, was not present.” If this continues, expect Trump’s right hand man – Parscale – to be fired.

Perception weakening
Like any bully, Trump lives off of the perception of strength. If serious cracks appear in that perception, it’s possible that he will collapse like a ballon. As Oaklandsocialist has reported, Trump’s reelection is in serious trouble both in the national opinion polls as well as in most swing states. Polls also show that the Republicans may lose control over the Senate.

No guarantees
Nothing is guaranteed in US politics. It’s possible that Trump could come roaring back. For example, he is launching a chauvinist anti-China campaign, led among others by trade advisor Peter Navarro who recently went on CNN claiming that China may have intentionally developed and sent to the US the virus that causes Covid 19. In today’s anti-racist climate, it seems that this claim will be met with a backlash, but who knows? It is also possible that Trump and the Republicans could suppress the vote enough to win reelection. In that, they could be assisted by their militia thug allies. And once the campaign starts in earnest, Biden’s weaknesses could deal the Democrats a major blow.

President Biden?
But it’s also possible that Trump and the Republicans could be wiped out in the November elections. One indication of that possibility is the May fund raising reports of both camps. Biden reported having raised $80.8 million vs. $74 million for Trump. In addition, Biden’s main super PAC raised $7.5 million vs. $2.4 million for Trump’s main one. If Biden wins, there may be a general euphoria and, along with it Biden could really rise in the polls. In any case, there is always the “honeymoon” period when a new president first takes office.

It’s not too early to start thinking about a possible Biden presidency. Much has been made of his horrible history, including his open association with known racist politicians, his responsibility for mass black incarceration and his strong support for the Bush-led war against Iraq. Biden, however, is simply a creature of US capitalism, and he represents those interests as best he sees them. In the current climate, he is likely to swing “left”.

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These right wing thugs turned out to try to intimidate a rally of health care workers. How bold will they continue to be if the Trump balloon deflates?

Up until now, we have thought that the racists that Trump has stirred up will fight tooth and nail even if the Democrats sweep the election, even possibly engaging in terrorism and violence. But is that necessarily true? They have gained confidence due to Trump being in office. If there is a general mood of revulsion against Trump, and that mood is expressed by election results, is it possible that the racists will be demoralized and tend to crawl back under the rock under which they came from?

The capitalist media has attacked Trump over and over for how “divisive” he is. They mean that he’s stirring up open racism, tending to have the pot boil over rather than just simmer on the back burner. The majority of white Americans don’t like that. They prefer a United States that is more calm and stable. One that allows the majority to ignore the realities of US capitalism, including racism, police brutality and poverty as well as criminal adventures overseas. Will a President Biden be able to provide them with that?

There are several factors that would seem to make that difficult. One is the enormous federal deficit that has accumulated. That will make further deficit spending to prop up the economy more difficult. Also, it seems unlikely that Covid 19 will go away. There is also the continued weakening of US imperialism worldwide. All of this has been the basis for the rise of the violent militias and white supremacist groups, so on balance it doesn’t seem likely that they’ll just disappear. But as we learned in the 2016 elections, we should not rule out any possibilities.

Another huge issue is this: Will the union bureaucracy be able to retain its unchallenged grip? Several cracks have started to appear. These are also due to the power of the movement in the streets. This movement cannot continue forever like this. What organized strength, both inside the unions and out, will it leave?

So many questions, so few answers.

https://oaklandsocialist.com/2020/06/22 ... deflating/
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Re: Donald Trump, Avatar of his Class, Capitalism & the Decline and Fall of Bourgeois Democracy

Post by blindpig » Wed Jul 01, 2020 4:44 pm

A relevant re-post, this one has stuck with me for all this time.
snip

I was going for something much more "timely": the "Unitary Executive" + a "Strict Constructionist Judiciary". I always hesitate to talk about shit like this because they haven't passed from the buzzword and sound bite stages yet. The current outrage at the "excesses" and "unlawfulness" of the Bush regime are actually clouding over one of the more important political debates in recent American history. If I can translate the legalese, the motivation is a conservative (thus far, at least) concern that democratic artifacts in the American social fabric threaten to frustrate elements of American Policy, most importantly with regard to imperialist foreign policy but on many other fronts as well (and these "pressures" will only increase as U.S. demographics continue to change). The solution of the "Units" is to unsentimentally restate the elements of the U.S. political system without regard to the lyrical poetry that is normally intertwined with American civics. In a phrase, the assertion is that the "success" of America is not because of existence of "Freedom, Liberty, and Democracy", but because of their absence. The supporting argument is that from the standpoint of the constitution, the extent of "democracy" is really confined to the election of a president every four years with whom virtually the whole of state authority resides. Only on issues of property rights and on the gross allocation of monies do either of the other two "branches" have the authority to impinge on the presidency, and this on very narrowest of grounds. The misunderstanding associated with various theories of "checks and balances", etc., is fundamentally in the confusion of the etiquette of political power with its fundamental underpinnings. In fact, in each case in which "presidential power" exercised in defiance of the legislature or judiciary has actually been tested in the courts against it's constitutional basis, it has been upheld... save when it directly infringed on private property (i.e. Truman's "federalizing" of the Steel Industry).

While this "theory" is universally scorned by the "liberal establishment", it has the side effect of explaining U.S. judicial history (and the continuous violation of "rights", without sanction, whenever they actually matter) in a way that makes the usual, "we got carried away... we're sorry", narrative look ridiculous. Again, in a phrase, the argument is that there is a hole in the Constitution big enough to drive a cruise ship through and, "'we' made it that way because 'we' like it that way".

Anyone interested in reading about this in the coldest terms possible can look here:

The Unitary Executive During the Third Half-Century, 1889-1945, Yoo, Calabresi, and Nee, Notre Dame Law Review, Vol. 80, November 2004
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm? ... _id=559581 (http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm? ... _id=559581)

The Unitary Executive in the Modern Era, 1945-2004, Yoo, Calabresi, and Colangelo, Iowa Law Review, Vol. 90, No. 2, p. 601, 2005
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm? ... _id=690822 (http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm? ... _id=690822)


The executive power is better to be trusted when it has no screen. Sir, we have a responsibility in the person of our President; he cannot act improperly, and hide either his negligence or inattention; he cannot roll upon any other person the weight of his criminality; no appointment can take place without his nomination; and he is responsible for every nomination he makes... far from being above the laws, he is amenable to them in his private character as a citizen, and in his public character by impeachment

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=224
As we are seeing the 'liberal establishment' may not like the 'theory' in practice either but can't seem to do a whole lot about it, cause of their revered constitution. Hey liberals, suck on it....And this is why we got this convoluted assault on the prez via leaks and media cause they got nothing else that's 'legal'. They're sticklers for that, amongst themselves, class fratricide has historically been unhelpful to the bosses.
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Re: Donald Trump, Avatar of his Class, Capitalism & the Decline and Fall of Bourgeois Democracy

Post by blindpig » Mon Jul 06, 2020 2:29 pm

USA defeated communism, defeated fascism, now striving to defeat leftists
07/05/2020
Did the leadership of the United States defeat common sense, Trump did not specify

The United States won the victory over fascism, communism, terrorism squeezed into a corner and are now fighting with the left - said the head of the White House in his speech on the occasion of Independence Day.

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Donald Trump, photo: AP Photo / Brynn Anderson

"Now we are in the process of defeating radical leftists, Marxists, anarchists, instigators, thieves - people who in many cases did not realize what they do", - said Trump.

The US President also noted that the authorities will not allow "erasing history" and conduct propaganda among children, thereby violating the principles and foundations of American society. By “principles” and “propaganda”, obviously, we mean the spontaneous campaign that began in the USA against the backdrop of recent protests on the demolition of monuments to the southerners during the Civil War. Interestingly, the question of the historical validity of the statues touched even the discoverer of the continent - Christopher Columbus, whom protesters accuse of genocide of the indigenous population.

How statements about the inadmissibility of attempts to “erase history” are correlated with statements about the US victory over fascism, in which, according to the estimates of the American Museum of World War II history, the United States lost 60 times less people than the USSR - it is not clear. But this will remain on the conscience of Trump and his brothers in the class - the bourgeoisie.

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Loss statistics of the National Museum of the Second World War, USA

https://www.rotfront.su/ssha-pobedili-k ... ili-fashi/

Google Translator

Trump is so easy to hate for a plethora of reasons, proly half of which are superficial. It requires more perspective to appreciate the guy, not only as the Avatar of the Ruling Class but, as his higher faculties take the swine dive into the abyss, he reveals himself as the very Id of Capitalism.
It was always there of course, random anti-socialist non-sequiturs, the anti-Bolivarian rhetoric, the primacy and promotion of property, joined at the hip with racism. Socialism is disorder, yes indeed, it disorders capitalism. The bosses understand that in their guts, when they might disagree about many other things. But the fear & hatred is only the front burner when things get tough. And they are, but with a genuine solipsist in the White House who equates the country and capitalism with himself we get an actual acceleration of all the degenerative processes, like Joe Biden. Things are getting interesting, I wish I were younger.

I do have a good idea of what to do with those statues of scum. The prez is talking about a 'heroes garden' or some such crap but I got a better idea. They should be installed at his Mira Largo goof course, suitably modified, and deployed in the manner of a putt-putt goof course. Mebbe you could hit the ball into Bobby Lee's ass and it would come out his mouth, that sort of thing.
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Re: Donald Trump, Avatar of his Class, Capitalism & the Decline and Fall of Bourgeois Democracy

Post by blindpig » Tue Jul 21, 2020 1:50 pm

Trump’s not-so-secret war: Voter suppression and how to fight it
BY OAKLANDSOCIALIST ON JULY 20, 2020 •

The strategy of the Trump reelection campaign is starting to come into more clear focus. That strategy is to combine widespread repression with voter suppression in order to return Trump into office one way or another. The strategy of the Democrats and their representatives inside the working class – the union leadership – are far from guaranteed to be adequate to stop them. In this volatile situation, the socialist left – tiny as it is – could actually affect the outcome on condition that it abandons its opportunism and sectarianism (towards the working class).

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Sign posted by the National Ballot Security Task Force in black and Latino election precincts.

Voter suppression and “National Ballot Security Task Force”
Let’s start at a beginning, back on November 3, 1981. In that election, according to Rolling Stone magazine the Republican National Committee (RNC) collaborated with the New Jersey Republican Party to recruit off-duty cops and sheriff deputies into what it called the “National Ballot Security Task Force”. Armed and with two-radios and arm bands with that identification, they harassed and intimidated voters in predominantly black and Latino voting districts in New Jersey, claiming such things as that they had to have a voter registration card with them in order to vote.

A Democratic lawsuit claimed that their intent was “to harass and intimidate duly qualified black and Hispanic voters for the purpose and with the effect of discouraging these voters from casting their ballots.” This lawsuit resulted in a consent decree in 1982 which ordered the Republicans to “stop harassing and intimidating voters of color, including by deputizing off-duty law-enforcement officers and equipping those officers with guns or badges” according to Rolling Stone. That consent decree was continually renewed until 2018, at which time the order was lifted. This will be the first election in which that decree is no longer in existence. According to Rolling Stone, “[Justin] Clark, the Trump campaign lawyer, told the group of Republicans at [a] private meeting last November that the end of the consent decree was “a huge, huge, huge, huge deal,” freeing the RNC to directly coordinate with campaigns and political committees on so-called Election Day operations.”

Voter Suppression Lawsuits
A major thrust of the Republican campaign will be lawsuits to suppress the vote. Towards that end, they are putting up $20 million for lawsuits to suppress write-in ballots. Such suits have been filed in the battleground states of Colorado, Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Florida. They have even filed such a suit in California, which the Republicans cannot win, but this suit helps keep the Democrats off balance.

Rolling Stone reports: “The funders of the RNC’s 2020 legal war chest are a who’s who of plutocrats and industry titans… These funders include L.L. Bean heiress Linda Bean, private-equity magnate Stephen Schwarzman, Johnson & Johnson heir Ambassador Woody Johnson, Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.), the Ricketts family that founded TD Ameritrade, coal barons Joe Craft and Robert Murray, billionaire financiers John Paulson and John W. Childs, financial executive Charles Schwab, Madison Square Garden owner James Dolan, and Marvel Entertainment chairman Ike Perlmutter.”

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Right wing war criminal and Navy Seal Eddie Gallagher. It is types like that that the far right intends to use to suppress the vote of black and Latino people.

“True the Vote”
They are also planning on using extra-legal outright voter intimidation as they did in 1981 in New Jersey. One group involved in that is “True the Vote”, an offshoot of the 2008 Tea Party movement in Texas. Run by a small time capitalist, Catherine Engelbrecht, in the past this group harassed black and Latino voters in the 2010 election, “hovering over voters, blocking lines and engaging in confrontations with election workers,” according to an article in The Intercept. Similar to the 1981 effort, True the Vote is planning on recruiting ex-military, including ex Navy Seals, in this effort. Contributing to this effort is one of the truly degenerate capitalists of all time, Richard Sackler, whose company Purdue Pharma helped hook millions onto Oxycontin.

Trump’s policies regarding Covid 19, which amount to actually helping it spread, also complement this strategy. That’s because it will be increasingly hard to vote in person, especially in black and Latino neighborhoods, where polling places have been shut down.

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Unidentified federal forces (probably either Homeland Security or ICE) kidnapping a protester in Portland OR.

Federal forces in Portland
It is in this context that Trump’s increasingly open appeals to racism and repression and his having sent secret federal forces – apparently Homeland Security and border patrol forces – to Portland should be understood. On the one hand, the use of those federal forces are a test for how far Trump can go to use federal forces to suppress the vote as well as to put down any resulting protests. On the other hand, his appeals are meant to harden up his base, to lead them ever further down the road of hysteria, racism and general repression. While Trump’s lizard brain may only be capable of simply responding instinctively, some of his advisors such as Stephen Miller are likely thinking in advance. The urgency of this situation is underscored by his announcement on Monday, July 20, that he will repeat his use of uncontrolled federal forces in New York City, Chicago, Detroit, Baltimore and Oakland.

In his July 17 Fox News interview, Trump also warned that he might not even respect the outcome of the election. This sounds like fantastical, extremist fantasizing, but then, four years ago it sounded like that to imagine that Trump would get elected and would carry on as he has. And it is certainly far from certain, but then, at this point, almost nothing should be ruled out, most especially the most extreme repressive measures of Trump and Co. That is the lesson of the last four years.

At the very least, there could be a major split in the capitalist class and their representatives in the federal government, with some wings, including the military, inclined to remove Trump if he refuses to respect the outcome of a vote and others – including Homeland Security and ICE – defending him. In that case, to the most determined will likely go the spoils. In other words, the major wings of the capitalist class can by no means be counted on to stand up for capitalist democracy.

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Jane McAlevey giving a lecture. Today she is lionized by many on the left. But she was missing in action in 2000.

Democrats
The Democrats proved this when they allowed the Republicans to steal the 2000 Bush vs. Gore election. In that case, the major vote fraud was in Florida. During the fraudulent recount, the Republicans mobilized to pressure the vote counters. There was a drive to build a movement in the streets, but the main force capable of doing that – the AFL-CIO leadership – refused to do so. Jane McAlevey, an AFL-CIO functionary participated in suppressing that drive, even though she knew it was a huge mistake. As she explained in her book, Raising Expectations (and Raising Hell), the union leadership explained that “the Gore campaign has made the decision that this is not the image they want. They don’t want to protest. They don’t want to rock the boat. They don’t want to seem like they don’t have faith in the legal system.” Despite the fact that she knew it was a huge mistake, she faithfully carried out her orders. Union staffers continue to do the same to this very day.

The Democrats repeated this failure in the 2018 elections in Georgia, which they allowed the Republicans to steal (as Oaklandsocialist explained here). To this day, every wing of the Democratic Party, including its “left” wing, refuses to build a workers movement in the streets.

So do their representatives in the working class, the union leadership. Even when they do occasionally mobilize some of the members, such as the ILWU Juneteenth port shutdowns on the US West Coast, although it showed the potential power of the working class, it was entirely a one-and-done event with no intention to use it as a springboard towards building an independent working class movement. That is what Oaklandsocialist explained in our video of that event.

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The Juneteenth port shutdown in Oakland. It was a missed opportunity for the left.

That event was a great opportunity for the socialist left. Unfortunately, it did not take advantage of it. Even one long-time socialist ILWU activist and former union leader who spoke from the platform, failed to call for the building of a rank and file committee to push the unions to mobilize its members to participate in the Black Lives Matter movement. Instead, he confined himself to all sorts of revolutionary rhetoric. Such rhetoric at that moment is like jacking a car up off the ground and revving up the motor to full speed. The speedometer might show the wheels spinning at 120 mph, but the car isn’t moving an inch.

There is also the entire movement against police brutality and racism. Up until now, that movement has not directed itself directly to the rank and file of the unions. If it did, however, it might have a huge impact.

It is not too late to make the necessary change. It is not too late to call together cross-union committees of rank and file activists to build an opposition within the unions, an opposition that first of all explains the extreme danger we all face. It’s not only the working class and the most oppressed; it’s the environmental dangers including the Covid-19 pandemic that is caused by factory farming and habitat destruction.

Trump’s announcement that he plans to send federal forces into Oakland makes the building of a rank and file committee all the more urgent. Such a committee can and should take on the task of shutting down the Port of Oakland the minute Trump’s forces even threaten to arrive here.

Such a campaign could work to involve a whole new layer of union members. It could link up the issues around racism with the economic disaster that increasing layers of workers are likely to be facing in the coming economic train wreck. It could work to build a mass force to counter the Republicans’ anti-democratic plans, including the possibility of calling for a national general strike in the event of major electoral fraud or cancellation of the elections or the results of the elections.

Until now the mood inside the unions has been so low and the alienation on the part of the membership so great that trying to build such an opposition was extremely hard going. And there is no guarantee that such a call now would really make a breakthrough. But in this volatile time, there is also a real possibility that it might. Or put it another way: What alternative do we have? Note: Contact us if you want to work with us in building such a movement. Write: oaklandsocialist@gmail.com

https://oaklandsocialist.com/2020/07/20 ... -fight-it/

I suspect that the use of mercenaries like Gallagher will be a local nuisance. The use of federal enforcers('punishers' in Donbass parlance) at scale is problematic for Trump and could prompt action from his peer enemies. But he might try it, he must be getting desperate and his fascist advisors will 'gamble with his money'.

All of this worry about Trump is going to evaporate 6 months into a Biden term as the 'lesser evil' manifest.

Hmmm, 'punishers', gonna hafta use that....
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Re: Donald Trump, Avatar of his Class, Capitalism & the Decline and Fall of Bourgeois Democracy

Post by blindpig » Sat Jul 25, 2020 1:58 pm

So much talk about Nixon, Law&Order, etc & no doubt that such strategizing amongst his campaign has and is occurring but these federal expeditionary forays into the cities seem to have particular punch and follow-through that Trump often neglects. The existential fear of anarchist, communists & any other that would upset his & his class's applecart is one thing. But concomitant is the necessity of police impunity. I do not see them backing off. Trump is too unsophisticated to finesse this the way a Dem would with sweet lies and bribes. Might get rough.

Somebody(Mark Twain?) said nobody ever lost money betting on the stupidity of the American people but there's a first time for everything. It may be that the combination of technology and capitalism has produced unanticipated and unwanted results among the populace that the old expedients are unable to 'correct'. If so, President Biden may have a shorter 'honeymoon' than junior Bush.

But I ain't putting no money down yet, that would certainly jinx the whole thing.
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Re: Donald Trump, Avatar of his Class, Capitalism & the Decline and Fall of Bourgeois Democracy

Post by blindpig » Wed Jul 29, 2020 1:26 pm

We ain't seen nothin' yet....

******************************

The dollar takes a new hit: gold and Bitcoin rise to the clouds
Mission Truth

July 27 · 4 min read



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Photo: Bitcoin News

The Covid-19 pandemic and the global geopolitical crisis continue to generate rearrangements at all levels. This time the impact comes from the financial front: gold has reached its maximum price since 2011, exceeding $ 1,930 per ounce , while Bitcoin has also kept pace with its position above $ 10,000 per ounce. Unit.
The rally of both assets also touches other metals and commodities . As reported by the BAE Negocios de Argentina portal , "the price of silver jumped more than 6%, while palladium climbed more than 3% in the run-up to the opening of Wall Street, where agricultural raw materials such as cocoa also rose, soybeans, corn and cotton, among others ”.
This specialized finance portal warns that the historical rise in gold marks a new milestone in the weakness of the US currency in the international financial market.
The price of the metal, indicates BAE Negocios, "has been escalating since the Central Banks in the world massively injected liquidity to counteract the effects of the coronavirus pandemic (Covid-19) on the economy", referring specifically to the stimulus programs massive launched from the US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank recently.
The overheating of global economic activity, on the one hand, and the stagnation of international trade , on the other, has undermined the price of the dollar in recent months on the premise that it is an insecure and unstable haven for wealth.
The social and economic crisis in the United States, and the general unrest, also send a negative signal about the country's ability to regain its pace of trade and production, which contributes to a suspicious view of investment in US dollars.
As a consequence, institutional and investors of different sizes have bet on a stampede towards safer havens like gold, and much more profitable from a speculative perspective, like Bitcoin.

The liquidity factor and the uncontrolled monetary issue in western banks have a target weight in this rally . Russian economist Yaroslav Kabakov told Sputnik that the rise in gold "is due to fairly forgiving monetary policies on the part of central banks and a constant flow of liquidity to the market."
“Since the profitability of Treasury bonds does not offer investors the necessary opportunities to invest, gold is becoming an instrument that many investors are turning to, which covers inflation risks, including the possible correction of the prices of other assets ”, specifies the Russian economist.
Although it seems a paradox, the irresponsible monetary policy of the United States, based on the expansive issuance of green notes from deficit debt, is weakening confidence in the dollar and favoring refuge assets that threaten its dominant position as a reserve currency. global.
Some large US banks such as JP Morgan warn that the gold escalation may continue in the medium term as global economic uncertainty over the recovery from the pandemic continues to gain strength.

In a meteoric rise, Bitcoin broke the $ 10,000 barrier, its highest price since the rally since September last year.
Regarding Bitcoin, the specialized cryptocurrency portal Cointelegraph adds that one of the factors of the bullish cycle has to do with "the weakness of the US dollar" and how "it is combined with the uncertainty about the measures of China and the coronavirus", we suppose that referring to trade restrictions for fear of new Covid-19 outbreaks.
There are still serious doubts as to whether Bitcoin will sustain this bullish pace in the weeks to come. Even specialized financial analysts in metals such as Peter Schiff think that the rise is temporary and is mainly due to the fall in the yields of US Treasury bonds.
Schiff believes the price will stabilize, but there are other analysts who believe that Bitcoin will continue to rise.
Regardless of the course prices take in each of these safe-haven assets, it is important to assess that, over the course of the past few months, the US dollar has taken severe blows to its stability, undermining investor confidence and compromising the performance of the main geopolitical weapon of the American Empire.
He is mortally wounded.

https://medium.com/@misionverdad2012/el ... 2db4d3631c

Google Translator

Not good news for a sitting prez....Gold ain't the indicator of jittery investors it once was but as the crisis deepens the lagging has evaporated. Lots of folks reasonably distrustful of Bit-coin, it's gonna bite a lot of fools in the ass. US capital increasing on the ropes and no viable military options... but lots of unviable ones which could be vainly attempted, a mark of desperation.

In this #19 crisis we are seeing capitalists priorities rolled out in slow motion. If the money tree dies that will change to break-neck speed.

Paging Ideology...Paging Organization.
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Donald Trump, Avatar of his Class, Capitalism & the Decline and Fall of Bourgeois Democracy

Post by blindpig » Sat Aug 01, 2020 2:27 pm

Trump’s Troubles Deepen Still Further
BY OAKLANDSOCIALIST ON JULY 31, 2020 • ( LEAVE A COMMENT )
WSJ editors suggest Trump withdraw from race

Trump’s troubles with his own class – the US capitalist class – continue to worsen. They see him as too unreliable, too destabilizing of their own rule.

Mainstream media turns against Trump
A very visible example of this is how the mainstream media is reporting on the protests that erupted after the murder of George Floyd. Trump has tried to use the occasional instances of property damage to paint the protests as simply violent riots. With polls showing that two-thirds of Americans supporting the protests, Trump’s attempt has failed miserably. But the reason that so many support the protests is largely due to how the media is reporting them. In most instances, this same media will focus on the few instances of black clad youth starting fires or breaking windows to draw a general picture. This time, they are doing the opposite. This NBC News report on the situation in Portland is typical. “The Wall of Moms appeared last week, dressed in yellow and holding sunflowers while linking arms to form a physical barrier separating protesters — some, their own children — from federal officers,” NBC reported. “The next night, they were accompanied by the Wall of Dads, toting leaf blowers to blow tear gas back toward federal officers.”

Image
Federal forces in Portland

Trump’s sending of federal forces to Portland followed his attempt to bring the US military onto the streets of US cities. He was stymied by the opposition to this from the military chiefs themselves, as Oaklandsocialist reported. His alternative was to bring out federal forces, including border patrol and Homeland Security, into the streets, starting in Portland. That was coupled with an increasingly open appeal to white supremacy. As Oaklandsocialist said, there was a longer term game involved: The further use of those forces in November and beyond in order to stay in power.


Federal forces in Portland. Is this what (U.S.) democracy looks like?

Trump’s deployment was followed by his tweet on July 30 that elections could be delayed.

On that same evening, retired Colonel Lawrence Willerson and former chief of Staff for Bush’s Secretary of State Colin Powell, said the same thing on CNN’s Out Front program: “Let’s say, for example, these deployments of Homeland Security contrctors and other law enforcement agents to Portland, to Detroit, to Chicago and elsewhere are strategic tests of what could be done in very critical places where voting will take place,” Willerson commented. “This is not a good development at all…. We don’t want to see military forces deployed to influence voters.”

And Trump’s suggestion that elections could be delayed was met with universal condemnation. Steve Calibresi of the extreme right wing Federalist Society wrote “Until recently, I had taken as political hyperbole the Democrats’ assertion that President Trump is a fascist. But this latest tweet is fascistic and is itself grounds for the president’s immediate impeachment again by the House of Representatives and his removal from office by the Senate.”

Even Trump’s own Mitch McConnell had to say “Never in the history of the Congress, through wars, depressions and the Civil War have we ever not had a federally scheduled election on time, and we’ll find a way to do that again this Nov. 3.”

WSJ editors
Most interesting was the suggestion raised by the editors of the Wall St. Journal. Normally, they are Trump’s hard core defenders. They pointed to problems counting mail-in ballots, but then concluded: “This is not to suggest that the November election will be “rigged,” as Mr. Trump asserts. If he believes that, he should reconsider his participation and let someone run who isn’t looking for an excuse to blame for defeat.”

They are actually suggesting that Trump withdraw from the presidential election! This shows the level of concern that all wings of the US capitalist class have with the stability of their president and with his attempts to discredit that most hallowed of US capitalism’s institutions: “free and fair elections”.

Whether Trump will be able to cobble together enough support and suppress enough opposition votes to get back in is unsure. But the US capitalist class is worried, very worried.

Meanwhile, Trump had yet another private phone call with his mentor – Vladimir Putin – on the eve of Trump’s pulling out one third of US forces from Germany.

https://oaklandsocialist.com/2020/07/31 ... l-further/

Not bad analysis, until the final paragraph, which is pure crap. 'Mentor', jfc is the author a closet Dem or what? And wtf is wrong with withdrawing Imperial stormtroopers from anywhere? Carrying water for the Democratic Imperialists is not a 'good look'....
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Re: Donald Trump, Avatar of his Class, Capitalism & the Decline and Fall of Bourgeois Democracy

Post by blindpig » Fri Aug 14, 2020 12:04 pm

Trump's election meddling is threatening US democracy
Stephen Collinson Profile
Analysis by Stephen Collinson, CNN

Updated 12:01 AM ET, Fri August 14, 2020

Trump claims funding USPS will lead to ballot fraud 03:19
(CNN)Never mind meddling by Russia, China or Iran. The most dangerous threat to the integrity of November's election is coming from the man sworn to protect it, the President of the United States.

Trailing badly in the polls, overtaken by the worst health crisis in 100 years and deprived of the cruising economy he had hoped to ride to a second term, President Donald Trump is actively trying to discredit an election that could see him turned out of office -- or is at least preparing the groundwork for a bitter legal battle that could drag on for weeks in the event of a close result.
"If it's not going to be an honest and fair election, people really need to think long and hard about it," Trump said Thursday in some of the most foreboding and loaded comments ever uttered by a leader of the world's most powerful democracy.

much more of the same...

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/14/politics ... index.html

*****************************************

Trump resorts to fearmongering in rambling media appearances

By Betsy Klein, CNN

Updated 1500 GMT (2300 HKT) August 13, 2020

(CNN)Facing an unabating pandemic, abysmal poll numbers and an economic slump, President Donald Trump has made a series of media appearances this week where he appeared deflated and resorted to fearmongering, repeating falsehoods and employing racist and sexist stereotypes in rambling and at-times incoherent answers.

In the absence of rallies, Trump has utilized friendly media interviewers and the White House briefing room podium as his stage -- the raucous, adoring crowds he so thrives on replaced with a small group of socially distanced, masked reporters. But in the televised appearances, he's lacked his usual vigor and animation, appearing tired and visibly hunched, veering into bizarre tangents and mispronouncing words.
Meanwhile the US reported its highest number of coronavirus fatalities since May on Wednesday, with US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Dr. Robert Redfield warning of the "worst fall from a public health perspective that we've ever had" if Americans don't heed guidelines. But rather than use his platform to advocate for mask wearing and social distancing, Trump largely glossed over the pandemic, briefly advocating for the reopening of schools during a roughly 40-minute Thursday morning Fox Business Network interview.
Trump painted a dark, dystopian picture of the United States under a potential Biden administration Thursday, warning of a world without cows or "any form of animals."
"If he wins, you're going to end up with a disaster," he claimed of Democratic rival Joe Biden during a wide-ranging, phone-in appearance on Fox Business Network Thursday morning, calling out the Green New Deal, which he mistakenly referred to as the "New Green Deal," as something that was "drawn by children."

and on and on...

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/13/poli ... index.html

There is much consternation as the over-ripest fruit of the ruling class accelerates the rot of bourgeois democracy. Am I allowed a "Bwa-ha-ha!"? Ain't no telling how this is gonna play out, how far beyond 'the norms' the interested parties are willing to go. 'Stability' is the watchword of the ruling class and they have tried to stabilize their egomaniacal son, to little effect, except in reversing his attempts at troop withdrawals. It seems that the polls have impelled him to throw stability to the wind in his crusade to escape the hoosegow. A serious showdown is looming: stability or strict adherence to process. Something gotta give because I don't think that fella is capable of backing down. Whatever happens the legitimacy of bourgeois democracy gonna take a hit.
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Re: Donald Trump, Avatar of his Class, Capitalism & the Decline and Fall of Bourgeois Democracy

Post by blindpig » Thu Aug 20, 2020 1:06 pm

THE SPECTER OF A FASCIST COUP BY TRUMP HAUNTS THE US. THERE’S WORSE TO WORRY ABOUT
Posted by Roger Harris | Aug 18, 2020

Image

By Roger D. Harris

Aug. 17, 2020



Spreading faster than COVID-19 among those on the portside, warnings of a fascist-style coup by Trump are rampant this presidential campaign season. Should Trump fail to carry the Electoral College, Noam Chomsky admonishes, “he could send Blackshirts out in the streets… preparation for a plan to try to bring the military in to carry out something which would amount to a military coup.”



A New York Times columnist opines: “Put nothing past Trump, not even the destruction of the American electoral process.” Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, explains that Trump’s election delay threat is a coup in the making. Economist Jack Rasmus speculates Trump will “call for his radical right, gun-toting friends to come to Washington to surround and protect the White House.”



The left World Socialist Web Site joins the liberal chorus: “In an act unprecedented in American history, Donald Trump has repudiated the Constitution and is attempting to establish a presidential dictatorship, supported by the military, police and far-right fascistic militia acting under his command.”



Meanwhile in the real world, more than 51 million Americans have filed for unemployment since March. Some 27 million people have lost their health insurance on top of around 30 million who were uninsured before, in the face of the massive pandemic. The Federal Reserve has pumped $7 trillion into corporate bonds, municipal securities, loans and grants to business, while millions are going hungry. The pandemic death toll in the US is 168,345 as it rages out of control. California cannot even accurately count the number of cases being reported.



The US is experiencing the greatest combined health and economic crisis since the founding of the republic. But instead of demanding solutions, the overriding liberal-left concern of this presidential campaign season is the specter of a Trump coup, quickly forgetting the issues that Bernie Sanders ran on.



Fascism as a Personality Disorder



The idea that the “visibly overweight and dementia-plagued” “orange pig,” in the florid words of Paul Street, could by personal will change the form of governance in the US from a bourgeois democracy to fascism is based on a “great man” concept of the course of history, where a single individual determines all.



“There’s no doubt that the Trump malignancy runs deep,” Chomsky explains, “and that he is drawn to fascist symptoms,” describing Trump’s proclivity to fascism as a personality disorder.

Obscured by this concentration on Trump’s personality are the social, economic, and political conditions for a fascist transformation.



In Europe of the 1930s, sections of the ruling class in their respective countries accepted Hitler’s and Mussolini’s dictatorships for fear of working-class Communist and Socialist parties coming to political power. There is no such political contention in contemporary US. Rather, some half of the eligible electorate does not bother to vote because they do not see their interests represented by either wing of the two-party duopoly. The other half trust that they live in a genuine democracy with real political choices.



The US ruling class can impose their rule on the popular classes because the latter are either inactive or believe they are represented. If rule by and for the elites is accepted, why should the bourgeoisie squander this gift and opt for a more costly fascist dictatorship?



Even if Donald Trump personally would aspire to be the first US führer, he does not have sufficient backing from the ruling class, notably finance capital. Many military generals detest him. The foreign policy establishment does not trust him. At least half of the active-duty service members are unhappy with him. And the so-called deep state security agencies – FBI, CIA, NSA – are among his harshest critics



Trump might be able to mobilize some skinheads with gun show souvenirs. But these marginalized discontents would hardly be a match to the coercive apparatus of the world’s superpower.



Fellow party members, such as the Lincoln Project and Republicans against Trump (RAT), can’t stomach Trump. Romney has bailed, W isn’t far behind, and the polls indicate a landslide defeat in November. Even if Trump were doing everything right, not the opposite, no incumbent president could survive a spectacularly tanking economy plus a pandemic. Bottomline, Kamala Harris and what’s-his-face will be the new 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue neighbors.



However…while a one-man coup can be dismissed, an “October surprise” in the form of a military adventure cannot. There’s nothing like a dandy little war (say a coup in Belarus) to boost a sitting president’s approval ratings 15% and put him over the top in November. With US warships cruising for trouble in the South China Sea and the Democrats egging Trump for being soft on Beijing, even a dustup with nuclear-armed China cannot be ruled out.



Liberalism Is Dead



The obsession with the person of Trump is testament to the political bankruptcy of the increasingly anemic successors of the New Deal and their epigones on the left who, every four years, admonish us that never before have the stakes been so high: we have to vote for the lesser evil. Given their view of the danger of a fascist coup, we should put aside a progressive agenda and vote for the former senator from Mastercard and learn to love endless imperial war and increasing austerity for working people in a repressive security state.



The liberal-left pundits reproach us to vote Democrat simply because the alternative is not Trump. Recall similar warnings about Bush and Romney, who are now chums of Democrats in high places. Vote, but not for any issue, because the so-called liberal agenda is today devoid of issues. Liberalism is dead. Indicative is its standard bearer barely showing vital signs. Biden is being told to stay in his basement and even sit out his nominating convention.



The Democratic National Committee (DNC) killed the one hope – a genuine one – that liberalism had. Bernie Sanders knew that the DNC had rigged the 2016 contest against him and would do the same in 2020. But Sanders’s strategy was to ignite a grassroots mass movement to overcome the Democratic Party from within.



After a poor showing in the South Carolina primary, Sanders dropped out. Shortly thereafter, the winds of pandemic and BLM protests shook the nation and might have buoyed the Sanders campaign, with its signature issues of healthcare and equality for all. Instead of making history, the Great Gray Hope’s grand plans have sadly been reduced by his fateful conviction to work within the confines of the Democratic Party to urging the wearing of face masks.



Trajectory of Neoliberalism



Short of a fascist coup by Trump, the liberal-left has legitimate concerns. A rightward specter is haunting the US and beyond with serious consequences. White supremacy remains seminal in a nation founded on the expropriation of the Indigenous and the exploitation of African slaves. The decline of living standards and an ever more precarious workforce are reaching crisis proportions with the pandemic. The worst is yet to come, creating a political dynamic of discontent that can swing either left or right.



Rather than merely replacing the current White House occupant with one with better table manners, more radical measures are called for.



What remains is a political theatre of two neoliberal parties vehemently contesting matters of style and colluding on matters of substance. The two major parties concur: bail out Wall Street, renew the Patriot Act, increase the military budget, modernize the nuclear arsenal, prepare for war with China, pursue regime change in Venezuela, etc.



The trajectory of neoliberalism has entailed a concentration of economic and political power coupled with an increasingly authoritarian and imperialistically aggressive state. This trajectory converges with fascism. A pervasive security state and the coercive apparatus of fascism are in fact already in place. According to the DNC, “Democrats have made modernizing our military a top priority” along with supporting our “national security personnel.” Ditto for the Republicans.



Hitler physically liquidated the trade unions along with the left political parties. He censored the press and engaged in a massive military build-up. In the US today, union density has declined to 10.3% of the workforce, no countervailing left political organizations of consequence exist, the mainstream media echo Washington, and the military budget balloons. Neither the historical example nor the current one is free of the defects of racism and xenophobia. Perhaps the salient political question for the 2020 electoral season is not whether there will be fascist coup, but how would we know?



Roger D. Harris is on the state central committee of the Peace and Freedom Party, the only ballot- qualified socialist party in California.

https://mltoday.com/the-specter-of-a-fa ... rry-about/
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Re: Donald Trump, Avatar of his Class, Capitalism & the Decline and Fall of Bourgeois Democracy

Post by blindpig » Fri Sep 04, 2020 1:24 pm

Trump: Americans Who Died in War Are ‘Losers’ and ‘Suckers’
The president has repeatedly disparaged the intelligence of service members, and asked that wounded veterans be kept out of military parades, multiple sources tell The Atlantic.

JEFFREY GOLDBERG
SEPTEMBER 3, 2020

Image
Donald Trump greets families of the fallen at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day 2017.CHIP SOMODEVILLA / GETTY

When President Donald Trump canceled a visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris in 2018, he blamed rain for the last-minute decision, saying that “the helicopter couldn’t fly” and that the Secret Service wouldn’t drive him there. Neither claim was true.

Trump rejected the idea of the visit because he feared his hair would become disheveled in the rain, and because he did not believe it important to honor American war dead, according to four people with firsthand knowledge of the discussion that day. In a conversation with senior staff members on the morning of the scheduled visit, Trump said, “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.” In a separate conversation on the same trip, Trump referred to the more than 1,800 marines who lost their lives at Belleau Wood as “suckers” for getting killed.

(more)

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/ar ... rs/615997/

Surprise que tu m'? Truly succinct, the Avatar of the Ruling Class expresses the attitude of the owners since at least the Civil War, when they could buy their way out of the draft directly without the more circuitous methods of the Vietnam War. No different than industrial workers killed and maimed for the owners profit.

To be sure, there were a handful of young bourgeoisie who fought in WWII, Kennedy & Bush come immediately to mind, their prominence an expression of them being exceptions to the rule and perhaps political ambition. Note that they were all officers, class will be respected.
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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