The US presidential election resulted in a decisive victory for Donald Trump over Democratic candidate Kamala Harris. For those of us who place no faith in bourgeois democratic elections, this result lands with little shock and awe. The success of a flagrantly racist, billionaire autocrat reflects the decline of US imperialism and the increasing divisions among both the ruling class and working class in the US. REAGAN GRAY reports.
Crisis mounts
The US, while still the most powerful imperialist force in the world since the end of the Second World War, is now struggling to maintain its position in the face of a crisis that has been mounting since 2008. The national debt currently stands at $36.93 trillion and is increasing by $1 trillion every 100 days. Nearly three decades of free trade and globalisation under the neoliberal order have seen US capitalism extend its tentacles across the world to tap into global markets with low economic barriers, exploit cheaper labour overseas, and attempt to secure continued profits for the ruling class. Domestic production has gone by the wayside, and US manufacturing has been falling behind since 2000, with China emerging as a major threat to the US’s global dominance. The threat of war looms as the Biden administration pushes the US and NATO further toward escalation with Russia in Ukraine and continues to fund Israel in its genocidal rampage in Palestine.
Trump 2.0
Donald Trump’s ‘America First’ plans for the country are a direct result of this crisis. Where the Democrats sought to forge alliances with European imperialism to secure US interests on the global stage, Trump is barrelling towards isolationism, going on the defensive to consolidate the strength of the US as inter-imperialist tensions mount. Trump has vowed that come January, he will pull the US out of Ukraine, curtail government spending and regulation, impose blanket tariffs on imports, lock down the borders and increase deportations, and all but declare war on China. Armed with a Republican legislative majority in the Senate and the House of Representatives, as well as a conservative judicial majority in the Supreme Court, Trump will face minimal barriers in enacting his presidential agenda.
Trump wasted no time in appointing a cabinet of his unqualified cronies who perfectly personify his ruling class allegiance and autocratic tendencies. Elon Musk, being rewarded for his loyalty to the Trump campaign, has been appointed head of the new Department of Government Efficiency. The formal participation of the richest man in the world in the presidential cabinet is a marked solidification of the US oligarchy. Musk represents the section of the ruling class that has thrown its weight behind Trump, hoping to benefit from his tariffs and deregulation; namely, those who produce and invest in electric vehicles, oil and gas, fin-tech and cryptocurrency. Trump’s unpredictability, however, was not appealing to other sections of the ruling class. Harris pulled 83 billionaire backers compared to Trump’s 52, with the Democrats garnering support from those who believe that she would ‘continue to advance fair and predictable policies that support the rule of law, stability, and a sound business environment’. Whilst Donald Trump’s rupture of the status quo may have scared off some wealthy donors, it was enough to win the majority of voters this time around.
How the race stacked up
The Trump-Vance Republican ticket outperformed Harris-Walz in nearly every aspect of the race. Trump won 312 of the 538 potential electoral college votes, with just 270 needed to secure the presidency. He won the popular vote by nearly 2%, the first Republican to do so since 2004. Trump also secured all seven ‘battleground states’, those that have the potential to flip between a Republican and Democrat majority, determining the outcome of the presidency.
The breakdown of votes illuminated stark divides along the lines of income and education. Based on exit poll data reported by the Financial Times, of those who voted, a majority of those who have less than a $50,000 annual household income went for Trump, while Harris won the majority of those making over $100,000. Additionally, nearly two-thirds of voters without college degrees voted Republican, while Democrats found support among college or higher educated voters, which speaks to the Democrats’ disconnection with the working-class voter base whose interests they claim to represent.
Although the Republican victory was won on a higher margin than expected, this is not indicative of a landslide. While in some states Trump did see higher numbers voting Republican than in the previous election, ultimately the Democrats just saw a more significant net loss of votes across the board, losing nearly seven million votes compared to Joe Biden’s turnout in 2020. All in all, voter turnout for this election was down from 67% in 2020 to 65%. Nearly 90 million eligible voters did not cast a ballot, mostly younger, working-class people. This long-standing trend in electoral participation in the US can be attributed to barriers in voting access and voter suppression, but also conscious abstention. Millions of people do not see their interests represented by either ruling class party.
The Democrats’ downfall
As soon as the election results were confirmed, the Democrats commenced the blame game to divert attention anywhere but toward their own party to explain their electoral flop. The reality is that the Democrats lost because of their refusal to acknowledge that the masses of working people in the US are struggling to get by, and their inability to offer any alternative to the status quo.
The issue of Palestine was absolutely decisive in the Democrats’ demise. It ripped the mask off the Democrats, exposing the true nature of liberalism in the US. Biden and Harris have funded the massacre of an estimated 100,000 Palestinians and counting. Rather than listening to the millions of people in the US demanding an end to support for Israel’s onslaught, the Democrats doubled down on its embrace of racist, imperialist violence, employing warhawks like Liz Cheney, who carries on the legacy of her father’s ‘war on terror’, as well as the Clinton war criminals, responsible for the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of people in the Middle East. The party made it clear that there is no red line. The abject horror that US imperialism has inflicted in Palestine represents the core of the Democratic Party, a soulless war machine that will stop at nothing to maintain the US’s political and economic interests.
Socialism is the solution, but where is it?
If this election has confirmed anything, it is the absolute necessity for those who have not already to abandon their illusions that the Democratic Party is anything but a reactionary bulwark against progress for the working class. No amount of protesting, ‘pushing left’, or voter abstention will ever make them abandon their class interests. Socialism is the only system that can actually resolve the fundamental contradictions that plague the US and put an end to its perpetual imperialist violence. Trump 2.0 is surely going to be an administration of racism and imperialism unabated, as the country slips further into reaction. His presidency will deepen existing divisions among the working class, not just along ideological lines, but along material ones. The super profits from US imperialism will buy off the sections of the working class in the few industries that are going to benefit from Trump’s isolationism, securing their material stake in the continuation of US capitalism. But the crisis will deepen for the rest of the working class. As the most vulnerable sections of the working class brace themselves for further attacks, repression, and instability, it is imperative that the left organises its defence. As tensions increase, so does the revolutionary potential of the working-class, necessitating a movement which defends migrants, stands against imperialism, counters state racism, and fights for socialism.
FIGHT RACISM! FIGHT IMPERIALISM! 303 December 2024 /January 2025
