Source: Political and Economic Crises (Pt 14) / A Critique of Crisis Theory

By Sam Williams

The class character of the impeachment of Donald Trump

What is the essence — and as Marxists we must ask what is the class character — of the charges it seems at the time of this writing will soon be formalized in articles of impeachment against Trump? And what relationship do they bear to the hatred held by countless millions of ordinary working-class and other Americans — and people throughout out the world — for the same Trump and all he stands for? The workers include all class-conscious workers, a very small category at this time (1), and the most oppressed workers, including African-American workers, Hispanic workers, women workers, and Native Americans — a large and growing category that overwhelmingly despises Trump and everything he represents.

These workers hate Trump’s racism and racist rallies and demagoguery, which have encouraged violence by deranged individuals against African-Americans, Hispanic people, Muslims, Jews, and non-Christians in general. They hate Trump’s locking up of men, women and children fleeing violence in Central America, not only in concentration camps but in cages, which has led to deaths among children.

Trump has on numerous occasions offered encouragement to fascists, most notoriously with his “there are good people on both sides” comment following the Charlottesville, Virginia, fascist demonstration. This racist, anti-Semitic demonstration led to the running over and death of a young woman anti-fascist demonstrator by a fascist.

The most recent example was Trump’s pardoning of Navy Seal Edward Gallagher. Gallagher was turned in by his fellow Seals, a group hardly known for their progressives tendencies. He was charged with murder but acquitted on that charge by a military jury. However, he was convicted of photographing himself with the corpse of a young ISIS fighter. Anybody who has ever studied the origins of Italian fascism and German “National Socialism” knows that deranged soldiers like Gallagher were the first recruits to the fascist movements and formed their basic cadre.

There is also the not-so-little matter of Trump’s repeated physical assaults against women, his use of anti-gay/trans bigotry, and his attempts to kick people off health insurance and food stamps.

All this explains why Trump is hated by around half the American people, according to polls, and probably considerably more if we don’t just count citizens that are likely to vote but residents of the U.S. as a whole. They don’t want to wait until January 20, 2021, which would give Trump more than another year in office.

The Democratic impeachment inquiry is now raising hopes among the Trump-weary masses that Trump will soon be gone, long before January 20, 2021, but by then at the very latest. Millions of workers and their allies who are still far from having achieved full class consciousness don’t particularly care whether Trump leaves the White House through Russia-gate, Ukraine-gate, the front gate of the White House, or the back gate. They simply want this racist demagogue and all he represents gone. Continue reading →