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Is Trump a fascist Where is America going AGAINST THE STREAM

Against The Stream · 2025-01-24

Core Argument

The central thesis is that Donald Trump's return to the presidency does not represent the rise of fascism, but rather a complex expression of a deep crisis of bourgeois democracy in the United States. The episode argues that the liberal alarmism about Trump as a "wannabe dictator" is a cynical distraction from the record of the Biden administration — which pursued the same capitalist policies of protectionism, militarism, and oligarchic rule, only with greater hypocrisy. Trump's victory is presented as a distorted expression of rising working-class anger against an establishment that has delivered war, austerity, and declining living standards. The real danger is not fascism in the classical sense, but the absence of a revolutionary alternative for the working class, which leaves anti-establishment sentiment to be captured by a demagogic billionaire.

Theoretical Grounding

The analysis draws on the classical Marxist theory of fascism, distinguishing it sharply from mere right-wing populism or authoritarianism. Fascism is defined scientifically as a mass movement of enraged petty-bourgeois and lumpen-proletarian layers, mobilised by finance capital to physically smash working-class organisations. The episode argues that the social basis for classical fascism is weaker today because the peasantry has been destroyed and the urban petty bourgeoisie has been proletarianised, while the working class is larger and more powerful than in the 1930s. The argument also draws on the Marxist understanding of the crisis of bourgeois democracy — that when the ruling class can no longer rule by normal democratic methods, it seeks alternatives, but that the specific form depends on the balance of class forces. The episode situates itself within the tradition that rejects both liberal anti-fascism (which defends a discredited system) and sectarian dismissal of the far-right threat, insisting instead that the answer to Trumpism is not to defend democracy but to build a revolutionary working-class alternative.

Conjunctural Relevance

The episode connects the argument to specific events and data:

  • Electoral dynamics: Trump won the popular vote and all swing states in 2024, which the episode argues reflects a genuine anti-establishment mood, not merely electoral manipulation.
  • Deportation statistics: More undocumented migrants were deported under Biden than under Trump's first term, undermining liberal claims about Trump's unique cruelty.
  • Biden's record: The episode details Biden's role in provoking the Ukraine war, cutting Europe off from cheap Russian gas, supporting Israel's war on Gaza, and overseeing the destruction of European industry — all while presiding over an oligarchy of billionaires.
  • The Gaza ceasefire: The episode argues that Trump's intervention forced a deal that Biden actively blocked for a year, demonstrating that the difference between the two is tactical, not principled.
  • The TikTok/Red Note phenomenon: Millions of American users migrating to a Chinese platform and engaging in frank discussions about exploitation, low wages, and the need for revolution is cited as anecdotal evidence of rising class consciousness.
  • Trump's coalition: The episode identifies a contradictory alliance of tech billionaires (Musk, Zuckerberg, Bezos), far-right elements, and working-class voters — a coalition that cannot satisfy both masters.

Where the Argument Continues

The episode deliberately leaves open several questions that are developed elsewhere in the corpus:

  • The world economy: The episode announces a forthcoming discussion on the global economic situation, which would develop the analysis of overaccumulation, trade wars, and the crisis of profitability.
  • Trump's first weeks: The episode promises a follow-up taking stock of the early Trump presidency, which would test the predictions made here about the contradictions within his coalition.
  • The question of fascism more broadly: The episode's theoretical framework for understanding fascism is stated but not fully elaborated; it connects to broader Marxist debates on the subject, particularly the work of Leon Trotsky and the Communist International's analysis of fascism in the 1920s-30s.
  • The crisis of bourgeois democracy: The episode's claim that liberal democracy is in crisis is a thread that runs through many Against the Stream episodes, and is developed further in discussions of the British state, the European Union, and the role of the media.

Connections

  • Against the Stream episodes on the Ukraine war and Gaza: These episodes develop the analysis of US imperialism's decline and the geopolitical shifts that Trump's "America First" policy represents.
  • The Spectre of Communism podcast: The broader RCI corpus includes theoretical discussions of fascism, the state, and the crisis of capitalism that ground the analysis here.
  • Leon Trotsky, The Struggle Against Fascism in Germany: The classical Marxist analysis of fascism that the episode draws on.
  • Ellen Meiksins Wood, "Democracy as Ideology of Empire": The episode's claim that liberalism is today "the bulwark of reaction on a world scale" echoes Wood's argument about the role of liberal democracy in legitimising capitalist imperialism.
  • Vladimir Lenin, The State and Revolution: The episode's understanding of the crisis of bourgeois democracy and the need for a revolutionary alternative is grounded in Lenin's analysis of the state.

Key Quotes

  1. "Today liberalism is the bulwark of reaction on a world scale. If anyone is Hitler, if anyone has blood on their hands, it's these guys."

  2. "Fascism is essentially a mass movement of enraged petty-bourgeois middle class layers and lumpen proletarians which are mobilized by finance capital in order to destroy the working class and its organization physically."

  3. "The social basis for fascism is much weaker [today]. The working class is much stronger and even layers that in the 1930s considered themselves middle class have become proletarianized."

  4. "How can it be that anti-establishment, anti-ruling class anger is expressed through the medium of a real estate billionaire? This is a sign of rising anger and class consciousness developing, but it's been distorted."

  5. "The answer to Trumpism is not 'let's all unite in defence of democracy.' The answer is: yes, let's bring down the establishment. Our task is to start from the same correct view — class — and say these guys are not going to solve this problem."