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Impeachment Will Not Defeat Trumpism

Kevin Ovenden

The fallout from last Wednesday’s fascist riot in Washington incited by Donald Trump is cascading through US society at all levels.

On Monday the leading Democrat in the House of Representatives (similar to the British House of Commons) Nancy Pelosi said that the Democrats would press on with a process of impeachment of Trump “urgently” even as Joe Biden will take over in nine days’ time. Its prospects of success are a different matter.

It is the second time Trump faces the impeachment process to remove a president from office and ban them from standing again. The first was over allegations of corrupt attempts to influence the Ukrainian government – “Russiagate”. It passed in the House of Representatives but failed in the upper-house Senate where 67 of its 100 members must vote for it in order to convict.

There was no move to impeach Trump over the many other dangerous and repressive actions he has taken through his presidency. They include praising far right and fascist thugs in Charlottesville in 2017 who were responsible for the murder of anti-racist protester Heather Heyer.

As with the last effort, this move comes not because Trump has violated the rights of racial minorities, launched drone assassinations abroad or attacked the civil liberties of ordinary Americans. It is because he has tampered with the ruling class settlement – undermining US alliances abroad (Russiagate) and authorising a riot at what they call “the temple of US Democracy” on Capitol Hill.

Many on the US radical left have been quick to point out that this “sacred place” was built upon slave labour, sustained by robbery of US workers enforced frequently by extreme violence, and is the cockpit of projecting big power interests against weaker countries.

It is reminiscent of the impeachment of Republican president Richard Nixon in 1973. It was not for dropping more bombs on Vietnam and Cambodia than during the whole of the Second World War. It was not for murderous repression of the black liberation and other social movements of the time – including assassinations.

Those had bipartisan support. It was for authorising the burglary of the headquarters of the rival establishment party – the Democrats – or, as it is often put, the other wing of the same ruling class party. Dog doesn’t bite dog.

Hence the reaction of Democrat politicians, a few Republicans and most of big business and establishment institutions.

But for all the talk of a coup (it wasn’t) and insurrection (an alternative to naming the rioters as fascist at their core) this boils down to playing political games. It is trying to use this crisis not to uproot the violent far right across US society, but to strengthen the state and incoming government.

Joe Biden speaks of “healing division” and “unity” after the Trump years. He means returning to the deal-making in Washington between leading figures from both parties that has been his life for four decades. It is through that that he hopes to deliver his modest reform programme, not through a radical rupture with a US political system now seen to be discredited even more than before.

For all Pelosi’s talk of urgency, the chief whip of the Democrats in the House of Representatives, Jim Clyburn, let slip that they may delay passing the impeachment process to the Senate until Easter. That would give time for Biden to have his “first 100 days” as president to pursue matters through usual channels.

If they truly thought this was a coup attempt, then they are not acting like it.

Such is the damage to the prestige of the US state, it has had to respond to this fascistic provocation with a wave of arrests. It is using some of the battery of powers that are normally reserved for smashing the left and militant social movements. There is increasing evidence of participation by former or serving military and police officers.

There will have to be some high profile prosecutions. Already there have been sackings and suspensions in the Capitol police over the security breach. But one thing the incoming government has no intention of doing is a purge of the repressive arms of the state of those who are of or sympathetic to the racist far right.

To do so in the police forces across the US, alone, would mean sacking so many as to have to dissolve and reconstitute the police on a different basis.

So we are seeing a transition at the top from the Trump years while trying to limit the scope of it from addressing the fundamental problem of the far right and of the state’s authoritarianism against working class Americans, black people especially. All this in the middle of the pandemic.

Indeed, there are calls for more powers for the FBI, police and criminal justice system. Left-Democrat Congresswoman, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), part of “the squad” of social-democratic figures in Congress, rightly says that there is no need for more powers. The issue is against whom those powers have been used and who has been granted near impunity.

But both she and Bernie Sanders have focused so far exclusively on this controlled and theatrical impeachment process. They have echoed the lines from Democrat leaders. They have not really offered an independent socialist voice, either in demands for a truly radical rupture with Trumpism or calls for mobilisations to start to force that into the political debate and to win it on the ground.

Some left-Democrat figures are suggesting that things must go further. Robert Reich served as Bill Clinton’s Labor Secretary but backed Sanders’ runs for the presidency in 2016 and 2020. He has rightly argued that the responsibility on the right goes way beyond Trump. It includes all those in politics and in big business who either supported him or acquiesced because in addition to the chaos he delivered tax cuts for the rich and pro-business policies.

But that is an awful lot of people. Carrying through some “impeachment” of them would mean a colossal battle. And the Democrats are simply not going to do that, as Reich in effect concedes.

Another major left-liberal intellectual, Cory Robin, says that this ought to be a moment not for a normal transition from one presidency to another, or even just the Congress moves against Trump. It should mark a break from what he calls the “Reagan regime”. That is the neoliberal dominance in politics and economics that has held sway over all governments in the US for 40 years.

He too knows that is not what the Democrats intend even though the crises of that regime are as great as those in the post-war settlement that shattered in the 1970s ushering in Reagan-Thatcherism.

It is in this political mix that the varied forces of the US socialist left are trying to make an impact.

There has been a big growth in the popularity of broadly socialist ideas in the US over the last decade, which began with the Occupy movement inspired by the Egyptian revolution. You can trace it back earlier to the start of this century. There have also been big struggles under Trump – starting with the women’s marches and opposition to the ban on Muslims visiting from various countries.

The biggest has been the resurgent Black Lives Matter movement. It is estimated that 25 million people have taken part and its popularity is much wider.

An expression of this has been the growth of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). It now claims 80,000 members. It includes people with a range of socialist views and grew explosively in the two presidential runs by Bernie Sanders. It has also backed successfully some left-Democrats for office.

It has said that it seeks to operate both inside and outside the Democrats to pursue a broad socialist strategy but has become increasingly focused upon the party that will now hold all three elected parts of government.

Unfortunately, socialist friends of various stripes across the US say that there has been no national response from the DSA in the course of this crisis. Nothing aiming to call nationwide agitation or to flesh out demands for a rupture with the Trump years beyond just the Biden presidency and the narrow policy debates about what it may do.

There is a big discussion taking place as a result. Some local city-wide branches are attempting to provide a socialist focus – for mobilisation against the right and independent of liberal games in Washington.

Indeed, many US anti-capitalists point out that the DSA is scarcely a national organisation – despite its historically large size and geographical presence. It is more a collection of local coalitions.

There is also a lot of reliance on figures like AOC. Their election might come to spur social struggles or to be a voice for them. But it can equally act, as did progressives under Obama 12 years ago, to channel desire for change into the official politics of Washington and what is a major effort to “return to normal” post-Trump. It is likely to do both. But it is that old normal that produced the raw material for Trump and other actual fascist forces to turn into such a dangerous force.

In Chicago and other cities socialists report obstruction from some local DSA leaders to attempts to turn this crisis into a moment for mobilisation and for asserting independence from the Democrats. There have been protests, such as this organised by the United Against Racism and Fascism initiative in New York.

But as yet they are on nothing like the scale that befits both what has happened and the opposition to it of eight in ten Americans. Though 45 percent of Republicans agree with the incursion last Wednesday. So this political crisis is not going away, nor is Trumpism in one form or another.

The veteran Marxist author and activist Mike Davis has highlighted the intensification of the political turmoil in the US. In rejecting the Democrats playing around with words like “coup” he nevertheless emphasises the seriousness of the situation and argues urgently for a socialist initiative in action nationally.

It means dealing with the enormous pressure to fall in behind conventional liberal politics. It is using this crisis not to unleash a radical movement for change and against the far right, but to restore political authority also against the insurgent left.

Millions who marched against racist police violence are now expected to support “law and order” in the name of opposing a dangerous right that many police and military are part of.

There is considerable fragmentation of anti-capitalist forces in the US.

There is also an accumulated socialistic “good sense” that has arisen not only from intellectual debates on the left but out of the experiences of millions who have taken part in some form of protest or political action in recent years. That ranges from people organising against voter suppression of black people in places such as Georgia to a number of victorious strikes.

The great danger is that this can all be rolled back and dissipated through falling in behind a ferocious effort to rebuild the “extreme centre” – an operation that is already being directed at critical left voices.

Resisting that certainly means putting the socialist analysis of events and arguments in the national debate. It entails crucially, as this piece concludes, fighting to reorient what is a considerable left away from the Democrats and electoral campaigns they have already won and towards mass struggles and a politics suited to them.

The Greek extreme centre tried as the equivalent in the US is doing now to usurp the victory in jailing the neo-Nazis of Golden Dawn as its own work. That has largely failed.

First, because there has been a mass and militant anti-fascist movement that is seen by very many to be responsible. But even more so because a part of the left, who helped construct that movement, has put throughout an independent position that is capable of answering all efforts at incorporation or demonisation.

Amid all the unpredictable turmoil in the US now – the splits at the top, the desperation of working people at the bottom under the pandemic and economic crisis – many US anti-capitalists identify that as the key issue for the whole left.

A left based upon an insurgent politics and mass activity, capable of changing the overall political constellation.

We should all wish our friends in the Belly of the Beast the very best and do what we can to help. The biggest part of that is acting wherever we are to construct our own insurgent left in mass movements of resistance that are not contained by the old politics.

(Kevin Ovenden is a progressive journalist and activist. Article courtesy: Counterfire, a UK socialist publication and organisation.)

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Strategic Action Needed to Stop Violent Right Wingers

Margaret Flowers

Since the assault on the US Capitol on January 6 by right-wing Trump supporters, the fallout has been rapid. The Democrats, both elected officials and voters, were quick to jump on the impeachment train. Some elected officials are calling for Members of Congress who supported the events to resign and to refuse to seat them in the new Congress. Employers are firing employees who participated or supported the events. And, people on the Left are cheering on social media censorship and calling for stronger laws to go after domestic terrorists.

It is important in times of crisis like this to pause, take a deep breath and think about the ramifications of our responses given the present makeup of the US political structure. It is also necessary to look past the events of January 6 to the conditions that created the environment in which this type of action could occur and what it will take to change them.

The inauguration of President Joe Biden on January 20 is not the end of the era referred to as Trumpism. Violent right-wing forces have been activated and they are not going away unless major actions are taken to divide them and remove the material conditions that gave rise to them. That is our task going forward.

What happened in Washington, DC on the 6th of January was not a surprise. Trump supporters had rallied in DC twice after the election, and each time they were violent, particularly against Black people and others opposed to police violence. Businesses in downtown DC were boarded up and closed in anticipation of the demonstrations on the 5th and 6th. Police advised DC residents to avoid the downtown area, and that is what Black Lives Matter DC decided to do, staying in their communities to keep everyone safe.

The DCist describes the events of January 5 when Trump supporters rallied in Freedom Plaza for eight hours. Claims of electoral fraud were widespread. Tuesday night, Trump supporters fought with police. Ten of them were arrested, some on gun charges.

Popular Resistance field reporter, John Zangas, covered the events at the Capitol on January 6. He described police on the West side trying to hold the Trump supporters back from entering the building using tear gas and flash bangs. As police blocked the entrance, Trump supporters broke windows and entered the building anyway. Elsewhere, Capitol police were filmed letting the Trump supporters through the bicycle rack blockades, beckoning them inside and standing by as they entered the building. There are photos of police taking selfies with Trump supporters and reports of them providing directions to people who entered the Capitol. Some of the Trump supporters were police officers who showed their badges and some were members of the military.

It is clear that the Capitol police failed to prepare for the violence that occurred that day despite advance warnings. They have had stronger responses to non-violent protests in the past that completely blocked access to the Capitol. The events at the Capitol clearly demonstrated what was obvious throughout the protests this past summer, that police identify with and ally with white supremacists, including their militias. The Brennan Center report, “Hidden In Plain Sight: Racism, White Supremacy, And Far-Right Militancy In Law Enforcement,” issued last August details that the FBI and Department of Homeland Security are well aware of these connections. They write:

“The harms that armed law enforcement officers affiliated with violent white supremacist and anti-government militia groups can inflict on American society could hardly be overstated. Yet despite the FBI’s acknowledgement of the links between law enforcement and these suspected terrorist groups, the Justice Department has no national strategy designed to identify white supremacist police officers or to protect the safety and civil rights of the communities they patrol.”

The Brennan Center report called for swift action to remove white supremacists from law enforcement and other policy changes. Yet, despite months of President Trump and others claiming electoral fraud and riling up the base plus violent assaults on state capital buildings, the federal government failed to take action to prevent harm. The Partnership for Civil Justice Fund is calling for a full investigation into the police’s actions that day and holding those who “condoned or colluded with the violent mob that attacked the Capitol” accountable.

It is critical that those who are responsible for violence against people and threats of harming or killing elected officials are held accountable, but it is just as important that what happened is not used to further strengthen the repressive apparatus of the state. Evan Greer warns that Biden, the architect of the 1994 Violent Crime Bill and Law Enforcement Act that led to mass incarceration, is already calling for a domestic terrorism bill even though domestic terrorism is currently illegal. Greer writes:

“More money, weapons, and technology in the hands of the Department of Homeland Security—an agency complicit in human rights abuses long before Trump took office—won’t stop the rising threat of right-wing violence. Instead it will be used to suppress legitimate dissent, and disproportionately target Black and brown activists, Muslims, immigrant communities, and social movements that effectively challenge systemic injustice and corporate power.”

This is the situation in which we live. Most often, laws that increase surveillance or policing are used against vulnerable communities and don’t keep them safe. The same goes for censorship. Many cheered when President Trump was banned from Twitter and Facebook, but do we really want private corporations silencing online speech? Both Edward Snowden and Glenn Greenwald warn us against starting down this slippery slope.

And similarly, there have been social media posts cheering that people who attended the pro-Trump rally were fired from their jobs for being there. At present, employers across the country are seeking out and firing employees who attended or showed support for the assault on the Capitol. It is one thing if an employee broke the law such as illegally entering the Capitol. It is another to be present at a march, which is protected by the First Amendment. Again, we must be aware that in the current environment, precedents set by the response to this action at the Capitol will be used against other people in the future.

Economist Jack Rasmus predicted the events on January 6 would be designed to create chaos as part of a long term strategy by Trump supporters. Trump was certainly aware that he could not actually conduct a coup, and legislative bodies are not typically the target of coup attempts anyway. Rasmus argues that Trump will work to split the Republican party, driving the moderates out and further cementing his base. He may even behave similarly to the strategy used by the United States to try to conduct regime change in Venezuela – claim an election is fraudulent, refuse to accept the results and run a parallel government.

The era of Trumpism does not end with the inauguration of Joe Biden. Joe Lauria of Consortium News calls January 6 a “dress rehearsal for what may well turn into a full-blown insurrection.” He urges that steps be taken to prevent this, but he doesn’t offer suggestions as to what they should be.

This weekend, I spoke with Brian Becker of the ANSWER Coalition on Clearing the FOG about what steps would be effective. In addition to holding those who broke the law and law enforcement who assisted them accountable, it is important to hold President Trump accountable. Rather than impeachment, which is what the Democrats are doing and what they and their voters have championed since President Trump was elected, the President needs to be investigated by an independent body in the Department of Justice and prosecuted for his crimes.

Impeachment when Trump is on his way out the door will only deepen the political divide and embolden him with his base. He can continue to rail against the Democrats for unfairly targeting him. On the other hand, a prosecution and possible conviction will remove him as a leader figure for the white supremacists and weaken them.

In addition to that, it is fundamental that we change the material conditions in which people live. The blame for the situation today lies squarely with both the Democrats and Republicans. They are responsible for decades of policies that have created great economic insecurity, which has been exploited by the right to drive racism, xenophobia and fear. The United States government has failed its people in every way through neoliberalism and the funneling of wealth to the top 1%. This is especially egregious during a recession and pandemic when tens of millions of people have lost their jobs and health insurance and are at risk of losing their homes and nearly 400,000 people have died.

Instead of moving with urgency to impeach Trump, Congress should show the same urgency to pass national improved Medicare for All, a guaranteed basic income that brings everyone above the poverty line, erasure of debt and investment in an eco-socialist Green New Deal that creates millions of high quality jobs while repairing our failing infrastructure, building a green economy and addressing the climate crisis. This can be funded by significant cuts to the military budget and through a wealth tax, as well as reclaiming the government’s ability to print money. These are actions that will begin to bring prosperity to the people and heal the divisions.

There is more that needs to be done to end structural racism as well, by ending mass incarceration, removing racial bias from law enforcement and the judicial system, employing transformative justice, and changing school curriculum to be less euro-centric and more multicultural, to name a few. In the end, our goal needs to be the development of structures that empower People(s)-Centered Human Rights.

Finally, we must recognize that our struggle is global. What the United States government has done to its people by denying them what they need to live a life of dignity is what the United States has imposed upon people around the world through economic sanctions and military domination. The tactics used by President Trump to try to hold onto power through lies and violent right wing actors are the same as the US uses around the world to overthrow governments. This needs to stop. And, as Vijay Prashad and Noam Chomsky write, the world is facing existential crises that demand international cooperation to protect our future.

All of these are winnable, but none of them are going to come without a struggle. President Biden has already signaled that he will rule to the right of center and his cabinet picks signal business as usual. Democrats in Congress are already watering down their bold rhetoric used during Trump’s term. They are calling for lowering the age of Medicare instead of Medicare for All and $2,000 checks for people who are unemployed instead of recognizing that many workers are still living in poverty.

Our future depends on organizing in our communities to demand what we require and not letting the Democrats tell us we are asking for too much or that we can’t have it because “this is a time for unity” as they usually do.

The crises we face are severe and the right wing violent backlash is real. We have to stop them with bold solutions that work. The period of plutocracy must end.

(Margaret Flowers is the director of Popular Resistance, which provides information about progressive movements around the world and also organises campaigns on a broad range of issues in the US. Article courtesy: Popular Resistance.)