“The second Trump administration will embolden an already growing far right in Britain in the form of Reform UK electorally and fascist Tommy Robinson supporters on the streets.”
By Sabby Dhalu, Stand Up To Racism
After a Joe Biden presidency failed progressive voters, a second Donald Trump presidency is met with less shock and outrage than the first. However, our movement must be braced for the racist onslaught that is set to be unleashed by the next Trump presidency which will embolden racists across the globe.
Trump escalated his xenophobic and racist rhetoric against migrants and minority groups during the presidential election campaign, saying they are genetically predisposed to commit crimes, describing them as “stone cold killers” and the “enemy from within.”
He used dehumanising and violent language describing migrants as “animals” that will “cut your throat” while telling nearly all-white audiences that they had “good genes,” echoing language Hitler used in Mein Kampf. Robert Jones, the author of “The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy” pointed out that these are Nazi sentiments. He said “Hitler used the word vermin and rats multiple times in Mein Kampf to talk about Jews. These are not accidental or coincidental references.”
Trump said this to justify the measures he intends to take against migrants. He has shifted from horrific policies such as building a Mexico border wall and banning Muslims from entering the US, to even worse plans vowing to build massive detention camps and conducting mass deportations, claiming that migrants have invaded, destroying the country from inside its borders.
He attacked migrants in the suburb of Aurora in Denver, Colorado, declaring that he would use the Alien Enemies Act, which allows a president to authorise rounding up or removing people who are from enemy countries in times of war, to pursue so-called migrant gangs and criminal networks. Trump also promised to remove Temporary Protected Status and deport Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio. This followed weeks of Trump and JD Vance spreading baseless claims that the Haitian population there was eating pets. This racism led to bomb threats at Springfield schools and reminds us of the racism and violence that occurred under Trump’s first presidency.
Within months of Trump taking office in 2017, Heather Heyer was murdered in Charlottesville, Virginia, after a car rammed into her and others protesting against a white supremacist “Unite the Right” rally. In the same year, anti-Muslim hate crimes increased by 15% according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). In 2018 there was an antisemitic terrorist attack on the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which killed eleven people and wounded six, including several Holocaust survivors.
Following police officer Derek Chauvin’s killing of George Floyd in 2020 which ignited the international Black Lives Matter movement, Trump was more concerned with attacking those protesting, describing them as “thugs” and “terrorists,” than the systematic racist policing that has led to violence on and murders of black people in the US. Meanwhile, he declared the 2021 Capitol Hill rioters as “great patriots” and that he loved them. He paid tribute to the rioters convicted at a campaign rally in 2024 pledging to release the “unbelievable patriots.”
The Financial Times reported that in response to Trump’s election, whereas in 2020 companies were rushing to support social justice causes in response to the Black Lives Matter movement, companies have now accelerated a shift back to more conservative social and political stances. Companies are scrapping diversity, equity and inclusion departments, cutting their support for racial diversity charities, scrapping anything that could be perceived as so-called “woke.”
Trump’s election holds important lessons for Labour. Trump was elected with a similar number of votes that he received in 2020 when he was defeated. He won because Kamala Harris mobilised 10 million fewer voters than Biden in 2020, because the Biden administration made people worse off, funded unpopular wars and conceded to a right-wing anti-immigrant agenda.
The second Trump administration will embolden an already growing far right in Britain in the form of Reform UK electorally and fascist Tommy Robinson supporters on the streets. Polls since Labour’s election show growing support for Reform UK, with a recent Electoral Calculus poll showing support at almost 22%, with Labour polling 26.7% and the Tories on 24.5%. This would leave Labour 16 short of a majority. If Labour continues its current trajectory, this could lead to a similar outcome at the next general election as we saw in the recent US elections. Labour must stand up to and not concede to Trump and the far-right racist agenda.
Together Against Trump is a coalition of organisations including Friends of the Earth, Stop Trump Coalition UK, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Abortion Rights, Stop the War Coalition, Campaign Against Climate Change, Stand up to Racism and others. This coalition is organising a protest coinciding with Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday 20th January, 5pm, opposite Downing Street. Stand up to Racism, supported by trade unions, is organising a national demonstration against Tommy Robinson supporters on Saturday 1st February, 11.30am, in Central London.
Announcement📢📢
— Stand Up To Racism (@AntiRacismDay) January 16, 2025
The demo against Tommy Robinson is supported by a number of trade unions, organisations and faith groups. We will stand united against the far right on #1Feb. Join us pic.twitter.com/UQUdibK9Ad
- Join the protest in London when Trump is being inaugurated to show we are united against his reactionary agenda at opposite Downing Street on Whitehall at 5pm, on Monday January 20.
- Join Stand up to Racism’s national demonstration against Tommy Robinson supporters on Saturday 1st February, 11.30am, in Central London.
- Sabby Dhalu is Co-Convernor of Stand Up To Racism, you can follow her on Instagram and Twitter/X and follow Stand Up To Racism on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Bluesky.
