Trumpism = Barbarism – the Red Weekly Column

“Climate catastrophe and the heightening risk of nuclear conflict illustrate starkly how ‘Socialism or Barbarism’ is a statement of fact on the future of humanity.”

Trump is launching a new phase of the US Empire’s war on the majority of humanity, writes Matt Willgress in our ‘Red Weekly’ column.

Evidence on all fronts – from the Genocide in Gaza, to the fires raging due to climate change in LA, to the economic problems across all the ‘advanced‘ countries – shows we’re in the midst of global economic, social, political, military and climate crises that are on a scale unprecedented in their severity and depth in many of our lifetimes.

Now, with Trump’s return to the Presidency, a new phase in the ongoing war of the US Empire against the majority of humanity is underway, which will deepen these global crises and tensions.

This war on the majority of humanity is also reflected internally in a deeply reactionary agenda, spearheaded by billionaires and polluters.

On the economic front, there are radical moves to make it easier to sack workers, and aim taken against already pitiful levels of public spending in terms of health and welfare.

We have seen an unrelenting barrage of hate against black and migrant communities, women, disabled and LGBTQ+ people that involves revoking years of hard-won steps towards equality, and shutting down all federal government diversity, equity and inclusion offices.

As part of this, he is again using the power of the state at home and abroad to attack abortion rights.

He has also signed an executive order to prepare a massive detention facility at Guantánamo Bay he says could hold 30,000 immigrants.

Internationally, the latter announcement is part of moves towards economic warfare against – and mass deportations with devastating consequences to – nearby countries such as Mexico and Honduras.

Some are tempted to treat his talk of capturing Greenland and Panama as a joke, but his comments and actions so far show just how far they are aiming to go in terms of securing US power and dominance.

And the last week has made it crystal clear to all how he will not shift from the US’ backing of Israel – doubling-down on suggestions that Palestinians should leave Gaza for Egypt and Jordan, rather than live in their homeland.

This fits in clearly with Israel’s far-right’s plan for a Gaza without Palestinians and will encourage ethnic cleansing in the West Bank as well, where the murder of scores of Palestinians continues, fuelled of course by US (and British) weapons.

Meanwhile, Trump is meeting Benjamin Netanyahu this week, making the Israeli war criminal the first foreign leader to visit the White House during this term.

Then there is the talk of sanctions on China; confirmation of blockading Venezuela (or if the ‘New York Times’ gets its way, a military adventure); Cuba put back on the ‘State Sponsors of Terrorism’ list; pushing for ‘regime change’ in Iran as part of drives to dominate the Middle East; and a clear commitment to a nuclear arms race threatening the future of humanity.

The latter is part of a global increase in military spending, with it reaching some $2.44 trillion in 2023 – this was an increase of 6.8% on the year before, the highest ever.

These are not the actions of the world’s mightiest power in its prime. They are those of an increasingly desperate Empire seeking unsuccessfully to reverse its (relative) economic decline and hold-off the emerging new global economic reality, not least the rise of China.

Whilst the US remains the biggest power – and bully – in the world, its percentage of the world’s GDP is now down to 26.3%, from 34.6% in 1985.

And when we look at just how dangerous Trump can be, we need to remember that the US spends more on military spending than the next ten biggest countries combined! US spending represents 40% of the global total. China is a distant second (12%) and Russia third (4.5%.) Additionally, Trump will again seek to force other NATO members – including Britain – to up their military spending, as the Starmer-led Government compliantly will.

These massive levels of military spending – and Trump’s attempts to bully numerous countries across the globe – are not just for show. They are to seek to continue to dominate large parts of the world by any means necessary, making them all the more dangerous in these volatile times in the global economy.

Finally, when looking at just how reactionary Trump’s agenda is we must also look at all the measures already enabling a massive increase in fossil fuel extraction in the US – alongside withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement – showing that the new US regime will literally wage war on the planet itself.

Just days after the California wildfires, Trump announced in his inaugural address “We will drill, baby, drill,”.

It was a good day for the fossil fuel executives who poured tens of millions of dollars into Trump’s election campaign and celebrated at a party down the road. A good day too for Meta and Amazon billionaire bosses who flanked Trump at the inauguration and whose new datacentres are set to create a surge in electricity demand.

All this as new data shows 2024 was the hottest on Earth since records began.

In the latest stark warning that capitalism is pushing Earth’s climate into uncharted territory, it was the year when average global temperatures temporarily breached the 1.5C  warming, the threshold set by the Paris Agreement to keep us safe.

The abrupt new records set in 2023 and 2024 join other evidence that recent global warming appears to be moving faster than expected. And evidence that other earth tipping points have been reached or are perilously close confronting humanity with likely devastating domino effects including crop failure, water shortage, mass displacement, political crises and financial collapse.

In this context Trump – and indeed Rachel Reeves – are nothing but climate vandals. And on this and all these fronts, Trumpism is barbarism.

Both the climate catastrophe and the heightening risk of nuclear conflict illustrate starkly how ‘Socialism or Barbarism’ is a statement of fact on the future of humanity. Our role now is to make it the rallying cry to organise for a better future for humanity.

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• The Red Weekly Column will appear each Monday on Labour Outlook from one of our regular socialist contributors.
• Matt Willgress will be speaking at the Socialism or Barbarism in-person day-school in London on Saturday March 29, alongside MPs Richard Burgon, Ian Byrne and John McDonnell, campaigner Jess Barnard, socialist economist Michael Roberts and campaigns such as PSC, CND and Stand up to Racism. Register and info here.
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