WHY TRUMP (And Trumpism) WILL FAIL
The matter at hand for Donald Trump and his supporters, rests on two main issues: racial supremacy at home and unimpeded imperialism overseas. Trump's unexpected victory affirmed once again, that whites in USA resolutely assert their whiteness whenever they feel economically, socially or politically threatened. From the very beginning of this country, whites have never felt secure in their over-lordship. Against this background, Trump must assure his mainly white supporters that he will seal the cracks in this system and that the old structure of white supremacy (however marginally modified) will rise again. The overwhelming majority of white voters for Trump sought to reclaim a vanishing past of unrestrained white power and privileges; a past of guaranteed status for whites, especially white males. But for this to work, it must be accompanied by tangible and significant material benefits. Trump must reward them for their loyalty. It is this racist formula that sustained Apartheid in South Africa.
For this racial arithmetic to work in today's USA, to the satisfaction of Trump's supporters, several things need to take place: Trump must 'bring back the jobs.' And that this will be done through restraining, curtailing and punishing the now well established practice of out-sourcing, and then preventing the speedy flight of capital to areas of cheap labor. Also, these jobs must be in millions and not token numbers. These jobs must pay middle class salaries with lucrative health and retirement benefits. More crucial, these jobs must somehow be reserved for white Americans (especially white males), 'the real Americans,' to the exclusion of minorities, women and recent non-white immigrants. To facilitate this agenda, Trump must immediately renounce all treaties and protocols on environment and trade. The rest of the world must, in turn, accede to these policy changes in unison obedience. His supporters expect him to impose by fiat, a very restrictive immigration policy and of course build the wall, 'a very beautiful wall,' which Mexico will pay for. Social conservatives, including evangelicals, expect Trump to accede to their agenda on abortion, race matters, gender issues, health and access to health care, housing and residential allocations, access to education and education structure, and crime and punishment.
The reality is that the capitalist system in place at the moment in USA, will not allow for the realization of the unrealistic agenda of Trump and his supporters (open and hidden). This system relies heavily on cheap imported labor (the much -derided immigrants) and also on out-sourcing of production. It is still the exploitation of non-whites at home and abroad. Can capitalism sacrifice a high profit margin in order to appease the disgruntled and displaced white workers in the name of white solidarity? Can Trump undercut the basis of globalization and still vigorously advance the American imperial mission? This is the crux of the matter. Capitalism, which the white workers have sworn to uphold and defend, does not in the end care for them with the same loyalty and vigor. There is no inherent reciprocity here. It is profits and profits.
This system was born in racism and it has sustained racism. It relies on racism to thrive and survive. Thus, it will not on its own disband racism and racist economics. The pressing question at this turbulent period is this: where will white workers go? Most of the available options seem so unpalatable to them at the moment. The drive to form strong labor unions, let alone a strong supra-racial workers' movement seems too radical for them. They have been schooled and conditioned to abhor and avoid interracial solidarity. And so, they remain loyal to people and institutions that use them, exploit them and then discard them. They are expected to remain loyal to their grave.
On social matters, the irreversible reality is that the train has left the station. We now have gay marriage and interracial unions (in all configurations) are now common. The church has steadily lost ground even as the country professes to be guided by Christian values. Women are in the workplace and women's right to abortion, while under threat, it is still the law of the land. How do social conservatives hope to reverse these trends? By relying on the overbearing presence on the government in personal lives? This is a position, which conservatives have routinely denounced. What social force will Trump employ to be able to radically reverse all these changes?
In international affairs, Trump's scattered, sometimes incoherent, comments indicate that he has a very distorted and even mistaken view of the power of the USA. To be sure, at the moment USA has more warships and combined weaponry than other nations and can therefore easily project its power overseas. But is this enough to assure USA of unlimited power? Does USA have unlimited power to impose its will on friend and foe alike? In other words, will the world jump when Trump coughs? And the answer is NO. The reasons, which may surprise Trump, are: first, the huge national debt has weakened the country's hand overseas. It is a debtor nation and it needs those countries continually lending it money. Second, although USA is the current dominant capitalist country, it desperately needs other capitalist countries and yes, exploited countries, to make this system functional. USA needs Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America, to make this inherently chaotic system work. USA corporations need American military protection, but they also need the non-military, non-confrontational cooperation of countries for trade and resources. For all of its power, USA does not have the military power to subdue or conquer every country that defies its imperial agenda. And no country is ever likely to have that kind of power. To rely on force or threat of force alone as the key elements in foreign policy is misguided, delusional and silly.
Also, the mystique is gone. It has evaporated. Imperial countries have relied, for power and prestige, not only on military might but also even more crucially, on the mystique of invincibility. Go back to all past imperial powers and you will find that this has been present. This is no longer true for USA. The lesson here is that an imperial system collapses when this mystique no longer holds true, when this mystique has evaporated. Rulers at the center of the empire during this period, seek to urgently recreate this mystique through misadventure, overreach, mistaken nostalgia, delusion and bombastic pronouncements. And the citizens at the center imagine that the old mystique can be reproduced again, and so they support disastrous policies that in fact accelerate imperial decline. And we must not forget resistance at outer edges of the empire. Those who obeyed in the past now resist and fight back with determination and score continuous victories. Those who were once described and categorized now define themselves and fight in the name of these new definitions.
Lastly, this decline is also marked by local and external resistance to the empire's central organizing principle/message/rationale. In USA's case, the key rationale for expansion of its 'empire of capital,' has been the export and protection of capitalism (and its attendant culture) plus opposition and resistance to progressive ideas and leaders. An inordinate amount of cash and intellectual capital has been spent on research and propaganda aimed at justifying the supremacy and indispensability of capitalism. But this no longer holds. At home in the USA and overseas, globalization has: torn communities apart; destroyed the environment; drastically reduced public service jobs; supported an elite repressive and callous culture; glorified greed and pathological selfishness; threatened the integrity of local cultures; given rise to mass poverty leading to desperate migrations; reversed gains in women's liberation; accelerated and then celebrated monstrous income and wealth inequality. Across the world, there is growing resistance to the politics and economics of globalization. At the moment, unrestrained capitalism is seen as bankrupt of ideas to uplift humankind out of poverty, racism, bigotry, sexism and destruction of the environment. Trump has not stated or articulated any policy positions that indicate that he understands the full magnitude of the problems faced by the majority of the people in USA and in the world.
W. O. Maloba
Chair
Department of Black American Studies
Professor of History and Black American Studies
University of Delaware
302-831-2897 phone
302-831-6063 fax
USA.
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