Donald Trump’s racist campaign

This 18 July 2019 video from the USA says about itself:

[Democratic party congresswoman and presidential candidate] Tulsi Gabbard Rips into Anti-American Rhetoric

What makes us Americans has nothing to do with our skin color or political views, but rather our commitment to a set of ideals enshrined in the Bill of Rights. Trump’s efforts to intimidate those with dissenting views infringes upon the very essence of America.

By Eric London in the USA:

Trump appeals to Democratic establishment and attacks the left

19 July 2019

The sound of Trump supporters chanting “Send her back!” echoed across the country yesterday as the president repeated his attack on four Democratic congresswomen, including Ilhan Omar, against whom the chant was directed.

The use of this language at the rally in North Carolina underscores the danger posed by the president’s fascist strategy. Trump and his supporters are declaring their support for the removal from office and deportation of Omar, a Somali-born US citizen, for criticizing the administration. In the context of growing right-wing violence in the US and worldwide, Trump is inciting his supporters to attack her.

But just minutes before, Trump thanked the majority of House Democrats for voting against an impeachment resolution. “I just heard that the United States House of Representatives has overwhelmingly voted to kill … the resolution, how stupid is that, on impeachment,” Trump said. “I want to thank those Democrats because many of them voted for us,” he added as the crowd cheered loudly.

After touting his tax cuts for the rich, the rising stock market and the expansion of military funding, Trump added:

“The leading voices of the Democrat Party are left-wing extremists who stand against everything our nation stands for, but again I have to tell you, this vote was so big I have to thank many of the Democrats. No, no, I really do, I respect it, I really do. That [impeachment vote] was a slaughter. Many of the people who voted for us were Democrats, and I want to thank them because they did the right thing for our country.”

In political and legal terms, the House Democrats’ 137-95 vote against impeachment is effectively an endorsement of Trump’s policies.

Trump’s praise for the Democratic Party was not mere bluster—he chose his words carefully according to a deliberate political strategy. In the theater of American bourgeois politics, every word and movement is a signal to political allies and opponents.

He is appealing to the wealthy politicians and power brokers who comprise the Democratic Party establishment and who, like Trump, also oppose the influence of self-described “socialist” candidates like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib, and intend to make no concessions to their calls even for modest reform.

While Democrats passed a resolution denouncing Trump’s “racism”, behind the scenes they are actively working with his administration to slash social spending and increase funding for the military.

On Wednesday, Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer spoke at length to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, with all parties announcing they were “close” to a two-year budget deal that would raise the debt ceiling and increase funding for the armed forces. After the discussion with Pelosi, Mnuchin declared he has a “clear understanding” with the California Democrat.

Both sides, Mnuchin said, “agreed there will be offsets”—in other words, cuts to social spending. In a Politico article headlined, “Democrats not willing to totally snub ‘deplorable’ Trump”, Virginia Democrat Don Beyer said, “I do think we can compartmentalize, absolutely. And I suspect that he can too. We’re going to continue to speak out. But he’s also still president for the next year and a half and we want to get legislation done.” Last week, House Democrats voted overwhelmingly to provide $733 billion in military spending for fiscal year 2020, the highest figure in history.

…

Its differences with Trump have always been tactical in character. The Democrats’ chief concern is that Trump is undermining the key strategic imperatives of American imperialism—particularly in relation to Russia—and that his unpredictable and erratic behavior will destabilize domestic politics, stoke popular opposition, and further endanger their foreign policy goals. When it comes to cutting taxes, lowering interest rates and increasing military spending, the Democrats and Trump agree. Both support Trump’s oft-repeated threat that “America will never be a socialist country.”

It was Pelosi herself who brought renewed attention to the four congresswomen last week when she denigrated “their public whatever and their Twitter world” in an interview with the New York Times. Democratic staffers then leaked poll numbers showing the four congresswomen are very unpopular among Republican voters. The written notes Trump used at his White House press conference this week included the line: “Now they even call Nancy Pelosi a racist.”

Trump and the Democratic Party are concerned about figures like Omar and Ocasio-Cortez not because of what the congresswomen themselves want or are capable of. … But the fact that they were elected to Congress reveals a groundswell of social opposition to capitalism from below.

The political establishment fears the tens of millions of workers and young people who are interested in socialism … The ruling class, aware that any large-scale outbreak of the class struggle would crash the inflated markets, regards working-class opposition to inequality as a ticking time bomb, waiting to explode.

Both factions of the ruling class will use the 2020 elections to contain social opposition and divert it behind their reactionary aims.

Trump is appealing to fascist elements, scapegoating immigrants for the social crisis in America, vilifying the Democrats as socialists, and building an extra-parliamentary movement to crush opposition with force if needed.

A FASCIST TRUMP RALLY IN GREENVILLE When the president attacked Rep. Omar at his North Carolina rally Wednesday, thousands of predominantly white people chanted “Send her back!” To scholars of fascism — who have been ringing the alarm bells around Trump since 2015 — that Greenville rally felt like an escalation. The U.S. just made another leap toward outright fascism. [HuffPost]

Want To ‘Send Omar Back’? That’s What The Nazis Did: here.

Trump Has Resurrected “Go Back To Africa” And It’s Uglier Than Ever: here.

So, now @realdonaldtrump is re-Tweeting comments by one of Britain's most notorious racists, Katie Hopkins. Pathetic.
He needs to be impeached. Now.https://t.co/ltvkkQONE3

— Richard W. Painter (@RWPUSA) July 20, 2019

OMAR GETS HERO’S WELCOME Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), arriving home after a whirlwind week dueling with the president over a series of racist attacks, was met by cheering supporters in Minnesota on Thursday evening. “We have your back,” one shouted. [HuffPost]

TRUMP PROMOTES FAR-RIGHT COMMENTATOR The same weekend Trump demanded that the “squad” of progressive congresswomen apologize to Israel, he decided to retweet a notorious far-right British commentator who blamed Jewish leadership for a lethal attack on a U.S. synagogue. [HuffPost]

POLICE OFFICER SUGGESTS AOC BE SHOT A Louisiana police officer suggested in a Facebook post that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) should be shot, mocking her as a “vile idiot.” Greta officer Charlie Rispoli wrote that the congresswoman “needs a round, and I don’t mean the kind she used to serve,” according to NOLA.com. [HuffPost]

Trump news – live: Backlash over president’s attack on congressman’s ‘rat-infested’ district, amid new bid for impeachment: here.

Baltimore Mayor Bernard C. "Jack" Young: "It's completely unacceptable for the political leader of our country to denigrate a vibrant American City like Baltimore, and to viciously attack U.S. Representative Elijah Cummings a patriot and a hero." pic.twitter.com/f3JsgUHmeY

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) July 27, 2019

LAWMAKER: OWNING SLAVES DOESN’T MAKE YOU RACIST New Hampshire state Rep. Werner Horn (R) doesn’t think American slavery was racist, a position he posted on Facebook and reiterated to HuffPost. “Human beings have been owning other human beings since the dawn of time. It’s never been about race,” Horn said. [HuffPost]

THE INSIDIOUS RETURN OF RACE SCIENCE The defeat of the Nazis helped discredit race science, which had fueled the belief that some human beings are inherently inferior. Scientists came together after World War II to condemn the ideology that had led to the Holocaust. But it never really disappeared. [HuffPost]

SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER WISHES FOR TLAIB’S DEATH New Jersey school board member Daniel Leonard faces calls to resign over offensive Facebook comments in which he refers to Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) as a “terrorist,” and says his “life would be complete” if Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) were dead. Both congresswomen are Muslim. [HuffPost]