At last, the beginning of the end of Trump-alism!

Kua Kia Soong

At last, a glimmer of hope! After two years of US President Donald Trump’s political excesses, international belligerence, domestic authoritarianism and shameless service to the billionaire oligarchy, the American electorate has delivered a resounding verdict.

The Republican Party has suffered a historic electoral defeat, with the Democrats regaining control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate in the 3 November midterm elections.

This is more than an ordinary midterm setback. It is a powerful rejection of the Trump presidency and the politics of intimidation, division, militarism and oligarchic privilege that have characterised his second term.

Trump repeatedly invited Americans to treat the election as a referendum on his presidency. Well, the American people have obliged him!

From international gangsterism to domestic authoritarianism

The last two years have been a disturbing demonstration of how quickly democratic institutions can be undermined when political power falls into the hands of an authoritarian demagogue.

Consider Trump’s unilateral plunge into war with Iran. Without a declaration of war by Congress or a convincing international legal justification, the US joined Israel in launching military strikes against Iran on 28 February.

The consequences have extended far beyond the region, threatening international security, disrupting global commerce and exposing the extraordinary recklessness of a superpower that believes it can simply impose its will on the rest of the world.

This is not diplomacy. It is the politics of military intimidation.

At home, the Trump administration’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has become an instrument of fear. Its aggressive raids, mass detentions, deportations and treatment of vulnerable migrants have increasingly resembled the methods of a police state.

Human Rights Watch reported that 52 people died in ICE custody during the first 500 days of Trump’s second administration. The expansion of detention facilities, the lack of adequate medical care and the absence of meaningful accountability should alarm anyone who believes in human dignity and the rule of law.

A government cannot claim to defend freedom while treating human beings as disposable objects. The fascistic character of this politics is particularly disturbing when one considers the way migrants, minorities and political opponents have been demonised to mobilise a reactionary political base.

The real divide

Perhaps the greatest indictment of Trumpism is its class character. Trump came to power promising to represent ordinary Americans, to restore their prosperity and to make America great again.

Yet whose America has he actually been making great? His administration has presided over policies that favour the wealthy, corporate interests and billionaire benefactors, while ordinary people in America struggle with the rising cost of living, healthcare expenses, housing insecurity and economic uncertainty.

The spectacle of billionaires exercising extraordinary political influence while working families struggle to make ends meet is an indictment of American capitalism in its most naked form.

The American people are increasingly discovering that the real divide is not simply between Republicans and Democrats, but between an enormously wealthy oligarchy and the millions who produce the wealth but receive an increasingly inadequate share of it.

Trump’s politics of cultural warfare and manufactured enemies have served a useful purpose: diverting attention from this fundamental economic injustice.

But the electorate has begun to see through the charade.

Palestine: America’s moral disgrace

No assessment of Trump’s two years in office can ignore the continuing genocide and devastation in Gaza and the relentless dispossession and violence suffered by Palestinians in the West Bank.

Trump’s professed commitment to peace rings particularly hollow when Palestinians continue to face the destruction of their homes, the loss of their livelihoods, displacement and the denial of their most fundamental human rights.

His administration’s support for Israel, including military and diplomatic backing, has helped perpetuate this catastrophe.

But let us be equally clear: this is not exclusively Trump’s crime. The Democratic Party also bears considerable responsibility for America’s complicity in the suffering of the Palestinian people.

The previous Democratic administration provided military assistance and diplomatic protection to Israel despite mounting evidence of the devastation in Gaza. Too many Democratic politicians have been willing to defend human rights selectively, depending on whose interests are at stake.

It is therefore not enough for Democrats to celebrate their electoral victory over Trump. They must confront their own moral failures.

The Palestinian people cannot be expected to wait for another American election before their right to life, freedom and self-determination is recognised.

Democratic socialist surge

Perhaps the most encouraging development in this election is the growing electoral strength of democratic socialists and progressive candidates.

The victories of democratic socialist candidates and their allies demonstrate that an alternative politics is not only possible but increasingly attractive to American voters. At least five candidates endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America have won congressional seats.

The election of Abdul El-Sayed to the Senate from Michigan is another particularly significant victory. His campaign championed universal healthcare, challenged corporate political influence and openly questioned America’s unconditional support for Israel. He will also become the first Muslim senator in American history.

These victories build on the political momentum generated by Zohran Mamdani and the wider democratic socialist movement.

What is particularly significant is that these candidates have not been afraid to challenge the Democratic establishment itself. They have campaigned on issues that matter to ordinary people: universal healthcare, affordable housing, childcare, workers’ rights, economic equality, corporate accountability and an end to American imperialism.

They are demonstrating that the answer to right-wing populism is not timid centrism or a slightly more respectable version of the status quo. It is a politics that addresses the material conditions of working people.

The challenge now is whether these democratic socialists can transform the Democratic Party from within.

The Democrats must not imagine that their victory automatically represents an endorsement of everything they have done or stood for. Their complicity in the Gaza catastrophe, their accommodation with corporate power and their reluctance to challenge America’s imperial role remain serious political liabilities.

The new generation of democratic socialists must therefore be prepared to challenge their own party leadership, not merely celebrate their entry into Congress. We hope they will have the courage to do so.

The struggle is far from over

We should celebrate this electoral repudiation of Trumpism. It is a reminder that even in a country where billionaires can pour enormous sums into politics and authoritarian leaders can dominate the political spectacle, the ballot box can still deliver a powerful message.

But we should not confuse an electoral victory with a social transformation. Trump remains president for another two years. His administration still controls the executive machinery. The struggle to defend democratic institutions, immigrant rights, workers’ interests and international peace will continue.

Nor should the Democrats assume that they have been given a blank cheque. The American people have rejected Trump’s excesses, but they have also given the Democratic Party an opportunity – and a responsibility – to demonstrate that it can offer something fundamentally better.

The task before the new progressive forces is to turn electoral victories into tangible improvements in people’s lives and to ensure that the Democratic Party does not simply become the respectable political wing of the same oligarchic establishment.

Dr Kua Kia Soong, a former MP, is a former director of the human rights group Suaram.

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