FORMERLY PRO-IMMIGRANT BUSINESS LEADERS HAVE FALLEN IN LINE BEHIND THE TRUMP'S ANTI-IMMIGRANT PROJECT
- Gonzalo Santos
- Oct 29, 2024
- 5 min read
Consider this business leaders' cave-in to Trump another notch in the belt for the MAGA Trumpist juggernaut's gambit for returning to power, this time with a more open and brutal, less resisted fascist project - a key element of it consisting in launching mass detention/deportation campaigns. Relying on these "allies" was like relying on the Dems: they buckled under the first sign of Maga fury.
Other notches under the Maga belt: the Supreme Court, the GOP, more than half the state governments, one or both of the Chambers of Congress. And heck, the very distinct possibility that Donald Trump will return to power!
Even the Dems are now on board on enforcement-only brutal measures, tripping over each other to see who sounds "tougher on the border." Biden's grade? F. Harris's? F+. Latino/Black/Asian Dems'? F++.
Getting the military on board, too, should be a skip and a jump - at least the top brass (there might be serious resistance in the now-integrated rank-and file. But then there's the other Police State agencies) - check!
In summary, here's where we are now: The American business plutocracy, formerly and variously divided on the issue of immigration, has now shamelessly united behind Trump's racist, xenophobic, ultra-restrictionist, cruel and punitive program aimed against the very immigrants they so desperately need (and the desperate refugee flows the U.S.empire continues to generate.)
The ethno-nationalist culture war was finally won by the fascist billionaires over the resigned liberal billionaires within the ruling circles of America.
[In contrast, on the gender wars, some folks hope the Maga Big White Macho backlash will be defeated by women of all races. It's a toss-up whether it will be big enough to counter the white supremacist backlash on immigration. Another consideration to take into account: The Gaza & Ukraine wars mismanaged under the perennially war hawk Joe Biden will objectively help Trump. The same can be said about the brutal effects of climate change this year, which, in a sick, twisted way, the Maga propagandists are blaming solely on the Dems "who spent FEMA money on their open border policies”.]
Chaos is the order of the day in the United States - politically, socially, ideologically, and sooner or later, economically as well. The bill is coming due for all this chaos and all those wars. Not to mention the unanticipated, possibly catastrophic, geopolitical consequences heading towards us in Europe and the Middle East. The U.S. is the epicenter of systemic chaos in the collapsing capitalist world-system, with no global consensus on an institutional or ideological blueprint for its replacement in sight. Rather, everything points to a period of global violence and chaos.
The ultimate or principal target of the U.S. fascist movement, in this context, are not and never have been the immigrants and asylum-seekers - legal, temporary, or undocumented -, though they have been and will be the first targets, persecuted, deported, and demonized as scapegoats; women's rights comes right up next!
But, bad as those attacks are and will become, the real target domestically of Trump's fascist project is the wrecking the two-party system of American democracy, based as it has been on a corrupt, donor-controlled, but functional duopoly which is no longer deemed useful or necessary by the plutocracy, a larger share of which is now placing its bets now on installing in power an authoritarian, fascist Maga party and its accompanying, well-funded, corporate rightwing media, a single-party oligarchic rule for the long term, the better to compete with - and if need be, battle - the other autocratic world powers in a turbulent era of global rivalry.
So, expect that after the all-out draconian attacks on immigrants, will come an era of all-out attacks on the U.S. labor movement, the non-white ethnic/racial movements, the environmental/climate movements, the peace movements. Also expect Congress to pliably pass laws to continue to transfer the wealth upwards to the Very, Very Top, and to the mighty, insaciable Military Industrial Complex - with little or no restrain - certainly not from the long-domesticated Dems.
Working Americans - including white workers, professionals, liberals, small business owners - are the real "enemy within" that Trump talks about and intends to repress - if not destroy. Many of these white workers, professionals and small business owners will have voted for Trump - stupidly blinded by their own racism, xenophobia, misogyny, religious zealotry, greed, hyper-individualism and lack of class solidarity - all things that Trump and his acolytes, his predecessors, and the robust rightwing media have relentlessly and expertly "poisoned their blood" with... for decades (this story started with Ronald Reagan).
So, get ready to rumble, Americans, ALL Americans! YOU are in for a very rough ride, which I might add, is of YOUR OWN MAKING! YOU and your delusions with the corrupt duopoly allowed this dangerous state of affairs to grow and fester within the duopoly, and YOU did not stood up to ugly fascism or their wimpy Dem enablers when you could have.
There is no left to speak of. The Bernie wing of the Dems as been thoroughly domesticated by the likes of Biden, Pelosi, Harris. (Example: the Bernistas were the very last to call for that senile old Joe to retire; in fact, he resigned due to pressure from other liberal centrists, without the so-called "progressives" ever calling him to do so! Then they docilely endorsed Harris en masse without extracting progressive concessions, instantly and without a wimp). Outside the Dem party, there is no organized left to speak of, either. These are the post-post-Cold-War times of the sudden upsurge of fascism worldwide, without an ideologically robust, politically organized left alternative in sight.
It began to happen around the rich countries of the world in the 2000s - with “immigration” the battering ram. It happened in the U.S. in 2016. Both Dems and Reps let Trump literally get away with insurrection and a myriad crimes. Now it's showtime again, Dems and Reps! You both are getting exactly the type of ruthless, authoritarian, raw pro-oligarchic, faux-populist fascist government you have assiduously been enabling and paving the way to have for the last four decades.
And to the unjustly persecuted immigrant diasporas, my final thought: though it's not your fault the collapsing, chaotic, dysfunctional American empire has failed you, in both your countries of origin, transit, and destiny, you must again get ready to fight back resolutely, this next period on even harder terrain, against the unified political class of the decrepit U.S. duopoly and their callous donors, even if you must fight alone, abandoned even by your own corrupted ethnic elected leaderships, not to mention your Latin American governments, who remain terrified and silent under the thumb of Uncle Sam, or promptly collaborate with Him to "orderly" detain and deport you and tear your families.
¡La lucha sigue y sigue! ¡Aquí nadie se va, ni se rinde, ni se vende!
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