Trump: convicted felon (at last!) … and fascist

ILLUSTRATION BY JEFFREY SMITH (New Republic) Contempt is one of the nasty, self-fooling emotions, a mix of self-love and aggression. It is a feeling to reject, or at least suspect, in yourself. Few human beings are really contemptible. But Donald Trump, former president of the USA is one of them. We knew that this very …

Ukraine in danger: is time on Putin’s side?

By Dan Katz with additional material from JD In June 2023 Ukraine launched its long-expected offensive with the intention of breaking through Russia’s well-prepared defensive lines in southern Ukraine. Ukraine aimed to get to Tomak, Melitopol and Berdyansk in a drive towards the occupied Black Sea coast, but has fallen far short. The US, EU …

The cross in the White House and the flag in the sanctuary

Above: before the riot, Donald Trump supporters participate in a rally — at which the then-president urged supporters to "fight" — in Washington, near the White House. John Minchillo/AP By Will Sefton Bradley Onishi’s book Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism — and What Comes Next is an attempt to trace back from …

Reflections of an American socialist elder

Above: cartoon by Peter Brookes, the Times By Pete Glosser (at Oakland Socialist) Justifiable fear about the next election cycle has begun circling like the medieval Beasts of Battle as we confront the very real probability that 1) the republican party will run an incarcerated felon for president from a federal penitentiary, and 2) the …

US: Trumpism and the crisis of bourgeois democracy

Above: Trump supporters prepare to invade the Capitol as part of the ‘Stop The Steal’ riot/insurrection. Photograph: Amy Harris/REX/Shutterstock  By Claureen Ryan In America the Republicans are trying to turn the political clock backwards on Black people and white society, on women’s rights over their own bodies, and many other things. The Republican party is no …

CNN platforms serial liar – socialists must not do the same

CNN Kaitlin Collins waits patiently while Trump spreads his lies on CNN. By John Reimann, at Oakland Socialist: There is a lesson we can learn from CNN’s “town hall” meeting with Trump On May 10th. The lesson involves how we deal with proven serial liars, of which Trump and the MAGA crowd are far from …

Beware Ron DeSantis – Florida’s Viktor Orbán

By John Reimann (at Oakland Socialist): Above: DeSantis (left) and Orbán Workers and political activists beware: What is happening in Florida threatens all political campaigns we are involved in. Florida governor Ron DeSantis is moving to be the US’s Viktor Orbán. Orbán, president of Hungary, has basically eliminated democratic rights in that country. He did it …

Trump, Santos, Johnson, Brexit: the politics of lies – and the necessity of truth

Above: the serial liar Santos (right) and the far-right conspiracy theorist Marjorie Taylor Greene (left) in the House of Representatives By Martin Thomas According to the New York Times of 13 January, many Republicans had long been suspicious of the stories George Santos told about himself before he was elected to the US House of Representatives on …

Analysis of the US mid-term results by Oakland Socialist

By John Reimann (at Oakland Socialist): The partial setback for the MAGA Republicans follows a similar event in Brazil, where the Brazil style Donald Trump – Jair Bolsonaro – was narrowly defeated. But just as in Brazil, this far right tendency is nowhere near disappearing. These election results also have global implications, especially for Ukraine …

Why socialists should understand the Trump crisis

By John Reimann, who blogs at Oakland Socialist: We must start to draw a link between the confusions – in fact the abandonment of principle – of many socialists regarding Ukraine and their equally great confusions about the crisis swirling around the latest Donald Trump scandals. We must start to draw that link because what …