By Jennifer Lin and Gregory William
Trump is leading the racist, sexist attacks against especially Ilhan Omar as well as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, and Ayanna Pressley (aka ‘the Squad’). They are all progressive women of color, and this upsets white supremacists. These attacks show how completely intolerant Trump and his rich backers are of people of color and women having a voice, or a vote, or a different point of view even when elected.
At a campaign rally in North Carolina, Trump attacked Ilhan Omar, inciting the racist crowd to chant “Send her back.” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says that she has received so many death threats that she stiffens when someone knocks on her office door. The right-wing attack is not confined just to incendiary racist rants but also includes the threat of outright violence.
As Trump continues to attack the Squad, Black, Brown and LGBTQ people are being murdered in the streets, and workers are being stripped of rights and getting poorer. Children are dying in migrant prisons run for profit. Each year, $1 trillion goes to the Pentagon rather than to education, healthcare, housing, and families.
The scapegoating of migrants and extreme racism is always the tactic of fascists and cannot be ignored. In his rise to power, Hitler whipped up racism and other reactionary tendencies to turn people’s attention away from the capitalists that had just created the devastating depression. That Trump is doing exactly this should be deeply concerning to us. This is not to say that full-blown fascism is here…yet. But if we workers do not defeat the ruling class, our society may degenerate into a fascist regime. Every time politicians hand over more taxpayer money to the Pentagon, they increase the already outsized power of war-profiteering monopolies who are headed by the most fascistic wing of the capitalist class. These capitalists have long been ready to facilitate an outright fascist takeover of the state and are only waiting for the majority of capitalists to come to the agreement that fascism is necessary to maintain a capitalist system in crisis. Brazil, India, and the Ukraine (all staunch U.S. allies), give a grim picture of a possible future for the U.S.
Many people have been inspired by the Squad, Bernie Sanders, and other political figures; however, these politicians are being used to keep young people and progressives, who are hungry for change, tied to the capitalist pro-war Democrats. The main function of the Democratic Party has been to stop the independent action of the workers and youth. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pushed through on a multi-billion-dollar bill to fund ICE and the Department of Homeland Security, with none of the migrant protections that are backed by progressives. House Democrats recently united with Republicans to hand over a record $738 billion to the Pentagon, which will only worsen U.S. militarism and imperialism. Representatives Tlaib and Ocasio-Cortez were among those who supported the budget. These progressives’ calls for a Green New Deal mean nothing unless they commit to dismantling the war machine.