On Thu, Dec 11, 2025 at 06:13 PM, John Reimann wrote: > > During the presidential elections last year, the overwhelming majority of > the socialist left devoted almost all their efforts to attacking Biden and > then Harris, with hardly a word of warning about the danger of > Trump/MAGA... *Do any of those on this list who conducted themselves in > this way have any regrets...?*
John's perception is not accurate. I've been on the list for a long time, and was impressed by how the once monolithic opposition on the Marxist left to the DP, seen as Tweedledum to the Republican Tweedledee, fractured during last year's election. The two bourgeois parties have differed for close to a century with respect to the organized constituencies they represent and the tax and spending policies and other forms of state intervention they have favoured, but the gap between them has steadily widened over the past two decades, reflecting the cultural and demographic changes in US society, aggravated by economic stagnation since the 2007-08 financial crisis. The rise of Trump and the MAGA movement has been the culmination of this process. Last year's debate was driven in large part by the fear, expressed most forcefully by John, that a Trump victory portended a Bonapartist or fascist regime in America. See, for example: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/32146. It's left unstated whether John believes the list of anti-democratic measures by the Trump administration catalogued above vindicates his perspective. I continue to hold to the view that a Bonapartist or fascist dictatorship would require the constitutional dismemberment rather than weakening of bourgeois democratic institutions. So long as these still function, the possibility exists that an opposition party can recover and regain power by electoral means. It's my impression that the Trump administration, despite its cruel scapegoating of minorities, has bumped up against the same constraints and is experiencing the same frustration as left social democratic governments elsewhere who have tried to enact more fundamental systemic change. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#39701): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/39701 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/116740237/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
