Trump 2.0: lessons for progressives

Identity politics is dead; the Left must refocus on economic inequality and working-class empowerment.

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Identity politics is dead. Ordinary individuals - regardless of caste, creed, race, ethnicity, religion, gender, and sexuality - are sick and tired of 'woke-ism'. They no longer wish to be told of the myriad ways in which they are on the receiving end of microaggression, cultural appropriation, and 'bigotry' most broadly conceived. The lingo is endless. Worse, it sounds alien and clunky: like it was manufactured in a laboratory. Considering a core facet of postmodern ideology is premised upon 'lived experience', the irony begs attention. In the context of rampant economic precarity, where over 60% of workers live paycheck to paycheck in the US, these symbolic one-upmanship games - Oppression Olympics - have run their course. Donald Trump's reelection proves it.

Morality was once associated with conservatives who wished to preserve religiocultural norms in the face of modernity. Drug culture, atheistic sentiment, anti-nationalism, and sexual promiscuity were all no-go zones - and anyone who ventured into the spaces risked social ostracisation and, in the worst case, direct threats to livelihood. What prevailed was thus a culture of self-censorship and 'underground' activity. Progressives continued to indulge, just discreetly. In a strange twist of fate, a total inversion has taken place today. Self-proclaimed 'liberals', once champions of free expression, are now the guardians of morality: seeing power not in institutional arrangements but moment-to-moment interactions. Their politics is geared around policing others and bullying them into submission should they cross any arbitrary red lines that are deemed 'offensive'. The natural consequence of this is a culture of fear and intimidation, in which people are compelled to walk on eggshells and not only check themselves but each other - lest they be deemed 'problematic' for complicity! This has fostered a hostile, nihilistic, and humorless societal landscape - alienating the vast majority, a lot of which once constituted self-proclaimed Democrats.

Patronisation is the core of the problem. Lower- and middle-class segments do not want to learn about 'coping strategies' from a therapist that earns five times as much as them, they do not wish to build an elaborate collection of pharmaceutical drugs that will supposedly 'optimise' their wellbeing, and they are least interested in hearing a politician talk to them like helpless children that need to be handheld and vacuously praised. Most people, it turns out, desire fairly basic items. Accessible healthcare. Quality education. Dignified working conditions. Pleasant social environments. A home they can call their own. Recreational activities that bring them joy. Value systems they can believe in without guilt. Democrats not only failed to achieve anything substantive on any of these fronts over the course of Biden's term, they actively downplayed their importance - fixating instead on how they are nevertheless superior to 'fascist' Trump.

With rising levels of economic insecurity, increasing numbers of people are realising that power in the contemporary age hinges not upon identity but access/proximity to wealth. One can belong to the most marginalised community in the world, but if they own property and their bank balance boasts seven figures they are always - without exception - going to have an upper hand on the most 'privileged' identity groups. As more and more people fall into destitution and homelessness, the Frankenstein monster of the 'evil White man' looks less and less frightening. While working class Blacks and Whites compete with one another for survival in a toxic, dog-eat-dog corporate modality, elites from both communities enjoy tremendous ties with one another: attending high-profile networking events, holding membership cards of the same exclusive clubs, engaging in lobbying efforts to push mutual business interests, and even reinforcing their socioeconomic status across generations via strategic endogamy. For all intents and purposes, the poor Black man has more in common with his White counterpart than a rich man from his own race: and is beginning to see it.

One of the central concerns facing most of the American citizenry this year has been inflation and a lack of job opportunities. Enter Trump - who took on both challenges in a direct manner during his electoral campaign. His 'strategy' for addressing the former is to resume fracking and explore the USA's oil reserves: curtailing regulatory restrictions on businesses operating in the domain. This will function, he alleges, to bring down costs (that are transferred to consumers as high prices) across all commodities as transportation becomes more affordable. On unemployment, his gameplan is two-pronged: control 'illegal' immigration and incubate domestic manufacturing. In theory, the former will naturally reduce labour supply, increase wages, and open up room for domestic citizens to re-enter the fray. Industrial revival, on the other hand, is envisioned via two primary 'tools'. The first will involve bringing factory production back home from developing countries, thus drastically expanding jobs - particularly for low-skilled workers that currently cannot access white collar trades. The second will entail imposing hefty tariffs on goods imported from global markets - which will create incentives to produce them at home. These 'new' sectors, protected from competitive pressures from abroad, will further add to the job stock - bringing back opportunities that have been outsourced to countries like China in the quest for cheap labor.

All this, it must be emphasised, is a radical reorientation in American political economy: from one based on 'free market' doctrine and opportunistic profit maximisation to a longer-term outlook that ensures domestic sustainability. As part of Trump's 'America First' ideology, these new policy directions also entail stepping away from global conflicts such as the Russia-Ukraine debacle and ongoing genocide in Palestine. It is why a large proportion of ex-Democrats, particularly from the Muslim world, have gravitated towards him in the hopes of an end to the massacres in their hometowns.

Trump will likely fail to empower working class communities in any meaningful capacity, and his term will certainly exacerbate climate change. While some of his policies may succeed, his approach misses the deep structural roots of the crisis. The fact that he was able to win so convincingly, however, is testament to the dire need for a reintroduction of discourse around economic grievances into the political sphere in place of mindless cultural battles. Progressives must understand that identity-based frictions do not constitute isolated forms of oppression but are, in the final analysis, directly downstream of the exploitative economic incentive structures that define capitalism.

The Left must double down on a political orientation centred around bread-and-butter concerns - and do so without remorse or hesitation.