{"id":13426,"date":"2024-10-27T06:25:18","date_gmt":"2024-10-27T10:25:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/?p=13426"},"modified":"2024-11-05T20:53:10","modified_gmt":"2024-11-06T01:53:10","slug":"the-logic-of-trump-vs-the-logic-of-lenin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/test02\/2024\/10\/the-logic-of-trump-vs-the-logic-of-lenin\/","title":{"rendered":"The logic of Trump vs. the logic of Lenin"},"content":{"rendered":"

T<\/span>wo realities frame this talk. One is that I have recently written a book, Lenin: Responding to Catastrophe, Forging Revolution<\/em>. The other is that the 2024 Presidential election in the United States, however it goes, inevitably advances an intense political crisis whose outcome is by no means clear.1

My remarks have four basic components. First, an examination of Trump and Trumpism. Second, how some Marxists have analyzed fascism. Third, a suggestion of how this analysis could be applied to U.S. realities. Fourth, a brief examination of Lenin and Leninism, with a concluding comment on how Trumpism is stronger than Leninism.<\/p>\n

A trusted comrade who read earlier drafts of this presentation, noting what he felt were gaps and deficiencies, told me: \u201cThis is not your best work.\u201d I think that is inevitably the case. What I say here is fragmentary and incomplete, in more than one way. My hope is that what I offer will be useful, nonetheless, for helping to advance a clarifying discussion. Perhaps that discussion will contribute to our thinking of what is what, and what is to be done.<\/p>\n

Trump and Trumpism<\/h4>\n

Trump\u2019s politics has been labeled by some as Trumpism. Before examining Trumpism, let us pause to consider the mediocrity with whose name this \u201cism\u201d is identified.<\/p>\n

The ABCs of Trump\u2019s qualities certainly include arrogance, as well as the Three Bs: bigot, bully, and braggart. The bragging takes many forms: a self-promoting \u201cgo-getter\u201d who compulsively highlights his achievements, but also claims to have gone<\/em> further and gotten<\/em> more than is actually the case; an ignorant man who glorifies his ignorance with the aggressive assertion \u201cI don\u2019t read books!,” while claiming<\/em> to know far more than he knows; someone who exaggerates the esteem in which people hold him and takes credit for accomplishments that are not his own. His billionaire status adds luster, resources and authority to all that is involved in the narcissistic self-construction of the person who is Trump. He is quintessentially, and very proudly, a capitalist<\/em>, and there are thirty-four felony convictions which cause many to label him a crook<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Jumping forward in the alphabet, some critics insist Trump is a fascist<\/em>. Others question whether he is consistent and coherent enough to play the role of a Benito Mussolini or an Adolf Hitler. The term fascist has certainly become a freely used insult applied to ideas, practices and people we detest. Trump himself uses it (jumbling it with words such as \u201cMarxists,” \u201cCommunists,” \u201cterrorists\u201d and \u201cvery bad people\u201d) to denounce enemies lurking in the courtroom, in the mainstream media, in the government, and in the Democratic Party.<\/p>\n

How disciplined and single-minded is Trump as a political leader? He could hardly be compared favorably to a Winston Churchill or a Ronald Reagan, let alone to a Mussolini or a Hitler. \u201cBy the spring of 2020,\u201d according to New York Times<\/em> chronicler Maggie Haberman, \u201cit had become clear to many of his top advisors that Trump\u2019s impulse to undermine existing systems and bend institutions to suit his purposes was accompanied by erratic behavior and levels of anger requiring others to try to keep him on track nearly every hour of the day.\u201d2

It is instructive to consider the experience of Steve Bannon, one of the most focused far-right ideologues who served as a central advisor in the early phase of the 2016 Trump administration. Michael Wolff reported:<\/p>\n

Part of Bannon\u2019s authority in the new White House was as keeper of the Trump promises, meticulously logged onto the white board in his office. Some of these promises Trump enthusiastically remembered making, others he had little memory of, but was happy to accept that he had said it. Bannon acted as disciple and promoted Trump to guru \u2014 or inscrutable God.3

Bannon would become exasperated and disillusioned, realizing that the details of the right-wing \u201cpopulist\u201d agenda he envisioned \u201cwere entirely captive to Trump\u2019s inattention and wild mood swings. Trump, Bannon had long ago learned, \u2018doesn\u2019t give a fuck about the agenda \u2014 he doesn\u2019t know what the agenda is\u2019.\u201d4