Trumpist Fascism: The Worm Turns

"Trumpist Fascism: The Spine Spins", appeared in Monthly Review.Translation: Critical Gazette

"Trump Fascism: The Worm Turns," appeared in Monthly Review.Translation: Critical Gazette

For those who lived through Richard Nixon's authoritarian regime, the time following his re-election in November 1972 was terrifying. (It was a landslide victory, with 60 percent of the vote.) Soon after, Nixon began the infamous Christmas bombing of Vietnam and prepared a new campaign against his "enemies".000 protested his appointment in January 1973. But while Nixon seemed to be in charge, things were beginning to change. A few weeks later, the American Indian Movement began its historic "Occupy of Wounded Knee." By May, the Democrats had regained power and the Senate Watergate trial was continuing. Another story is known.

Today, despite his control (unlike Nixon) of all three branches of government and his extensive efforts to transform American government and society, the going gets tougher for Trumpist fascists.In November, Zahran Mamdani's victory in the New York election, as well as other progressive victories in Seattle and elsewhere, showed not only the growing opposition to Trumpism, but also its radicalization.October's demonstrations against "No Kings" brought more than five million people to the streets. Immigration raids in the Los Angeles and Chicago areas were met with strong opposition from citizens on the streets, stopping and even derailing attempts at mass raids, in actions reminiscent of the legendary fights against the Fugitive Slave Law of the 1850s. In December 2025, in the midst of further electoral defeats, in particular againsta right-wing Cuban in Miami, Trump's poll numbers plummeted amid a sharp deterioration in employment data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

What is wrong with Trumpist fascists?

According to Martin Niemöller's famous statement;

When the Nazis came for the Communists, I was silent;He was not a communist.When they came for the Unionists, I was silent;He was not a trade unionist.When the Social Democrats were arrested, I was silent;He was not a social democrat.When the Jews were arrested, I was silent;He was not Jewish.When they came to me, there was no one left to protest.

Nieemöller has described what is sometimes called the "Salami tactic": dividing the opponent by eliminating one, starting with the brightest.

But that was not the case with Trumpism in 2025. Trumpist fascists instead attacked everyone, everywhere, at once.

He has persecuted trans people from day one, but he has also attacked a large segment of the LGBTQ+ community and prominent centrist liberal feminists.They rejected the veterans pensioners.This kind of oppression also happened in supposedly liberal institutions, such as when the University of Pennsylvania bowed to Trumpist pressure by limiting the participation of people involved in its sports programs.However, the June Pride meetings were attended by many people, even in cities and small towns.

Under the leadership of billionaire mad hatter Elon Musk, DOGE has sharply attacked federal agencies, not only social programs or diplomatic positions, but also the police and security apparatus.The administration also categorically ordered the end of union representation for one million federal workers.Other Trumpists have even tried to prosecute people like the former FBI director.The working class has backed away from Musk, the boss's worst nightmare.The racist and sexist nature of these attacks is also evident in the fact that a large number of federal employees are women, including many women of color.As Erica Green noted in late summer: "The latest labor statistics show that nationally, black women lost 319,000 jobs in the public and private sectors between February and July of this year, the only major female population group to experience significant job losses during that five-month period."("Black Women Most Affected by Trump Cuts," New York) Times, Sept. 1, 2025).There was a furious backlash, as evidenced by election results in the District of Columbia and elsewhere.

Trump fascists are trying to close the border with Mexico, saying they are targeting violent "criminal aliens" while arresting people of color across the country, arresting everything from high school students to pregnant women to grandmothers.Most of them are real citizens, many citizens and residents showed their support in the streets.

On campus, Trumpists attacked pro-Palestinian speeches and organized more than in the Biden administration, more accusations of anti-Semitism.But instead of waiting to consolidate this kind of oppression before acting on stronger sectors, they also attacked the structure of diversity, equality and inclusion that was most integrated from the beginning, and even jeopardized the funding of scientific researchers with huge contracts from the Ministry of Defense.Funding for scientific research fell to its lowest level in decades, while that for the humanities and social sciences declined.Almost immediately, some university administrations surrendered without resistance, such as at Columbia, which, among other outrages, eliminated the autonomy of the Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies.In December, the president of Northwestern University Henry Bienen, who actually began his academic career as an African researcher with experience in Tanzania, in addition to Columbia.In agreement with the Trumpist fascists, Bien rejected the 2024 agreement with pro-Palestinian protesters, which created scholarships for Palestinian students and created an advisory committee that would include a debate on divestment from apartheid Israel.He did so despite the 595-8 vote of the Faculty Assembly, which rejected this form of capitulation.

La mayoría de las universidades en zonas relativamente liberales del país han intentado acuerdos desastrosos —restringiendo las protestas palestinas, eliminando o renombrando la DEI— que no llegaron a una capitulación total. Harvard adoptó una postura ligeramente más firme que la mayoría, pero su grado de disposición a ceder no está claro. Mientras tanto, los estudiantes han mostrado pocas señales de aceptar la agenda trumpista. Tampoco lo ha hecho el profesorado, como lo demuestra la demanda en la Universidad de California, interpuesta por la asociación de profesores en lugar de por administradores cobardes. En UCLA, la naturaleza artificial de las acusaciones de antisemitismo trumpistas ha incluso provocado la dimisión de un número significativo de fiscales del Departamento de Justicia, que normalmente no pertenecen al bando progresista. En muchas universidades, la defensa de la libertad académica sigue incluyendo a Palestina y los derechos de las personas transgénero, los dos temas que los liberales centristas quieren que minimicemos o incluso descartemos.

Meanwhile, in the South and in some conservative international states, opposition to education has become widespread.Professionals were fired for speaking out about Palestinian transgender rights or socialism;or even casual talk about right-wing leader Charlie Kirk being killed.a form of self-government, which has characterized universities since they were created almost a thousand years ago.But the fire that burns, even for professors, is not limited to southern states and conservatives.This can be seen in the dismissal, by faculty complaint, of San Jose State University Professor Sang Hea Kil because of his participation in the Palestinian demonstration.In general, he works for academic freedom.

Many large corporations and law firms agreed wholeheartedly to eliminate or limit DEI programs, which were never very effective.Trump tried to appeal to majority sentiment (discrimination against whites, etc.), but also angered many people of color and young people who won't soon forget.

In the military, the Trumpists summarily fired long-serving black officers and women, removed references to General Colin Powell from their websites, and restored Confederate statues and symbols.They also removed black books from military academy libraries in response to Trump's attacks on the DEI.They also removed images of slavery from national parks and monuments.These measures have angered many veterans, who have spoken out while many serving could not.

Trumpists have terrorized several major television networks and attacked popular comedians such as Jimmy Kimmel and Rob Reiner, after the latter was brutally murdered.The tension was so strong that some networks were forced to withdraw their plans.Meanwhile, billionaire Trumpists like the Ellison family are buying major media outlets, including the historic CBS News, celebrating its history with McCarthy and Nixon.CBS news editor Bari Weiss, a self-proclaimed "Zionist fanatic," has already blocked a 60 Minutes segment in which immigrants tell stories of deportation and torture at El Salvador's notorious Cecot prison.

The Trump's FasCist are weak or weak than one hundred and environment.Most damage is anti-vaccine's antin-vaccine policy Jr.,, what to kill many dogs than the other trains.In the environment, the trumpists cutting all they can, while trying to stop the windy farm farms.They also stopped the National Octoinic and atmospheric Adminastic Administration (noaa), including the group to check the storms.

This relentless disruption, destruction and brutality, which was not only limited to a few sectors, but manifested in several directions at the same time, was such an exaggeration that even some of the Trumpist voters were confused.While these do not predict anything similar to what Nixon experienced when he was forced to resign after eighteen months of his second term, it is clear that public opinion has turned against Trump, as seen in the election and many polls showing support below 40%.

A three-part history of brutal government repression in the American style

There is fear of a third Red Scare, or fear of a second "Subada," which its authors attributed to the violent resurgence of white supremacy in the South in the 1870s. But are we really on the brink of something very important?Who are the tromist fascists to be able to impose ever-increasing mass targets by force or by completely changing public opinion in their favor?Given that they are ultimately unsuccessful, will they be able to create truly violent and massive repression at the community level?A fresh look at the history of the mirror may shed some light on this matter.

In this sense, a look at the three most severe episodes of political repression experienced in the United States can be illustrative.It should be noted that all of them occurred after a really serious crisis involving war and revolution.I would say that, despite the severity of the situation in 2026, the likelihood of this level of repression occurring is not as great as is often assumed.

- In the early 1870s, whites and politicians committed massive atrocities against blacks and their supporters throughout the South, killing thousands, and setting back Reconstruction.In doing so, they started a violent wall of racism and freedom that lasted for almost 100 years in the region.The reform did not pass the redistribution of land to former slaves, something that the capital of the north and other liberals did not want to support, since the new democratic freedom of the time lacked a solid economic base.Within a few years, dissenters were reeling from the northern alliance with the Republican Party's 1877 Compromise.

Between 1919 and 1920, the Great Red Threat threatened the Socialists and the Wobblies, as well as the emerging Communist Party, as immigration was blamed as the source of radicalism.What is considered a global threat by capitals and states around the world, including the United States.

The second red scare, McCarthyism, met with strong resistance until two major geopolitical events, the October 1949 Chinese Revolution and the start of the Korean War in June 1950, cast the opposition and the left as defenders.

What is happening in the United States today? Although nothing resembling a social revolution has occurred in the last fifteen years, we have seen threats to the global social order that began with the Great Recession of 2008, the Arab revolutions and the Occupy movement in 2011, and continued with the Sanders movement, the #MeToo movement and the Movement for Black Lives in 2020. Although these events were not precise enough to care about were radical and not precise enoughto care about.people. There are two main factions of Trump supporters: (a) predominantly white, disaffected lower-middle-class people, many of whom are deeply racist and some working-class people who feel threatened by the increasing prominence of immigrants and racial groups, all against a backdrop of declining or stagnant living standards;and (b) a new plutocracy that despises and fears even the most modest taxes or regulations.

The first group is by no means outright Trumpist, but the persistence of their support throughout the entire decade is truly remarkable, never falling below 35% in national opinion polls, even after the January 6, 2021 coup attempt and the massive anti-Trump backlash that followed.Trumpism is not a one-man show.Rather, as David Norman Smith has recently argued, it is a profound movement of opinions and practices.At the same time, as Bill Fletcher said last spring, Our Future As the response emphasized, “our union members must be sure they fully understand the nature of the risks we face.”In this way, we must dialogue with at least some elements of the Trumpist base, trying to break the deep pessimism into which many of the most progressive sectors of the workforce have fallen.

The new plutocracy's rapid shift to the right in response to minor and minor threats to its hegemony is a more recent phenomenon, as can be seen in Elon Musk's shift from Obama-era moderate liberal to Trumpist fascist, or rather, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's ex-Trump. Spring, the tech billionaire once hailed as a hero by many progressives, isarrogant because "they really believe they are gods."Both the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times refused to run a typical liberal editorial endorsing Kamala Harris in 2024 at the direct behest of billionaires Jeff Bezos and Patrick Soon Hsun, which was also a remarkable reversal.These measures do not have much support among the technical staff or journalists of these large organizations.

What we will have in 2025

Trump's fascist outreach has generated greater support for various forms of resistance.Three of them will increase at the end of 2025.

Above all, protecting immigrants is an important moment for community mobilization and unity between ethnicities, if the target community. Most of them are Latino. Initially terrified and intimidated by massive raids by ICE and the Border Guard. Sending US Marines and stationing Federal National Guard forces in Los Angeles all summer marked a turning point because Los Angeles is a world media capital. The whole world then saw images of armed soldiers guarding facilitiesFeds. The violent arrest of Latin American Senator Alex Padilla for asking Homeland Security Secretary Christy Noam "brutal barbie" inside the Westwood federal building of ICE agents on horseback and in armored vehicles patrolling a park full of children attending summer camp, choking and arresting President David Huerta of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) in California. While protesting ICE attacks onworking in downtown Los Angeles;and the death of a man fleeing the freeway to avoid ICE all turned fear into anger.[2]Groups like Unión del Barrio, which has been doing this work for decades, have organized regional residents to protest against ICE everywhere, so effectively that they can mobilize protesters in most places within minutes. In these networks, trade unions like SEIU also play an important role, after a few weeks. Against the background of reports of resistance within the national territory in which Californians unwillingly participated. The presence of troops and ICE decreased, a clear victory for the resistance at the same time.Protesters and harsh accusations have resulted in grand juries failing to indict and acquit their own citizens. As recently as it happened in December in the trial of a tow truck driver who pulled an ICE vehicle off a closed lane during the attack.

In the fall, when ICE and the National Guard arrive in Chicago, the population is more prepared, with long patrol cars and their bands everywhere to "move" ICE agents everywhere, often reducing the number of arrests.In the smallest area of the city of Chicago, it is easy to surround and suppress the government robbers.As noted by LA Times reporter Gustavo Arellano, an immigrant rights advocate, during a trip to Chicago's most Mexican-American neighborhood:

We don't have whistles.They have become the soundtrack to the Windy City's fall, so organizers are holding "Whistlemania" events to give them thousands.Chicago has a legacy of radicalization that predates Los Angeles... People are leaving their businesses and homes in droves.Some are viewed from the top of the hill.The intensity of their resistance is more concentrated, raw, and widespread than almost anything I have seen in the house.Not only activists are on the job;Block after block they are ready.

Like Chicago, the other struggles have not received as much media attention as Los Angeles, but two examples are telling: In November, high school youth in Charlotte, North Carolina, went on strike to protest ICE raids in their communities.By December, members of the Minneapolis community also brought their own whistles.They allowed the immigrants to be released from their clutches.

The Day Without Kings demonstrations in June and October showed the breadth of opposition to Trumpian fascism everywhere, even in small towns in conservative parts of the country.Mass processions were held in many large cities, larger in October than in July.Although controlled mainly by the liberal coalition Invisible, these events did not exclude either Palestinian supporters or the far left, and also featured a significant trade union presence.

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Either way, the danger is that Trumpism has won

It is deeply troubling to remember, as noted above, that the radicalization of Trump's actions and policies in his second term and growing opposition have only slightly eroded his support base.As also noted, his support base in opinion polls never fell below 35 percent, even in the months after his 2020 defeat.elections and the fascist coup in 2021.JanuaryYes.

As noted earlier, the past year has seen a dramatic turn against Trumpism, from Silicon Valley billionaires to Wall Street giants.So Musk is not alone in being the most extravagant of them all.Other plutocrats were more cautious about the project, although they did not express their open support.Others have adopted a similar strategy, given Bill Gates' recent abandonment of environmental initiatives.All of this gives Trumpism, at least now, much stronger support among the ruling classes and their proxies than it did during his first term.

A look at Ronald Reagan's presidency in the 1980s is also illuminating here, showing how the opposition Trump now faces can be devastating.Elected with just over 50% of the vote in 1980, Reagan faced intense and intense opposition in his early years.But the easy military victory in the invasion of Grenada in 1983 , against the background of images of white American students who "rescued" and kidnapped black Grenadian soldiers, put the opposition, both in the elections and at the grassroots level, in a bad situation for several years.It allowed Reagan to win a landslide victory with 59% of the vote in 1984 and anchor neoliberalism for decades to come.Trump's current military strategy against Venezuela, if they succeed in overthrowing Maduro's government without a fight, could give him "Grenada" power.But Venezuela is a much larger country (with 30 million people, compared to Grenada's 100,000 in 1983), so it would not be an easy target.

Although these features are very sound, Trump's support for the territory and Nixon is also necessary, too late for the world.for the balloon during the middle of the year 2026, it is no longer tangible, tired of the declaration of the state.publicly.Of course, there is something more than that, as the kkk and its collaborators will do the government what they can do in the political situation.

If the worm has truly turned, now what?

Despite the above, no doubt serious concerns, the tide seems to have turned significantly against Trumpism as 2026 approaches. Republican congressional representatives are resigning, whether due to simple fatigue, differences in the Epstein record, or the prospect of rising health care costs.Even the right-wing Supreme Court blocked the use of National Security in Chicago at the end of 2025. The opposition, both popular and voting, is gaining strength and confidence across the country.At the same time, great damage has already been done, and will continue to be done, and social and political relations in the country were hurt while this government was in power.

We must continue and deepen the struggle, make it as broad as possible and continue to defend our principles in it.As Marxists, we must emphasize issues of class, race/gender/sexuality, environment, imperialism and national liberation in a special way.That is why we must insist that oppression and class resistance remain at the center, whether in defense of immigrant day laborers or the most privileged employees of the American government.We must also fight for class unity within our unions and communities in the face of racism, sexism and xenophobia that undermine Trumpist foundations.The national liberation of the Palestinian people, who are fighting for their existence in the face of genocidal Israeli colonialism, and the right of Venezuela to maintain its independence from Trumpist imperialism, cannot be sacrificed for some "broader" mythical unity.Not even trans people, who are also fighting for their own existence, can be victimized, quietly even among the progressives.Environmental protection cannot be relegated to the background, despite calls from progressives to do so "temporarily" or resort to nuclear energy.

We need to create organizations and alliances that include all these issues and activities, but do not bypass their particularities or ignore capital and class.In this way, we will also have to create a counter-ideology, against liberals who want to ignore controversial issues, against some radicals who will want to reduce the importance of capital and class, and against Marxists and socialists who oppose what they call "personal rights" in a way that separates us from some of the changes, most of its resources from today's society. about colonialism and slavery.

At a time when some on the left are saying that we should completely break with the tradition of Lenin's Russian Revolution, I would say otherwise.In a time like ours, when the world has changed tragically, when progressive and stable forces hesitate or even give in, Lenin's disloyalty in opposition to the First Imperialist World War, the main event that caused the problems of Western civilization, remains.Leon Trotsky to Emma Goldman and Rosa Luxemburg.What Lenin did differently than these others was to delve into the theory of the transition between the chaos of war and oppression.First, he thoroughly studied Hegel's dialectics.influence capable of suppressing the revolution, he wrote his most successful story, The State and the Revolution.He and his friends also made big mistakes that we can learn from, but in the aforementioned matters, they can still encourage us, especially in the need to combine theory and practice, to fight and analyze events very deeply, even to continue to fight against people's culture without violating the principles of our elders.

Therefore, we must renew and deepen the struggle in the streets, in the schools and in the workplace, and at the same time renew and deepen our theoretical basis.

[1] From now on, I will use the term ICE as shorthand for the various federal agencies that detain immigrants, the largest and most active of which.

[2] Anita Chabria used the nickname "Cruel Barbie" to describe Noem in her column, "Homeland Security Says It's Not a Citizen's Arrest."These brave Californians prove it,” Los Angeles Times, December 12, 2025.