A coalition of the Democratic Party, liberal groups and the middle-class left mounted 2,600 “No Kings” actions across the U.S. Oct. 18. They say President Donald Trump acts like a “king,” to portray his administration as fundamentally worse than any other. Their goal is to convince workers to tie our political future to supporting the Democrats, one of the capitalist rulers’ two main parties.
Organizers claim 7 million people took part in actions that were built with front-page news coverage that other protests never get.
Some marchers carried signs opposing the assaults working people face, such as the deportation of workers without papers; the use of federal troops in U.S. cities; the soaring cost of health insurance and other aspects of the capitalist crisis. But most signs were aimed at Trump, claiming he’s a thug or a fascist.
Rally speakers made clear the organizers’ goal was targeting the administration and keeping opposition to its actions tied to the two-capitalist party setup. The protests occurred at a time when growing numbers of workers see neither Republicans nor Democrats presenting a program that defends their interests.
“No, President Trump, we don’t want you or any other king to rule us,” Sen. Bernie Sanders told the crowd in Washington, D.C. Organizers project more actions, saying this is the start of “sustained national resistance to tyranny.”
“It is one thing to show up at these protests, and it’s another to move the needle and get back some power,” Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin told the crowd in Montclair, New Jersey, Oct. 18. By “power” he means getting Democrats elected. He then introduced Mikie Sherrill, their candidate for governor of the state.
The Communist Party, the Democratic Socialists of America and other radical groups hailed the protests. They campaign for a popular front, an alliance of the left with a so-called progressive wing of the capitalist class. Any independent political action by workers and our unions should be prevented because it threatens their alliance to “stop fascism,” they say.
That’s been the class-collaborationist course of Stalinist parties since the 1930s, when the Communist Party backed Franklin D. Roosevelt and his administration as it prepared U.S. entry into World War II.
Roosevelt jailed leaders of the Socialist Workers Party and the Minneapolis Teamsters for their class-struggle opposition to the imperialist war drive. The CP backed the prosecution.
Far from being a “king,” Trump, like all his predecessors, is operating as the chief executive officer for the U.S. ruling class in a world of cutthroat rivalries and growing wars. These conflicts are driven by competition for markets, labor to exploit and profits. All major powers today, from Washington to Tokyo, Moscow and Beijing are expanding their militaries and seeking new allies.
Trap of ‘lesser-evil’ capitalist politics
Trump and the U.S. capitalist rulers he speaks for aim to defend their class interests against their competitors. The Democrats do the same.
The current administration has escalated the raids and deportations advanced by the Joseph Biden administration before it. Both parties seek to meet the bosses’ need for cheap labor, to exacerbate divisions among working people and to weaken our unions. And they scapegoat immigrants for the growing problems all workers face from the intensifying capitalist crisis.
Trump is using tariffs and U.S. military might to advance the rulers’ interests worldwide. He’s mobilizing the CIA and U.S. forces to target the Nicolás Maduro government in Venezuela and ratchet up pressure on Cuba. Trump has deployed federal troops to cities across the U.S. to advance the crackdown on immigrants and prepare the ground for the future use of military force against deepening struggles by working people.
The administration is imposing a “peace” deal on Israel that first and foremost is intended to advance the U.S. rulers’ plunder of the region. It leaves Hamas intact, to rebuild, rearm and launch more pogroms. Trump’s deal was praised by archfoe Hillary Clinton and other Democrats.
The administration’s protectionism is aimed at boosting U.S. industrial production, especially in industries like steel, energy and others critical for war.
The Democrats see the “No Kings” actions as part of their efforts to retake the presidency and get a majority in Congress, where they will take charge of defending the class interests of the ruling rich, as Roosevelt did in the 1930s.
Concentrating powers in executive
Democrats accuse Trump of “authoritarianism” and worse, pointing to the high number of executive orders he’s issued — 210 as of Oct. 20. This is one part of the concentration of powers in the hands of the presidency that’s been ongoing under both parties since the early 1900s, the dawn of the imperialist epoch.
No president until Ulysses Grant issued more then 217 executive orders. But the numbers mushroomed to 1,081 under Theodore Roosevelt after the Spanish-American War. Democratic presidents in the two world wars issued the most — Woodrow Wilson, 1,803, and Roosevelt, a massive 3,726 during the second imperialist world slaughter.
The expanding use of presidential power, which weakens constitutional restrictions, is dangerous for the working class. It goes hand in hand with use of the FBI to target political opponents. None of this is unique to Trump.
The fight to defend workers’ interests and constitutional protections starts with our own struggles. As workers fight, we develop confidence in our own capacities and come to recognize we’re part of a class with interests that are incompatible with the bosses and their parties. Along that road, workers can build our own party and the leaderships we need to chart a course to take political power. This is the course advanced by the Socialist Workers Party.