Editorial for issue 19 of The Communist. Subscribe now or get a copy from Marxistbooks.com!
Trump’s White House has been busy fighting off one “hoax” after another lately.
The President’s multiple U-turns on releasing the Epstein files? Hoax. Millions of Americans can’t afford to feed their families? Another hoax.
“They use the word affordability—it’s a Democrat hoax,” Trump told reporters when asked about persistent inflation. “They look at you and they say affordability. They don’t say anything else.”
Deny, deny, deny—it’s a classic Trumpian routine that worked for him in the past. Whenever he came under attack, he’d fire off an outrageous “Truth” or gather reporters around for an impromptu press conference, unleashing a fresh wave of chaos calculated to dominate the headlines. He’d fire up his base, pass from defense to offense, and keep a firm grip on “the narrative,” at least in MAGA circles.
Now, for the first time in his political career, Trump is losing control of the plot. And it’s infuriating him.
Two-speed economy
On paper, things might look okay for Trump. GDP is growing, and—on average—wages are rising modestly. But this conceals the real situation: a two-speed economy in which the top 10% and the bottom 50% live in completely different worlds.
While the wealthiest households splurge on luxury hotels, food banks are seeing longer lines than ever. Inflation for shelter and “food at home” has outpaced wages for five years running. Hourly wages are rising slowest for the lowest-paid workers, ending this bracket’s brief streak of post-pandemic wage growth. Almost two million Americans are considered “long-term unemployed,” the most since the pandemic.
The top 10% of income earners are responsible for 50% of consumer spending, the highest figure since the 1980s. The current US economy is perhaps best exemplified by the airline industry. It’s seeing record demand for first-class tickets, while struggling to fill economy seats.
For millions of Americans, this all translates into financial insecurity they never could have imagined before. As the Financial Times reported from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania:
“On a bitterly cold mid-November morning a line of people wound down a quiet alleyway and spilled on to an adjoining street, waiting for essentials from the New Bethany food pantry in Bethlehem. Five days a week, 20 to 30 families use the facility. In 2019, it was three to five. New Bethany’s soup kitchen used to serve hot meals to about 50 people a day. Now it provides breakfast and lunch to as many as 200.”
The food pantry’s director explained, “We see a lot of people who have been evicted because they couldn’t pay their rent, because they had a car accident and then couldn’t pay their medical bills … I think that’s the sort of homelessness that we’ll start to see a lot more of.”
These scenes are replicated across the country. It’s no wonder the term “affordability crisis” has suddenly saturated the media, as millions start to realize that there is a systemic reason for their economic woes.
Deny, deny, deny
Faced with the same basic situation last year, Kamala Harris and the Democrats tried to gaslight the American public. The economy was great and “Bidenomics” was working, they said. Trump won by acknowledging the real situation.
But now that he’s in charge of managing the organic crisis of US capitalism, Trump has taken a page from the Democrats’ book. Despite his advisors’ attempts to refocus his attention on improving the economy, Trump has declared “victory” over Biden’s economic crisis. He’s even begun a speaking tour to tout the glory of the Trump economy.
At a recent Pennsylvania rally, he said: “Lower prices, bigger paychecks. You’re getting lower prices, bigger paychecks … Inflation—we’re crushing it.”
But millions of workers—including many who voted for Trump—can’t help but disagree. A recent Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll found 62% of Americans disapproved of Trump’s economic performance. POLITICO found that 46% say the cost of living is the worst they can ever remember, a view held by 37% of 2024 Trump voters.
Asked about polls showing economic anxiety, Trump said, “I think polls are fake. We have the greatest economy we’ve ever had.” As always, Trump is doing everything he can to project confidence. But behind the scenes, his advisors are panicking. As one White House official anonymously said, “You can’t convince people that their experience, what they’re feeling at home, isn’t reality.”
Class struggle on the horizon
In the absence of a militant workers’ party that could channel this anger into a serious fight against the capitalists, it’s natural that many workers give up on “politics” altogether. As one worker told The Financial Times, “I don’t have time to worry about what’s going on in DC when I have to worry about what’s in my living room. Because if I don’t get up and go to work today … my whole world is going to collapse within 30 days.”
The number of workers who feel that their world could collapse within 30 days is large and growing. It’s only a matter of time before this insecurity, dejection, and seeming political apathy transforms into open class struggle. As Leon Trotsky once explained, “This lack of stability, the uncertainty of what tomorrow will bring in the personal life of every worker, is the most revolutionary factor of the epoch in which we live.”
Trump is fighting desperate rearguard actions on multiple fronts. As the economic situation deteriorates, he continues to suffer fallout from the Epstein scandal. Only 28% of Americans approve of his handling of the case, and 55% of Republicans think the government is hiding information about Epstein’s client list. After signing the Epstein Files Transparency Act, Trump’s overall approval rating didn’t rise—it fell from 41% to 36%, the lowest of his second term.
Meanwhile, he still hasn’t ended the Ukraine War, and his ruthless aggression against Venezuela is the exact opposite of what most MAGA supporters expected from a candidate who promised to end “forever wars.”
Since his first presidential campaign, Trump has displayed remarkable ability to distract, reframe, and rebound from just about anything. But in politics, as in life, denial of reality only works for so long. Eventually, Trump’s lucky streak will end, and his working-class supporters will start looking for answers elsewhere.
What’s needed more than ever is a militant class-struggle leadership for the working class—a communist party. That is what the Revolutionary Communists of America are building.