Only a Working-Class Party Can Challenge Donald Trump’s Corruption

The late Mario Cuomo unfortunate words He liked to repeat this. You rule in prose. ” Donald Trump’s political formula is even simpler. Campaign like a populist. Rule like a plutocracy. This was the pattern for the president’s first term, when he ran as the embodiment of working-class anger – but with a cabinet filled with more millionaires and billionaires than any previous president, his most The lasting domestic legacy was massive, policy-biased tax cuts. enrich the already super wealthy.

There are all signs that President Trump will repeat the same tactics in his second run for the White House, with the only difference being that the second administration will be more corrupt and more openly accepting of dark money donations from the wealthy. That’s true. Trump’s shell game is so obvious that even the most gullible rube at the carnival would think it wouldn’t work. But Trump has a special advantage in getting through this hustle. In a two-party system, voters must choose between him and the Democratic Party, which relies heavily on corporate funding and has consistently silenced criticism of Trump’s corrupt plutocracy. I’m letting you do it.

2 recent items new york times The reports highlight how Trump governs as a president of the wealthy, bypassing even the most basic guardrails against corruption.

In Monday’s newspaper, reported On how Trump’s economic policies will be dominated by Wall Street:

When Donald J. Trump first ran for the White House in 2016, his closing campaign ad lamented the influence of Wall Street in Washington and flashed ominous images of big banks and billionaire liberal philanthropist George Soros.

Now, as president-elect, Trump has tapped two Wall Streeters to carry out his economic policies. scott bessentHe has been investing money for Soros for more than a decade. elect Secretary of the TreasuryHoward Lutnick, CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, will be nominated. head the department of commerce. Trump’s choice to lead his economic team is said to fuel a “blue-collar boom,” but billionaire investors predominate in setting an agenda that skeptics believe primarily benefits the wealthy. It shows that you are doing it.

On Sunday, times reported The transition to the Trump administration was reportedly paid for by large groups that enjoyed unprecedented protection from public disclosure.

President-elect Donald J. Trump is keeping secret the names of the donors funding his transition efforts, which is a sign of how many interest groups, corporations and wealthy individuals are funding his second term. It is a break from tradition that may make it impossible to know who is cooperating with the inauguration of the eye.

Mr. Trump is I am currently refusing to sign The agreement with the Biden administration places strict limits on that funding in exchange for up to $7.2 million in federal funds earmarked for the transition. Bypassing the agreement would allow Mr. Trump to raise unlimited funds from unknown donors to pay for staffing, travel and office space as he prepares for a government takeover.

What is surprising about these reports is the relative lack of complaints from Democrats about President Trump’s betrayal of populist promises or flagrant corruption. Watchdog groups such as Accountable.US criticized President Trump’s Wall Street Cabinet, but most of the media attention and political opposition has focused on Matt Gaetz (who declined his candidacy for attorney general) and Pete Hegseth (who is still slated to become secretary of defense, despite Alarming sexual assault allegations).

Thursday, Elizabeth Warren sent a letter The Biden administration warned that the Trump transition team’s lack of an ethics plan increases “the risk that the next administration will govern for special interests rather than the American people.”

Warren’s calm words stand in contrast to Democrats’ general silence about the dangers of plutocracy and corruption in the Trump administration. In the decade since Mr. Trump’s rise as a national figure, Democrats have not shied away from attacking Republican demagogues on other issues, but they have generally chosen battles they believe will garner bipartisan support. This is why Democrats invested so heavily in the Russiagate investigation, which largely failed. This was an obvious ploy to gain support from Republican national security factions concerned about President Trump’s unorthodox foreign policy views. But President Trump’s ties to Russia have been murky, especially compared to his family’s deep ties to Middle Eastern authoritarian states such as Saudi Arabia. President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who played a key role in formulating Middle East policy during the first Trump administration, became a hedge fund manager. at least $2 billion With Saudi funding. But doing business with the Saudi dictatorship is a bipartisan vice. interwoven Through the power and influence of the military-industrial complex.

The Democratic Party itself is too entrenched in plutocracy to mount an effective populist critique of President Trump’s corruption. In recent elections, Kamala Harris Allow Wall Street Donors For example, to shape the economic message by vetoing the naming and slander of those involved in price gouging.

Following Harris’ defeat, Bernie Sanders revived his critique of the Democratic Party’s abandonment of the working class and economic populism. Sanders on the weekend I wrote:

Will the Democratic leadership learn the lessons of its defeat and create a party that is close to the working class and prepared to stand up to the big, powerful special interests that control the economy, media, and political life?

Very unlikely.

They are too attached to the interests of the billionaires and corporations who fund their campaigns.

The only path forward remains the model Sanders set in his 2016 and 2020 elections. It is a small-donor-funded campaign that is free to run on raw economic populism by avoiding corporate funding. The unique advantage of such a campaign is that it doesn’t get embroiled in complicated distractions like Russiagate, and instead can openly denounce Trump as a plutocrat. Mr. Sanders himself is too old to run again, but a future candidate (perhaps United Auto Workers Union President Sean Fein or Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) could take over, leaving the Democratic Party with the only The path remains to provide leadership in the fight that is possible. Truly defeating Trumpism.