“One of the most ‘democratic’ republics in the world is the United States of America, yet nowhere is the power of capital, the power of a handful of multimillionaires over the whole of society, so crude and so openly corrupt as in America. Once capital exists, it dominates the whole of society.” – V.I. Lenin, 1919
Last November, four days after the presidential election, Fox News personality Jimmy Failla said Donald Trump beat Kamala Harris because he had a “secret weapon.” That weapon? The working class, at least according to Failla.
In this commentator’s telling, Trump “connected with working-class voters on unprecedented levels…at a time when far too many people feel ignored by Washington elites.”
The same narrative was being pushed again on Inauguration Day, with split-screen coverage on right-wing social media contrasting Democratic Party lawmakers in their stuffy-looking suits on one side and everyday Americans in their Carhartt hoodies and blue jeans on the other, eating hot dogs and popcorn as they awaited Trump’s arrival at Capital One Arena.
The message was clear: Trump fights the “political establishment” to lift up the masses, those who work for a living and struggle to get by.
If we’re being honest, we must admit that Failla, Fox News, and the rest of the far-right echo chamber aren’t telling a complete lie. There’s no denying Trump managed to lock in the support of a substantial number of working-class Americans (mostly but by no means exclusively white ones)—otherwise, there’s no way he could have scored 77 million votes.
But to argue that Trump is the workers’ champion, that he’s a warrior battling the powerful and wealthy on behalf of the rest of us? That’s where the story completely falls apart.
Trump’s real constituency
Trump’s real people, the ones he fights hardest for, weren’t sitting in the bleachers at Capital One Arena.
No, Trump’s real people were the moneyed interests plopped down in the chairs right behind him during the inauguration ceremonies. Lined up in a row, in spots usually reserved for close family or former presidents, were the tech titans of the 21st century economy.
Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Sundar Pichai—add up their estimated wealth and you get close to a trillion dollars of combined economic power sitting on the stage. They were the perfect image of capitalist politics in the U.S. today. These billionaires invested hundreds of millions of dollars in their candidate, and they came to D.C. to celebrate their conquest.
Of course, no matter which of the two parties is in office in Washington, it’s always the capitalist class that is in power. The second Trump administration, however, is taking it to the next level.
No longer are the leading lights of finance, tech, and commerce content to simply buy influence in the government via lobbying dollars and campaign contributions alone. Now, they’re directly taking over the instruments of the state themselves to guarantee the conditions for their increased profits and power. In addition to the billionaire president, at least a dozen other billionaires and multimillionaires are set to take over government posts.
- Soros Fund Manager Scott Bessent as Treasury Secretary
- Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick as Commerce Secretary
- Wrestling promoter Linda McMahon as Education Secretary
- Former JPMorgan Chase and Fiserv executive Frank Bisiganano in charge of the Social Security Administration
- “Paypal Mafia” boss David Sacks as the new AI and cryptocurrency czar
- Financier Warren Stephens in the U.K. ambassador spot
- Conair executive Leandro Rizzuto, Jr., at the Organization of American States
- Real estate tycoon (and Jared’s daddy) Charles Kushner as ambassador to France
- Another property mogul, Steve Witkoff, as “peace” envoy to the Middle East
- Quack TV doctor Mehmet Oz as administrator for Medicare and Medicaid
- Crypto trader Kelly Loeffler heading up the Small Business Administration
The list goes on.
The new Trump cabinet is expected to be worth at least $7 billion, dwarfing the wealth of his own record-breaking first cabinet, which came in at $3.2 billion, and leaving the combined $118 million net worth of Joe Biden’s cabinet looking like pocket change by comparison. And that’s just the cabinet; throw in those tapped to lead new agencies, like Musk at the crypto-named DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency), and the calculations soar higher still—well north of $450 billion.
State monopoly capitalism on steroids
The Trump administration is giving the capitalist class personal control over the economic powers of the state, which it will use to manipulate interest rates, tariffs, taxes, regulations (and de-regulations), and all the other tools of government, with the aim of enriching themselves at the expense of the rest of us. It’s state monopoly capitalism on steroids.
But unlike the typical capitalist state, which intervenes in the economy to stabilize the system on behalf of the entire bourgeoisie, the Trump government has been captured by particular sectors—high tech (which has shifted sharply to the right), crypto and speculative capital, fossil fuels, large segments of finance and banking, parts of the pharma industry, and “small capital,” like mid-level U.S.-based manufacturing and independent businesses.
Others, like defense contractors, always play both sides of the aisle and make money no matter who’s running Washington. That will continue, but in the boardrooms of the arms makers, hopes are surely running high that more wars and international tensions (especially with China) are on the horizon. Trump may peddle himself as the “peace president,” but the weapons companies aren’t worried at all.
Politically, the character of the new regime also symbolizes the initiation of a descent toward fascism.
The most reactionary and violence-prone of capitalists are moving to occupy the seats of power, with Trump’s MAGA mass movement providing a support base that—when combined with the financial power of the monopolies and the philosophical influence of the free-market ideologues and Evangelical fanatics—provides the means for splitting the working class and weakening bourgeois democracy, limited as it may be.
The next time some publisher releases an illustrated version of The Communist Manifesto, they could just put the photo of the billionaire tech bros at the inauguration next to Marx’s memorable line: “The executive of the modern state is but a committee for managing the whole affairs of the bourgeoisie.”
Indeed, if ever there was a good visual argument for socialism, for the need to wrest power away from the economic elites of the ruling class, it was Trump’s inauguration. The months leading up to it and the days since have been nothing short of an orgy of greed—a celebration of corruption, exploitation, and unbridled power.
Million-dollar bounties were paid up by dozens of CEOs to fund Trump’s coronation. The ruling family inflated their own personal fortunes, meanwhile, by raking in legal bribes and grifting their followers via their $TRUMP and $MELANIA crypto meme coins. Executive orders gift-wrapped for the oil and pharmaceutical companies, among others, were delivered on a silver platter by the White House occupant on day one.
Miriam Adelson and other big donors who back Israel’s war received a wink and a smile, with strong signals that, despite bragging about winning the Gaza ceasefire, the new government will support the eventual annexation of the West Bank and the opening of Gaza to settlement and sell-off.
Tax cuts for the wealthy, wage-crushing layoffs, and privatization of everything from the Post Office to Social Security are dangled as the prizes still to come.
In an article describing the situation in the country, The Wall Street Journal, a barometer of ruling class thinking, summed it up succinctly: “The bosses are back in command.”
Trump regime not as solid as it looks
Shifting the balance of power is going to be an uphill slog, requiring unity of the existing anti-MAGA coalition, the peeling away of parts of the working class and middle-income strata from the Trump camp, and the skillful use of any splits within the capitalist class—of which there will be plenty.
Marx once said, “One capitalist always kills many.” He was referring to the process of concentration and centralization of capital inherent to monopolization. The same saying could also be used to refer to the circular firing squad that we’re likely to see Trump’s regime devolve into, however, if his first administration is any indicator. Firings, resignations, back-stabbings, factional divisions in Congress—all that and more will destabilize his administration and present opportunities.
Already, Musk’s DOGE partner, Vivek Ramaswamy, has been thrown overboard due to disagreements over whether to trim government via cost-cutting or deregulation. The two were both at odds with Stephen Miller, Steve Bannon, and others in the MAGA cabal over which immigrants to target. The techno-capitalist crowd want exemptions for the educated H1-B visa holders their business relies on, while the hardcore fascists like Miller and Bannon push to completely seal the borders.
And cracks in the pact between Trump and Musk were appearing even before the inauguration, as the president-elect bristled at media chatter that Musk was actually calling the shots or that he would be Trump’s co-president. The wannabe dictator never likes sharing the spotlight.
So, while the new administration is making a big show of its power and executing a shock-and-awe blitzkrieg-style assault on working people and democracy with a flood of executive orders, Trump’s government is not as invincible as it might seem.
He and his coterie of billionaire politicos will definitely cause some serious damage, but soon enough, it will become obvious to many who voted for him that his policies aren’t delivering a better life for them, their families, or their communities.
The resistance has to be built up—in the streets, in city councils, state legislatures, and in Congress—to frustrate Trump’s schemes and prove that the people can win again. Contradiction, competition, and struggle are always the defining features of capitalism, especially of capitalism in crisis.
As with all news-analytical and op-ed articles published by People’s World, the views expressed here are those of the author.
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