By Disco Ambition

With the rise of Donald Trump and the MAGA GOP, we are seeing a rise in the resistance to the overtly fascist policies being enacted now that they have power. Any cursory search through YouTube or any other social media platform for anti-Trump media will result in millions of hits[1]. Everyone from centrist conservatives and corporate media to progressive and leftist groups are yelling out Trump’s crimes in real time.

It is for exactly this reason that Trump and his ilk should not be our focus.

As Communists in the Heart of the Empire, our duty is to fight against all forms of capitalism and its fascist forces. Joining the loud chorus of anti-GOP voices not only causes our voices to be lost in the noise, but reduces our message to one that aligns with the more moderate forces against Trump, some of which are themselves anti-communist. Attacking Trump and his supporters in this way also does nothing to stop them, nor does it build our party among those that aren’t already communists themselves.

A few more videos outlining the crimes of this administration aren’t going add anything to the discourse, or the theory of communist liberation, or even be seen by anyone but those looking for them specifically. By maintaining an anti-Trump focus, we’re just preaching to the choir. Meanwhile, the story of American Communism is not being told, either by us or many others with the goals of achieving it[2]. We are losing our voices by screaming with the crowd.

36% of eligible voters didn’t vote in the 2024 election[3]. That is around 89 million people unhappy with both the Democrats and the GOP. Conceivably, at least a few of those people have views that align with our own (as long as those views are against the duopoly). In a 2022 poll, the Pew Research group found that “36% of U.S. adults say they view socialism somewhat (30%) or very (6%) positively”[4]. While most will understand that “socialism” is different than “Communism”, the data suggests that there are at least a few million people in the U.S. that don’t hate us[5]. It is to these people, unhappy with both parties, that our message should be crafted to target. We miss that targeting when we join those they also dislike (such as the Democrats).

Instead of getting our message lost in the large crowd of voices condemning the GOP, we need to be offering further criticisms of the capitalist system itself, of both bourgeoisie parties. We need to set ourselves apart by offering a solution to the problems so many Americans are experiencing that has led them to abandoning the duopoly altogether. As we all know, that solution is Communism, and that should be our message, distilled through the theme of worker liberation for all (even the conservative working class we seem to have trouble speaking to).

So many of the attacks on Trump are mere personal attacks on his appearance or rudeness, reducing the discourse to a schoolyard squabble. Why would we belittle our great cause by adding to that? Why should we join ourselves to such a petty alliance? By joining the chorus, rather than decrying the entire capitalist system that created Trump, we align ourselves unwillingly with people not governed by material dialectics, as we are (or are supposed to be), but by idealism. Liberal attacks on Trump also ignore the fact that he is one part of a large system that on which his power is built, and that so many of those supposedly against him support, even while condemning the most visible part of that system. I remember well that when I was a delegate at the 2024 CPUSA convention, one comrade spoke about the police brutalizing students attending the protests at CUNY, a university in a liberal state, in a liberal city, in a nation with a liberal president. The problems with this nation did not begin when Trump entered politics, and they won’t end when he leaves office. They don’t attack him because it’s a fascist, they attack him because he is openly fascist.

Once he is gone, however he is gone, the system will remain, and all the videos and articles reproving his actions will be more wasted words. Rather, by focusing on the immortal science of Marxist-Leninism, and the message that no matter the party in charge, we stand against the system of oppression those parties administer, we build our movement and add to the science to which we are committed.

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[1] A simple search for this article under “anti-Trump posts” returned 1,330,000 hits.

[2] Another search for “American Communism” returned only 172,000 hits, many of which describing why it’s bad.

[3] https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2024-11-15/how-many-people-didnt-vote-in-the-2024-election

[4] https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2022/09/19/modest-declines-in-positive-views-of-socialism-and-capitalism-in-u-s/

[5] 89 million people multiplied by 0.36 results in 32,040,000 who view “socialism” positively.