Some remarks regarding the elections in the USA
We hereby share an unofficial translation of an article recently published on Dem Volke Dienen:
The “Republican Party” with Donald Trump as its presidential candidate, has won the election in the U.S. decisively, much to the surprise of many. In addition to the presidency, one-third of the U.S. Senate and the entire House of Representatives were also up for grabs in this electoral farce.
The majority in the chambers of Congress is important for the U.S. government. Without majorities, decisions could be blocked. Therefore, it is not only relevant that the new president is Trump and his vice president is Vance, but also that the “Republicans” have gained or expanded control over the Senate and the House of Representatives in the elections. Six States – Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin – were lost by the “Democrats” in the presidential election.
The future government of the U.S. can therefore rely on relatively stable conditions in this regard. The same applies to their majority in the Supreme Court. It is also noteworthy that Donald Trump, unlike during his previous presidency, can rely on a team that appears capable of directing the political circus of parliamentary democracy.
Regarding this matter the New York Times wrote, that last time Trump took office, a culture of resistance emerged from the federal government’s civil servants and even some of his own appointees. This time, according to the NYT it is unlikely that he will elevate people willing to speak against him. His circle of influential allies now includes men like Senator JD Vance of Ohio, the tech billionaire Elon Musk and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The upcomming Justice Department is likely to drop the federal charges against Trump in his classified documents and election interference cases. Jack Smith, the special counsel, probably will be kicked out. A Trump-appointed attorney general would drop the charges shortly after being confirmed, as NYT wrote.
The success against opponents from within the ranks of the “Republican” Party, such as Dick Cheney’s daughter, also indicates a relative stability of the new Trump administration. This is particularly true because the “Democrats” were unable to generate voter support from these internal contradictions.
The economic situation of Yankee imperialism is yet relatively good today compared to other imperialist countries. This is based on massive State-capitalist investments by the Biden administration, with billions allocated for the “Green Deal”, the chip sector, and infrastructure. Nevertheless, there are some relevant problems within the general crisis of imperialism and its current overproduction crisis: slightly high inflation, high interest rates, and very high national debt (with the pending question about who should be able to collect this debt). Additionally, there is a worsening environmental situation that regularly causes disasters and leads to increasingly larger problems in more and more parts of the country, as people generally do not have adequate insurance. When something happens, those affected lose everything and rely on government support. Consequently, the value of their homes decreases. A real estate crisis could occur, similar to what happened before the Lehman Brothers collapse.
Through the measures of the first Trump administration, the Yankees became independent of oil imports by allowing and expanding fracking and other methods. The new government must do something similar to achieve the same goal – a massive stimulation of its own economy. The outlook for the Yankees is quite bleak in this regard, and it has a direct impact on the crisis of democracy and social division in the U.S. This is truly crucial. The task of the new government is to prevent the internal situation from escalating. The foundation for this is the stimulation of the economy. As long as people are doing reasonably well, there will be no civil war. This makes the anti-masses impoverishment policies towards the deepest and broadest masses by the Biden administration relevant. The economic foundations define politics, and we emphasize this. The Yankees have no interest in having problems in these regards. It is also evident that they currently have no interest in a larger war.
The second problem for the Yankees lies in the foundations for the defeats of U.S. imperialism in Afghanistan and Iraq; furthermore, they have not achieved any significant successes in Ukraine and West Asia (the so-called Middle East). This shows that the Yankees – the only hegemonic imperialist superpower – have a problem regarding their military doctrine. The U.S. needs to significantly develop and expand its armed forces, which is very expensive. For this and for other obviously necessary measures, they will need several years. Their own analysts believe that the next three to four years will be crucial in this regard and that it will take that long before they are capable of waging a larger war (e.g. against China).
In light of the partly fatalistic and dystopian views (the MLPD dreams once again wet dreams of a popular front with the bourgeoisie) regarding the election outcome, it is necessary to emphasize that the strategic orientation of Yankee imperialism – to advance the strategic encirclement and destruction of Russian imperialism – as well as the plans for the Middle East, particularly Palestine (keyword: Abraham Accords), and the stance towards Iran will fundamentally not change. Given the recent developments in the Middle East, it is clear that the Yankees currently do not prefer a war with Iran. These continuities are also reflected in the statements of various foreign powers:
The Russian Foreign Ministry stated: “We have no illusions about the elected American President, who is well known in Russia, and the new composition of Congress, where the Republicans, according to preliminary data, are gaining the upper hand. The ruling political elite in the United States, regardless of Party affiliation, adheres to anti-Russian attitudes and a line on ‘containing Moscow.’ This line is not subject to fluctuations in the domestic political barometer in the United States.”
“We will continue to view and handle China-U.S. relations in accordance with the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and cooperation for win-win,” a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said. President Xi Jinping expressed the will for the “right way to get along” and to “respect each other (and) co-exist peacefully.”
Ukraine’s war-time President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he looked forward to “an era of a strong United States of America under President Trump’s decisive leadership.”
An Iranian spokesperson explained the potential impact of Trump’s election victory would be not relevant: “The election of the U.S. President is not relevant to us,” she said and continued that the policies of both the U.S. and Iran were “fixed and do not change with the change of individuals.” Who occupies the White House, is not affecting Iran.
Basem Naim, a long-time senior figure in Hamas, called Trump’s reelection, “a private matter for the Americans.”
“I warmly congratulate Donald J. Trump. The EU and the US are more than just allies,” German head of the EU, Ursula von der Leyen said. “We are bound by a true partnership between our people, uniting 800 million citizens. So let’s work together on a strong transatlantic agenda that keeps delivering for them.”
With 57.8 percent, voter turnout dropped significantly from 62.8 percent in 2020, by almost exactly five percent. With around 153 million Americans, about five and a half million fewer participated in the elections than in 2020 (158.5 million). The share of voters in the official total population is therefore clearly below 45 percent. Only just over 21 percent (74.6 million) voted for the new president. This once again highlights the tendency of the masses to generally reject elections and reinforces the legitimacy crisis of bourgeois democracy in the sole hegemonic superpower.
About 20 million U.S. citizens were denied the right to vote – of 264,798,961, only 245,741,673 were allowed to vote. Several administrations removed voters from the voter rolls in their States before the elections, which critics viewed as a violation of the National Voter Registration Act. For example, in July 2024, inactive or irregular voters were removed from the voter rolls in Ohio. Lawsuits against this were successful until the Supreme Court decided.
The U.S. electoral system is explicitly designed to prevent the working masses, particularly non-whites, from participating in elections. There are a number of restrictions and requirements that must be met. For starters, Election Day is a workday, which means that capitalists decide whether to allow “their” workers to go vote, leading to a corresponding cultural development within the working class regarding elections. Additionally, there are regulations directly targeting non-whites, such as the loss of voting rights due to prior convictions. A specific example: Although African Americans make up 13 percent of drug users, which closely corresponds to their population share, 36 percent of arrests and 46 percent of convictions for drug offenses involve Black individuals (data from 2020). Almost half of all prison inmates are incarcerated for drug offenses. Furthermore, there have been various changes in the composition of electoral districts to reduce the weight of votes from non-whites. One must also be registered as a voter of a Party in a voter registry roll to be allowed to vote. As a result, Blacks, Latinos and Asians, who officially make up nearly 40 percent of the total U.S. population, represent only one-third of those eligible to vote, and their share of actual voters is only about one-fifth.
The political crisis of Yankee imperialism is also expressed in increasing threats and actual violence against public officials and election workers at all levels of government. Such violence has reached its highest level since the 1970s, including at least one serious assassination attempt on one of the two presidential candidates. There have been various efforts to protect election workers – hooting training, bulletproof vests, bulletproof glass, metal detectors, physical barriers, armed guards, police snipers, drones, and surveillance cameras in polling stations.
At the end of October 2024, several fires were reported at ballot boxes in Portland, Oregon, and Vancouver, Washington. The fires damaged hundreds of ballots. In Phoenix, Arizona, a fire was set in a mail collection box, destroying some ballots and other mail. Forces within the revolutionary movement called for a boycott of the elections, reinforcing the trend among the masses. Even the guru Bob Avakian, a loyal supporter of both the genocidal Barack Obama and the no less genocidal Biden administration, could not bring himself to call for a vote for the “Democrats” this time.
