Trump’s Populist Strategy
Lots of people, especially liberals, are having trouble wrapping their heads around why Trump won the election. Many argue that Trump’s racism and queerphobia have resonated with uneducated white people, getting him the votes he needed to win. While it's true that racists and bigots do love Trump, this doesn't account for most of the 77 million votes he received. The main reason Trump won—besides the fact that Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party ran an awful campaign pandering to moderates and the elites—is because of the promises he made (truthful or not) to the average American worker. His rhetoric, unlike Harris’, was based on a promise to change the broken system that is the US government for the benefit of the average American citizen.
This is not a new strategy. Despite Trump’s rhetoric (which sometimes sounds worker-friendly), his policies are very right-wing and anti-worker (deregulation of industry, stripping of workers’ protections). This combination of right-wing policies with pro-worker “man-of-the-people” rhetoric is known as right-wing populism. Other typical features of right-wing populism that Trump leans into include national chauvinism, xenophobia, queerphobia, and anti-intellectualism. Historically far-right figures like Mussolini, Hitler, and Pinochet employed this same populist strategy resulting in devastating outcomes for poor and working people, and racial and ethnic minorities. Modern day talking heads that employ right-wing populism include Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Marjorie Taylor-Greene, and JD Vance.
The AFL-CIO stated in a 2023 press release,
Donald Trump told us in 2016 he would stand with workers. He lied. The difference now is that he has a record he can’t hide from. And that record was catastrophic for workers. Former President Trump spent four years in office weakening unions and working people while pushing tax giveaways to the wealthiest among us. He stacked the courts with judges who want to roll back our rights on the job. He made us less safe at work. He gave big corporations free rein to lower wages and make it harder for workers to stand together in a union. Trump’s rhetoric doesn’t match reality.
Just like the liberals, the far-right’s words aren’t consistent with their deeds. As attractive as Trump’s “average-joe” rhetoric may sound, it’s ultimately a trap that the working class must recognize so that it isn’t duped. In reality, both the Democrats and the GOP serve the corporate class of elites (that Trump belongs to) and have no interest in helping the average working person. People now realize this clearly about the Democrats as we finish up the Biden presidency, but the lesson will have to be learned for the second time with Trump. He remains committed to the material interests of the capitalist ruling class.
Only a party of and for the working class willing to fight back against the wealthy class of exploiters can provide meaningful gains for the American people. It's time that poor and working people reject both major parties and organize an alternative. We can’t wait until our own individual dire situations require it because, at that point, it will be too late.