Since Donald Trump was inaugurated for his second term as United States president on January 20 he has implemented a whirlwind of attacks and changes that have shifted politics internationally.
Cyn Huang, a student and labour activist with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) Bread and Roses (B&R) caucus based in Berkeley, California, told the Green Left Show that Trump’s presidency was already having “devastating consequences”.
“Since taking office, Trump has signed a torrent of executive orders touching on virtually every aspect of the US economy, society and politics.”
Huang said Trump’s declarations on seizing control of Gaza, Greenland and the Panama Canal, as well as threats against Canada and Latin American countries, are about extending the US sphere of influence.
“Domestically, he has declared an emergency at the southern border and has been deporting thousands of people … he is attacking diversity, equity and inclusion programs and LGBTIQ rights, clawing back historic gains made by social and labour movement.”
Huang said Trump’s strategy is to “beat people into submission” and “if it’s any indication of what’s to come it’s going to be a battle”.
Michaela Brangan, an education and member of DSA B&R based in Union City, New Jersey, said Trump represents “an assault on democracy in the broad sense” and was attempting to “bulldoze” the administrative state.
Brangan said the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), headed-up by the richest man in the world, Elon Musk, had been “given carte blanche to run an unfettered purge of the federal civil service”.
“Musk, as an avatar for a whole host of ruling class desires, is trying to undo the administrative state, in particular the regulation of capital.”
The ruling class is answering the crisis in capitalism with “labour discipline and complete social control,” Brangan said.
“I see what’s happening with DOGE as the wish-fulfillment of a longstanding conservative desire to see the end of the New Deal...”
Billionaires in the driver’s seat
The image of the richest people in the world lined up behind Trump at his inauguration was shared widely, reflecting concerns that billionaires would have significant influence over the new president.
Brangan described it as a “concerted effort to put capital in the driver’s seat, ruling alongside, or in place of, politicians”.
“Every day brings a new ‘mask-off’ moment,” Huang said. “In other times, capitalists have tried to maintain a veneer of separation between business interests and the state, but those days are gone.
“Never before have the interests of the state and capital been so nakedly aligned, and the reason is that the ruling class feels confident they can get away with it.”
He said the success of right-wing movements around the world had been driven by the discontent created by traditional neoliberal governments.
“The leaders of these movements from Trump to [Argentinian President Javier] Milei to far-right figures in Germany have made every indication that they want to restore business confidence by giving tax cuts to the rich and making lives worse for working people.”
Huang said the implications for working people are “horrible”, but noted that the ruling class had long been waging a war on working, enforcing “terrible working conditions, long hours and impossible production quotas”.
“Everything that matters in life has been systematically degraded by these people.”
Gaza and Ukraine
Huang said Trump’s plan to take over Gaza and turn it into a resort represents “not only a continuation of [Joe] Biden’s carte blanche support for Israel but an escalation of it”.
“Israel is a great guarantor of US interests in the region and since the genocide and Israel’s advancements against Hezbollah and Iran, the US’s position in the Middle East has significantly strengthened. That is one reason to continue giving cover to Israel.”
However, Trump has diverged from Biden on Ukraine, threatening to withdraw all military and intelligence support unless Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky agrees to a $500 billion minerals deal.
“It’s important to put his comments within context of the US ruling class’ material interests,” Huang said. “They’ve said it straight to our faces: Ukraine is a chess piece in a greater power struggle. The US is looking to subordinate its biggest competitors, many of them in BRICS, but especially China.”
He said Washington had gained “almost as much as possible from this war”, with Russia severely weakened militarily and Europe weakened as an economic competitor.
“It’s no surprise that the US ruling class is willing to pull the rug out from under Ukraine and use this situation as an opportunity to rake in more profits.”
Brangan said Trump had abandoned the “speak softly and carry a big stick” approach of the neoconservative right.
“The idea is that we no longer need that to exert power, what we need is a tight web of capital investment and private ownership so we can force other countries to allow the US to do what it wants,” she said.
Resistance
Huang said resistance to the second Trump administration is “fragmented”. “This country lacks an independent workers party that would coordinate struggles and build a national movement against Trump.”
However, while large-scale nationwide mobilisations have not taken place, Huang said it was important to resist the idea that there is no resistance to Trump.
“We certainly shouldn’t take it to mean that there is widespread support or lack of critical opinion towards Trump’s administration…
“Rather, it signals a profound exhaustion and disillusionment on the part of the public.”
Huang said the failure of the left to provide concrete political alternatives, and the hollow opposition offered by the Democrats meant working people had nowhere to turn.
“The younger generation growing up have had their whole lives bookended by Trump. Their lives started with the financial crisis, then when they come of conscious political age Trump is in office, cycles through Biden and then back to Trump — they think this is the norm.”
Huang said resistance was being waged by those who are on the chopping block first, including migrant communities.
“Communities and teachers unions have been building intelligence infrastructure to understand the movements of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and training their members on how to deter ICE when they get to campus.”
Brangan said it was difficult to mobilise in defense of undocumented immigrants because “you don’t know who’s being taken away at any particular point”.
“We are trying to build a critical mass of people who are refusing to cooperate by not opening the door, not turning in your neighbour or letting kids be taken out of schools,” she said.
Huang and Brangan said a flurry of lawsuits had been filed to stop Trump’s plans from going ahead, particularly around the stripping of birthright citizenship and purges of federal employees.
“From my perspective this is buying time, rather than actually creating a basis for a powerful movement,” Brangan said.
Huang said the legal action was “precarious given Trump’s hold on the federal judiciary and the overall balance of forces”. “We know the legal interpretations are going to reflect that balance and that is why Trump has been able to steamroll.”
Huang said workers and communities would have to come together to resist Trump’s assault. “The battle is going to be bigger than any single fight … it’s going to be really important to get movements and unions to united their struggles and stand together to defeat Trump’s administration.”
“For socialists, the tasks at a broad level remain the same as they do for socialist anywhere in the world, that’s to build social movements and to build the party or connect protests to politics.”
Brangan said the DSA had seen a recruitment bump following Trump’s election.
“People are looking for an actual alternative to the Democrats that is willing to take action.
“We are trying to attract people on the basis of our program, instead of around a single person who calls themself a democratic socialist.”
She said the upcoming City Council election in Jersey City and the DSA campaign for mayor of New York City are a “huge opportunity for us to put our politics out there”.
[Watch the full interview with Cyn Huang and Michaela Brangan on the Green Left Show.]