As the midterm elections approach, Trump’s approval rating has sunk to its lowest level yet. There’s no shortage of offenses souring working people on Trump 2.0, but top of mind for many is the rising cost of living, which has been exacerbated by the war on Iran. Consumer prices have increased over 30% since before the COVID-19 pandemic and wages haven’t kept up. To add insult to injury, Trump has continually dismissed these concerns, recently calling the war’s economic impact on ordinary people “small potatoes.”
Polls project a significant victory for the Democrats in November. However, this doesn’t reflect a vote for Democrats so much as a vote against Trump. Democrats are currently viewed even more negatively than Republicans, and more people see their vote as a signal of opposition to the president than they have in the past three decades.
Republicans’ desperation was on full display at their first-ever—and poorly attended—midterm national convention. Trump dodged talking about the war and the economy, instead bribing voters with the promise of $5,000 if Republicans win. Trump also told voters to “pretend” that he’s on the ballot. This strategy exposes the fact that, while Trump is unpopular, the rest of his party doesn’t have anything more attractive to offer working people. Trump isn’t aiming to win over new voters, but rather to mobilize the existing MAGA base.
This desperation has fueled Trump’s unprecedented gerrymandering and attempts to rig and cast doubt over the election. Although the Supreme Court recently blocked Trump’s restrictions on mail-in voting and the SAVE Act doesn’t have a filibuster-proof majority, the back-and-forth around these proposals can create confusion that drives down voter turnout. The Trump administration’s threats of ICE presence at the polls also has a chilling effect: 40% of respondents in a recent poll felt that ICE agents will likely be present at voting locations in their area, with many US citizens worried that voting could put them at risk of being questioned by ICE.
Trump surely won’t let a “blue wave” crash over him without declaring it illegitimate. And while his efforts to steal the election are unlikely to succeed in the House given the Democrats’ strong polling, it’s possible that Trump’s various undemocratic attacks give the Republicans the edge they need to hold the Senate. If Trump does attempt to steal the election, only mass working-class struggle can stop him—because the Democrats have not and will not.
The Democrats Won’t Save Us
Even if Democrats win control of the House and the Senate, this will not stop Trump’s agenda. A loss could make him lash out even more. When weakened, Trump doesn’t back down; he doubles down on his authoritarian maneuvers, warmongering, and repression. Meanwhile, the Democrats will say their hands are tied, pointing to the filibuster and Trump’s veto power as cover for their refusal to meaningfully oppose Trump and reverse his attacks, and they’ll have no strategy for when he circumvents Congress via executive action.
Democrats’ idea of opposition to Trump’s first term was impeaching him twice. This was largely symbolic, with the Republican-controlled Senate blocking the vote both times. Their new strategy is to launch extensive investigations, made possible by a majority in the House, to compile enough evidence to “hold Trump accountable” before potentially proposing impeachment. We don’t need any investigations to tell us what we already know: Trump has repeatedly violated the Constitution to attack working people, used his office to grow his family’s enormous wealth, and committed many other offenses worthy of removal from office. A Democratic crusade to “uncover” Trump’s corruption through subpoenas and hearings won’t convince a two-thirds majority of Senators to remove Trump from office—it’s no less symbolic than putting forward impeachment from the start.
The only thing that has forced Trump to back down has been mass working-class struggle, best exemplified by January’s general strike in Minneapolis, which resulted in the drawdown of Operation Metro Surge and an end to invasion-style ICE operations. This same lesson played out in Trump’s first term. When the 2018 midterm “blue wave” put Democrats back in control of the House, it wasn’t the Democrats who forced Trump to back down, but rather a sick-out by air traffic controllers and the threat of wider strike action by airport workers.
The Democratic Party refuses to build (and actively works against!) the mass movements that could actually defeat Trump because they fear being on the receiving end of class struggle themselves. And just as the united working class can aim its protests and strikes at the Democrats, it can also wield them to threaten the very capitalist system that both corporate parties represent.
As a new crop of DSA-endorsed left Democrats are poised to win seats in the midterms, the question of harnessing struggle to actually win significant gains for working people around the issues they ran on is paramount. The Democratic Party establishment will immediately begin exerting pressure on these progressives to water down their demands and play by the logic of their pro big-business politics. The best defense against such pressure is to build mass struggle against Trump, independent of the Democratic Party, through new and existing working-class organizations. Participants in these movements need to organize our own new party that’s accountable to working people and the oppressed—not the billionaires.