I think some leftist accelerationists believe that electing Trump will galvanize resistance the way it did 2017-2020. The ways that regular folks joined us, marched, and actually paid attention to things besides soccer practice was legit heartening and often helpful. I’m thinking about popular demonstrations against the migrant camps, organizing Covid relief and mutual aid, and generally saying “fuck this guy and his policies.”

But if Trump returns, none of that shit is going to happen.

  1. Those would-be allies might conclude that all that resistance was for nothing, and give up. Especially if he wins an outright majority.

  2. Trump is pretty open that he intends to use violence against his political opponents, and this time he likely won’t be constrained by any sort of deep state. Especially if he wins an outright majority.

That’s my thinking, but any accelerationists want to tell me where I’m wrong?

  • mulcaheyOPEnglish
    81·
    4 days ago

    There are reports that Trump, while president, wanted to shoot protestors. Reports say that Trump toned down his requests “after Attorney General William Barr and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley pushed back on his initial request.” There are similar reports about McMaster and other chumps who reined in the absolute worst dogshit instincts of Trump.

    I don’t think these guys disagreed with Trump because they’re good people with good values. I think they did it because they’re authoritarians who got high on the pop Americana of Top Gun and Air Force One and believe America Is Freedom, and “You don’t shoot people who are protesting*” is one of those freedoms. Or, at the very least, it’s supposed to distinguish us from the international foes that these guys have always whined about.

    (*Depending on who is protesting and what they even count as a protest. But I have been to dozens of protest marches, I was just at a Gaza march with thousands of people in New York, and I’ve never once worried about being shot for holding a sign and chanting.)

    It’s worth noting that a lot of these guys, like Milley, predated Trump’s time in office. I think part of the reason Trump kept these guys around is because he straight-up sucks at hiring. This report highlights the difficulties of passing his loyalty test, but I recall another one (I can’t find it now) that said that during the transition, the Trump team was shocked to learn that they had to hire hundreds of people. They thought everyone came with the office. Trump was so inexperienced at it that he ended up asking Obama for advice.

    None of that is the case the second time around. The folks who stay on do it knowing what Trump wants, and knowing that he’ll be empowered to get it. And unlike 2016, there’s a plan. Project 2025 has been vetting people for civil service roles, and Schedule F means that Trump could effectively sideline or fire any civil servants who want to slow-walk his agenda. The Supreme Court has already given him the greenlight with the Trump v. U.S. ruling. And, just earlier today, Trump again spoke of deploying the military against his political foes. No one who is joining this administration is doing it because they have some Jerry Bruckheimer view of America’s freedom. They all know the score this time around.

    There’s one more reason that Trump’s hands were partially tied during his admin. Pema Levy at Mother Jones wrote about it in the context of January 6, but I think it applies to his administration generally:

    Trump’s coup failed not because he and his allies lacked power, but because President Joe Biden’s margin of victory was big enough that some allies—including his own attorney general and most Senate Republicans—refused to use that power to illegally keep Trump in office.

    Trump has never won a popular vote. If that were to change-- if he were to win the election by a majority, rather than just by picking up electoral votes in our shitty system-- then I can’t think of a single thing that would stop Trump from getting everything he wants. The small measures of freedom that some people in this country have eked out (the right to form a union, or protest, or publish criticism of the government), the launching pad from which most of our other freedoms and liberties have advanced or been protected, would be totally wiped out, and there would be no one to stop it.