If you’re in the mood for a little levity this weekend, take a gander at the websites of Communist Party USA, People’s World, and the Democratic Socialists of America (among other leftists-in-arms), where they are going absolutely bonkers over Donald Trump’s big win.
To say that these comrades had been ready for Hillary is an understatement. Since early summer, with the defeat of their beloved Bernie, it was as if the ghost of Saul Alinsky had leapt into their collective keyboards and started typing copy for their girl-wonder. They were fired up for Mrs. Clinton, clearly seeing her as the next Democratic Party revolutionary to pick up Obama’s torch of fundamental transformation. It is a tragic testimony to the party of Truman and JFK that the modern Democratic agenda is hard to separate from the goals of Communist Party USA.
The communists were shaking the pom-poms for Hillary throughout the campaign, unabashed and unashamed. They were also not reticent about eviscerating Donald Trump, who was their boy Hitler to their girl Trotsky. But with The Donald’s victory, the communists’ concerns have morphed into outright hysteria. They are now in full panic mode, full propaganda mode, full mass-organizing mode. Agitate, agitate, agitate is the old Marxist maxim, and that’s precisely what these American Marxists and socialists are doing right now.
In fact, it literally looks like CPUSA’s website has been completely redesigned simply to respond to Donald Trump. As I write, the three headlines in the rotating window at www.cpusa.org cry out in palpable pain:
These titles speak for themselves. More than that, the fact that there’s three of anything at the Communist Party USA website is a testimony to the Trump rage. For the longest time, CPUSA’s website had been fairly simple, with sparse cover content. Now, in the wake of The Donald, it is exploding with material — screaming, wailing material.
Included at CPUSA’s site are two calls to action, both rallies against Trump. One of the calls demands “No racists in the White House!” which is a link to a Southern Poverty Law Center letter wanting Steve Bannon purged from the Trump team. The other, a MoveOn.org petition, wants NBC to release “the Trump tapes.”
Both of these, incidentally, sit right above CPUSA’s “Bill of Rights” for Socialism.
All of this is mild compared to the howling litany at CPUSA’s flagship, People’s World, the successor to the longtime Soviet-funded and directed Daily Worker, where you can amuse yourself for hours with at least a dozen anti-Trump screeds. Quoting them here would be pointless. You could write ’em yourself. That said, worth a read is the immediate post-election reaction by the head of Communist Party USA, John Bachtell, the successor to a line of esteemed American Stalinists ranging from William Z. Foster to Earl Browder to our old pal, Gus Hall, once a perennial favorite at The American Spectator.
Bachtell’s Nov. 11 dispatch is subtly titled, “After the Trump Election: Fight! Resist! Organize!”
“There’s no sugarcoating it,” comrade Bachtell writes. “The election of Donald Trump as president along with a Republican Senate and House was a tremendous defeat with far-reaching consequences that will ripple for years to come.” He urges:
What is urgently needed now is unity. Every conceivable movement and ally prepared to defend social advances and democratic norms must be mobilized, starting with the labor-led people’s movement, Black Lives Matter, climate justice groups, the Dreamers, the LGTBQ community, and women, in alliance with the Democratic Party and all parts of what was the Hillary Clinton electoral coalition, and those inspired by the Bernie Sanders campaign.
This is the basis of gathering popular majorities to oppose Trump on multiple fronts. No one should be left standing on the sidelines.
Bachtell is calling for a united popular front of the wider left — Dems, libs, socialists, progressives, LGBTQ warriors, “social justice” fighters, “climate justice” fights, teachers union, artists, professors, etc., etc., etc. — to join with him and his communists. And he’ll get it, in spades. He sees today’s Democratic Party (rightly so) as a natural ally to CPUSA.
As for Trump and the Republicans, Bachtell sees something else, something altogether different, something insidious, something pernicious. He perceives “the wolf at the door”:
Tens of millions awoke November 9 terrified with the realization the wolf is not only at the door, but has entered the house. Right-wing extremists will dominate all three branches of government and move swiftly to impose their agenda.
The forces of hate and bigotry are emboldened. The danger of scapegoating, discrimination, and violence against Muslims, immigrants, people of color, the LGBTQ community, women, unions, and other democratic organizations will increase.
Contrary to his claims, Trump is no rogue outsider. He is backed by right-wing billionaires, the Heritage Foundation, and their ilk – all the groups providing policy blueprints and lists of names to stack departments and the judiciary at all levels. These forces now control 31 governorships and two-thirds of state legislative chambers. This is where they have long been ruthlessly unfolding their wrecking agenda.
Trump and the GOP: one giant wrecking ball for the forces of “progress.”
Bachtell finishes his long missive with an exhortation to his comrades and their liberal kindred spirits: “Don’t despair! Fight!”
Finally, I would be remiss, if I didn’t at least mention the rantings of the Democratic Socialists of America, which truly has become indistinguishable from the leadership of the modern Democratic Party. Here, too, the DSA website is too much to summarize, but consider the mass email it distributed on Thursday:
“Trump’s victory was devastating for all of us,” wrote the DSA deputy director, David Duhalde. “I hope you’ve had a chance to practice self-care and spend time with loved ones. We’ll have a lot of work to do in the coming months. Socialists, radicals, and progressives need to unite, stick together, and fight back.”
Sounding like Bachtell, and like the head of the Democratic National Committee, Duhalde adds:
We must immediately stand in solidarity against Donald Trump’s racist, sexist agenda. We’ve already seen a rash of hate crimes against Muslims, people of color, immigrants, women, and the LGBTQ community. DSA chapters are organizing to support these vulnerable populations against hate groups and the alt-right. And once Trump is inaugurated, our members will resist his attempts to deport undocumented Americans, roll back abortion access, and gut the social safety net.
Like Bachtell, Duhalde concludes with an exhortation to fight: “I want you to know that we aren’t giving up — because our work as socialists is more needed than ever.”
They are indeed united. United in agitation to take on The Donald and the dirty Republicans.
Such is the current state of apoplexy for our troubled friends on the left. Who knew that a Donald Trump victory could be so much fun?
