Trump, free of elites, could reverse globalization
The US needs an anti- austerity economic policy focused on infrastructure, but will Donald Trump deliver? Trump is an outsider who rode into office on the Republican ticket, but he isn’t a Republican; he’s a cultural populist. He is a member of the elites breaking off from the elites – and is the first president not chosen by the oligarchic class in some time, effectively repudiating totalitarian democracy. The elites can steer both the Republican and Democratic Party, but perhaps not a breakaway oligarch.
Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, so this is a minority presidency. This is not a white- lash, but there are major elements of racial and sexist prejudice in his support base. Trump profited from the frustration of a declining middle class disaffected by establishment economics, establishment politics and the establishment media.
People are tired of working longer hours for less, while decent jobs are outsourced to low- wage countries. College education is unaffordable, preventing anybody rising above their social class and creating wealth, while the rich get richer. For workers, a steady job in manufacturing with union wages and benefits has more dignity and hope than a temporary job with little security in some service profession.
What’s being witnessed is the “politics of rage,” an angry rejection of transnational capitalism by people suffering under “free trade” and globalism, which only benefits the ruling class, not the “precariat,” people in a condition of existence without predictability or security. Privatization, inequality and deregulation are the children of globalization, the Trans- Pacific Partnership ( TPP) and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership ( TTIP). This rage will perpetuate political upheaval and de- globalization because of the incompatibility between democracy, sovereignty and globalization.
The US under Trump may retract from NATO, reverse terrible Russian relations and end the proxy war in Syria. Trump may also stymie immigration and erect trade barriers, raising wages and initiating a resurgence of inflation. This may crash the markets because they’re at all- time highs and the Federal Reserve will react to the false economy.
Trump threatens the North American Free Trade Agreement ( NAFTA), TPP and TTIP, trade deals that create intellectual property monopolies. Scraping them would stop the siphoning of trade away from the US, preventing corporations profiteering from outsourcing industry jobs to poorer countries for lower wages. NAFTA allowed Mexican immigration into the US, which broke trade unions, undermined wages and destroyed Mexican agriculture. In turn, this allowed US agribusiness to flood Mexico with low- price farm exports, undercutting Mexico’s self- sufficiency and benefitting only corporations. Trump’s protectionism could nurture trade unions and unintentionally, Mexican agriculture.
US prosperity is based on internationalism, banking, arms dealing and so on. Any isolationism will be detrimental to the US economy. Trump has a great chance to fund infrastructure through government instead of through Wall Street and private contracts. He has a policy vacuum outside of infrastructure regeneration and free- trade renegotiation. Worryingly, Trump has already begun to dismantle the Environmental Protection Agency by placing climate change denier Myron Ebell as its head. Trump’s top energy adviser is billionaire oil executive Harold Hamm, which indicates future deregulation, tax cuts for the wealthy and corporate sector, and more fossil fuel production.
Labeling China a currency manipulator will be problematic because producing at a low cost isn’t manipulation. China has eased its capital controls and is letting capital flow out. Yes, China has pegged its currency for many years, but US investors will try to protect their Chi- nese investments from Trump. By imposing unilateral tariffs, factories exporting to Wal- mart will fail and be bought out by China. A trade war would drive down US export investments in China, and allow China to regain control over its own resources.
Credibility of US media like CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times and The Washington Post has been further rejected. Their lack of awareness about the opinion of the electorate was caused by a public perception of many corporate journalists being bought or colluding discursively with the establishment. The US public withheld their opinions out of fear and resentment, and this distrust will continue, empowering social media.
This tasteless breakaway oligarch’s victory may awaken us. While Clinton was more open to social movements, her victory would have perpetuated our sleep until a hot- war conflict occurred.
Totalitarian democracy is facing the ire of the “politics of rage.” Frustration and disillusionment have polemically handed the US to Trump. Is Trump a most adept wolf leading the greatest flock of “sheeple” yet, or secretly another Citibank, Goldman Sachs, or Council on Foreign Relations picked and groomed president?