Donald Trump’s economic and military priorities align well with a desperate capitalism’s

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rotten in Denmark.” Tillerson is the former and still likely the shadow CEO of one of the world’s larg­ est corporations, Exxon Mobil; Senator Corker leads the congressional committee that oversees U.S. for­ eign policy. Both would prefer that the embarrassing Trumpist rhetorical rot be coated with a veneer of civility—for appearances sake, at least.

The ever-lengthening chain of White House and other top officials dismissed by Trump for overt cor­ ruption, lying, or simply publicly disagreeing with their boss tells us that despite his being daily coached by top ruling-class figures, he is unaccustomed to playing the role of coy diplomat that his predecessor mastered with aplomb. In this sense, his betters see him as a moron—but for lack of tact only. They think he is a moron for saying openly what he and they re­ ally believe, and, above all, for pursuing with a crude club rather than a silk glove the central objectives of a crisis-ridden capitalist class.

Bipartisan military spending The military budget is a prime example. Trump de­ manded a 10 percent or $54 billion increase, a mod­ est figure in comparison to his predecessors. Yet Congress upped the figure by some $37 billion, with a nearly 90 percent bipartisan vote. For both politi­ cal wings of the ruling class, military spending is a two-sided bonanza. Monopoly control in the military-industrial complex almost guarantees an annual tril­ lion dollars in expenditures at top profit rates on the one hand. Meanwhile, the same bipartisan Congress lends its support to endless wars wherein U.S. weap­ ons of mass destruction are rained down and “used up” on poor nations and peoples around the world. War and weapons are good for profits, indeed—an endless demand on an endless supply!

Obama conducted seven wars in his time, bragging that he was at war virtually every day of his presi­ dency. During his reign the U.S. sent 100,000 soldiers to Afghanistan, fully half in the form of secret private contract armies under the direction of Erik Prince and his associates operating out of his then private Blackwater military base in Qatar. Not to be outdone Trump, overtly and not covertly as with Obama, to­ day discusses more “private contractor wars” with Prince. He suggests that perhaps the whole army might be efficiently privatized—that is, run for even greater profits than at present. Trump is currently backing Prince for a Senate seat in Wyoming. Gifting the corporate elite Trump’s explanation for his much touted tax cut for the rich—wherein he claims the government’s multibillion-dollar corporate largess will trickle down to the general economy in the form of new jobs, eco­ nomic growth, and budget deficit reductions—is believed by virtually no serious economist, likely in­ cluding his Goldman Sachs Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.

Trump, true to form, bragged about the wonders of his tax proposal, which he delivered to Congress in the form of a three-page memo. The details, as al­ ways, will be worked out as the real representatives of the ruling class scour the thousands of pages of tax-code gifts to the rich, to insert a few lines here and there in order to add a few more billions to their balance sheets.

The rich are in need of additional such “breaks” these days. Just five men, according to Credit Suisse’s 2016 Global Wealth Report. own almost half the wealth of the entire world. The previous figure was six men. Before that it was eight! No mind, Trump will guarantee them another bump if his proposal to eliminate the estate tax is approved. The latter would affect only some 400 of the nation’s most wealthy.

But President Obama’s gifts to the superrich put Trump to shame. His 2008-2016 bailouts saved the capitalist elite some $32 trillion!

Obama vs. Trump on the environment President Trump, excoriated by the Democrats as the engineer of environmental catastrophe, just an­ nounced the voiding of some 50 Obama-era environ­ mental regulations, topped by his pledge to “end the war on coal.” In contrast, Obama constructed a proenvironment facade with his restrictions on coalpowered energy. He also burnished his climate crisis credibility by championing the toothless Paris COP22 climate accords, which Trump shunned.

But the climate-posturing Obama neglected to men­ tion that the slumping coal-industry barons had al­ ready retreated from coal production to pursue, on an unprecedented scale, the more profitable hydrau­ lic fracturing, or fracking. The latter’s deadly release of poisonous chemicals into the air and water sup­ plies is rarely mentioned by Obama’s legacy-enhanc­ ing Democratic Party friends. Neither is the fact that fracking releases incredible amounts of methane gas (and other chemical biproducts) that are 84 times more toxic as greenhouse gases than CO2.

Add to this Obama’s authorization to drill the Arctic icecap and his granting multiple offshore drilling per­ mits to the oil barons, and poor Donald comes off, by comparison, almost as a “moderate.”

Women’s and trade union rights Today, the “moron” Trump, seeking adulation from religious bigots, argues that “religious” employers have a constitutional right to deny abortion coverage to women. He will leave it to the Supreme Court to (Above) Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (rt.) said at a meeting that Trump is a “fucking moron.”

decide the matter, as he will the latest versions of the infamous Friedrichs case. The latter is aimed at elimi­ nating the right of unions to collect agency fees from workers they represent in collective bargaining— some five million people. In both cases, the smiling Democrats have repeatedly demonstrated, pretense aside, that their policies are little different. Access to abortion facilities today is absent in 87 percent of the nation’s counties.

Yes, the “moron” Trump is a crude character indeed, ever surrounding himself with new layers of ruling-class sycophants, or firing and replacing them with “morons” of the same ilk, not to mention reactionary ideologues like former White House Chief Strategist, Steven Bannon, who advised the more than willing Trump to place an equals sign between the neo-Nazis in Charlottesville and those who mobilized to oppose them.

Trump’s “moronic” rhetoric—his ceaseless tweets and campaign rallies, attacks on Dreamers and other immigrants, insistence on building the Wall, embrace of “some very fine people” among the fascists, and nasty barbs against the media—are aimed in part at whipping up support from disaffected and racist white workers and middle-class people (whom he and Steve Bannon have referred to as their “base”).

Tillerson is right that President Trump is a “fuck­ ing moron.” And Corker, mindful of Trump’s threat to unleash nuclear “fire and fury” on North Korea, is right that Trump is dangerous. But he is tolerated by a nervous ruling elite, who at least at this moment has no practical alternative other than to manage his mania and press him to at least sound and appear less threatening. Constructing a more palatable presiden­ tial facade is all that a crisis-ridden capitalism can ex­ pect in these troubled times.

But make no mistake: Trump’s economic and mili­ tary priorities align well with a desperate capitalism’s need to squeeze very dollar possible from working people in order to remain competitive on the world’s ever-declining markets. Capitalist necessity trumps everything human.

Trump’s approval rating has declined to a low of 32 percent, an indication that an increasing majority has no truck with his racist, anti-immigrant, sexist, and homophobic scapegoating. Neither do they believe that he, his party, or the Democratic Party will be, down the line, their economic savior.

The gap is closing between the build-up of deep an­ ger and resentment on the part of the vast majority and their taking the field of action to defend their interests, rights, and dignity. Their fightback will in­ clude new forms of struggle to advance their econom­ ic and social interests, including class struggle, demo­ cratic and inclusive trade unions, and a working-class party in the political arena to champion the interests of the oppressed and exploited. n SOCIALIST ACTION OCTOBER 2017 3

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The war crime of “collective punishment,” as during the Vietnam War or in Israel today, is being waged on civilians because some Rohingya exercised their right to resist. On Aug. 25, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), a Rohingya insurgent group, attacked police and army posts in Rakhine state, kill­ ing 12 offi­cers, according to the government. The poorly armed rebels attacked with mostly sticks and machetes. The attack resulted in savage retribution against Rohingya civilians.

The UN has called Myanmar, also known as Burma, a “textbook example of ethnic cleans­ ing.” Satellite photos show 214 villages de­ stroyed by fire. Incredibly, the regime says Rohingya burn their own homes to gain sym­ pathy, despite media reports of military re­ sponsibility.

Aung San Suu Kyi, the de facto Myanmar leader, is known to millions as a Nobel Prize winner, an iconic “human rights” activist, and longtime prisoner of house arrest. But Suu Kyi the capitalist politician has shamelessly re­ fused to criticize the military’s attacks on the Rohingya. After avoiding a scheduled address to the UN Assembly in September, Suu Kyi told

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need to squeeze every dollar from working people.