The Trump Presidency
Supreme Court rules against Trump on releasing tax returns, but allows delay
By John Burton, 10 July 2020
While Trump failed in his effort to assert absolute presidential immunity, the court rulings will push back any release of his financial documents until after the election.
Mr. López Obrador goes to Washington
Mexican president kowtows to his “friend” Donald Trump
By Eric London, 9 July 2020
Obrador’s appearance with Trump yesterday will rank in history as among the most demeaning and sycophantic Washington visits by any Latin American head of state.
Wall Street, Republicans and militarists back Biden campaign
By Patrick Martin, 9 July 2020
The presumptive Democratic nominee has outraised President Trump for two months in a row, thanks in part to a flood of corporate and billionaire money.
Students oppose Trump’s threat to deport international students
By our reporters, 9 July 2020
The Trump administration’s effort to use international students as a bargaining chip to force the reopening of colleges is part of a push to get the economy back open while also scapegoating immigrants for the pandemic.
Trump’s back-to-work diktat threatens teachers’ lives
By Evan Blake, 9 July 2020
On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump demanded that US schools reopen in the fall amid a raging pandemic, threatening the lives of thousands of teachers.
As Trump demands full reopening of schools
US coronavirus case count soars past 3 million
By Bryan Dyne, 8 July 2020
Cities across the United States are being forced to ration coronavirus testing and are in danger of being compelled to ration treatment.
US billionaires, politicians cash in on “small business” loan program
By Jacob Crosse, 8 July 2020
Information released Monday by the US Treasury and Small Business Administration reveals how the well-connected and rich helped themselves to billions of taxpayer dollars.
US war drive against China accelerates
By Peter Symonds, 8 July 2020
Confronting crisis at home, with growing opposition among workers to the reckless back-to-work drive, Trump is seeking to divert these immense social tensions outward at an external enemy.
Trump rails against Marxism and “international socialism”
By Patrick Martin, 6 July 2020
With his campaign trailing in the polls, the US president is resorting more and more to openly fascistic appeals.
As COVID-19 pandemic explodes out of control
Trump gives fascistic rant at Mount Rushmore event held in defiance of health experts
By Barry Grey, 4 July 2020
Trump sought to use recent attacks on monuments to leaders of the American Revolution and Civil War to brand protesters against police killings as "far-left fascists," while hailing the police and right-wing militia groups and pledging to crack down on opponents of his authoritarian and pro-corporate policies.
Millions in the US face catastrophe as federal unemployment relief set to expire amid surging pandemic
By Kevin Reed, 4 July 2020
The combined economic impact of the raging pandemic and the imminent cutoff of $600 weekly federal assistance is leading to a social catastrophe for millions across the US.
Trump administration gives private equity firms access to 401(k) retirement funds
By Gabriel Black, 4 July 2020
The $7.9 trillion in 401(k) retirement funds will be used to buttress private equity markets and further enrich the financial oligarchy.
Why Canada’s media is fawning over the war criminal John Bolton
By Roger Jordan, 4 July 2020
Canada’s ruling elite wants a more stable and strategic-minded partner in the White House, who can more effectively employ intrigue, intimidation and war in pursuing their common imperialist agenda.
The inequality pandemic: How American capitalism puts profits over lives
By Andre Damon, 2 July 2020
The resurgence of COVID-19 is the outcome of a policy, led by the Trump administration but supported by the entire political and media establishment, of subordinating society’s needs to the interests of the financial oligarchy.
Trump retweets video of supporter shouting, “White Power”
By Jacob Crosse, 29 June 2020
Seeking to bolster an administration in crisis by appealing to the most backward and reactionary elements in society, Trump left the video on his timeline for over three hours before deleting it.
As pandemic rages, Trump administration calls on Supreme Court to strike down Obamacare
By Kate Randall, 27 June 2020
An overturn of the Affordable Care Act would wipe out health care coverage for as many as 23 million Americans.
Contact tracing and capitalism’s response to the pandemic
By Benjamin Mateus, 27 June 2020
As the globe rapidly approaches ten million cases of COVID-19, the United States continues to ignore any public health measures to contain the pandemic.
The Room Where it Happened: John Bolton’s account of the “palace coup” opposition to Trump
By Andre Damon, 26 June 2020
The book presents an account of the policy differences between John Bolton and Donald Trump that broadly reflect the policy differences between the president and dominant sections of the American state apparatus that led to Trump’s impeachment.
Tuesday primaries show rising popular discontent with Democratic Party establishment
By Patrick Martin, 25 June 2020
Voter turnout swelled despite the coronavirus threat, with many voters choosing to vote early or cast mail-in ballots.
US Appeals Court orders case against Michael Flynn dismissed
By Kevin Reed, 25 June 2020
A three-judge panel ruled by two-to-one on Wednesday that the perjury charges against the former Trump national security advisor—to which he had already pleaded guilty—should be quashed immediately.
As the pandemic spirals out of control, Trump attacks testing, holds indoor rally in Phoenix
By Barry Grey, 24 June 2020
The deadly back-to-work drive is bipartisan, with Democratic governors and mayors taking the lead in reopening businesses and forcing workers back on the job without any real protection.
US police received over $760 million of military gear in the past two years
By Trévon Austin, 24 June 2020
In the last three decades, over $5 billion worth of military equipment has been doled out to police departments across the country by the Department of Defense.
Trump signs reactionary proclamation expanding immigration restrictions
By Kevin Reed, 24 June 2020
The order extends and expands anti-immigrant restrictions on workers coming to the US for jobs in multiple industries.
Bolton appeals for right-wing Republicans to break with Trump on foreign policy
By Patrick Martin, 22 June 2020
The former Trump national security advisor has given numerous anti-Trump press interviews to promote his newly launched—and lucrative—White House memoir.
Trump in Tulsa: Fascist ranting and political debacle
By Patrick Martin, 22 June 2020
The BOK Arena was less than half-filled, according to official estimates, a signal of the deepening crisis of the Trump administration and his reelection campaign.
World coronavirus cases rocket past 9 million as pandemic accelerates
By Bryan Dyne, 22 June 2020
Public health expert warns that infections will not come in waves, but as “one very, very difficult forest fire of cases.”
US stokes India-China conflict, blames Chinese “aggression” for border clash
By Keith Jones, 20 June 2020
Senior US official David Stilwell provocatively told a press briefing that the Chinese army had “invaded” the “contested area” between India and China.
More provocations, threats from Trump ahead of Tulsa rally
By Barry Grey, 20 June 2020
In the run-up to his campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma Saturday evening, President Donald Trump is focusing his energies on issuing threats against counter-protesters and incitements to fascistic elements and police officers.
“How can dissent be illegal when that is how the country was started?”
Oklahoma teachers oppose Trump and his Tulsa rally
By Phyllis Steele, 20 June 2020
Educators in Oklahoma, who waged a wildcat strike in 2018, are still ranked near the bottom in the US in pay and per pupil funding.
Bolton account of Trump White House: Another volley in the conflict within the US ruling elite
By Patrick Martin, 19 June 2020
Press reviews indicate that Bolton’s book attacks Trump entirely from the right, expressing particular bitterness that the administration did not go to war against Iran.
White House demands end to $600 per week emergency unemployment pay
By Andre Damon, 16 June 2020
The Trump administration’s plan to cut unemployment assistance in July is a naked ploy to force workers back into factories that are hotbeds of COVID-19.
140 Trump admin sanctions ICC officials
15 June 2020
Fascistic candidates gain in Republican Party
By Patrick Martin, 15 June 2020
Marjorie Taylor Greene’s campaign produced an ad last week in which she brandished an assault rifle and warned “antifa” demonstrators to “stay the hell out of northwest Georgia.”
As nationwide protests continue
Trump steps up provocations and threats of military force
By Jacob Crosse, 13 June 2020
In a Fox News interview Thursday night, Trump labeled Seattle protesters “terrorists” and threatened to call out the military.
Would-be führer Trump steps up coup plotting
By Patrick Martin, 12 June 2020
The president is seeking to manufacture a pretext for violent repression and the establishment of an authoritarian regime in America.
Trump asserts emergency powers to gut environmental protections
By Daniel de Vries, 11 June 2020
An executive order Thursday directs agencies to ignore environmental requirements to expedite infrastructure projects.
The paradox of the Wall Street surge
By Nick Beams, 10 June 2020
The rise of the market, taking place in the midst of the greatest health crisis in a century, stands in stark contrast to the underlying real economy.
Johnson government falls in behind Washington’s economic war with China
By Jean Shaoul, 9 June 2020
The “Get Brexit Done/Global Britain” perspective has been exposed as a chimera.
Trump, Barr continue threat to deploy military against nationwide protests
By Barry Grey, 8 June 2020
The political situation in the US remains on a knife edge as Trump’s fascistic cabal continues to plot against the Constitution.
Trump confers with Modi over explosive India-China border dispute
By Shuvu Batta and Keith Jones, 8 June 2020
Intensifying the US strategic offensive against China, the Trump administration has publicly sided with India, and is goading New Delhi on in its border standoff with Beijing.
Encouraged by Trump, police rampage leaves protesters dead and wounded across the US
By Jacob Crosse, 6 June 2020
Demonstrators have been teargassed, pepper sprayed, shot with rubber bullets and beanbags, and beaten by rampaging police.
“I didn’t receive one warning”
Protester explains how he was brutally assaulted by Secret Service officials in Washington, D.C.
By Nick Barrickman, 6 June 2020
The demonstrator explained how federal officials provoked and then assaulted peaceful demonstrators outside the White House last weekend as protests against police brutality swept the country.
The police murder of George Floyd sparks mass protests throughout the world
By Thomas Scripps, 6 June 2020
Hundreds of thousands of people have joined demonstrations in Europe, North and South America, the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand.
New York Times in crisis over op-ed backing military takeover
By Patrick Martin, 6 June 2020
In publishing a fascistic diatribe by Senator Tom Cotton, headlined, “Send in the troops,” the Times editorial page tacitly sided with a military takeover of the United States.
Protests erupt in France against police violence and Trump’s coup d’état
By Alex Lantier, 5 June 2020
After the anti-constitutional threats by Trump to deploy the military against protests in the United States, 20,000 people demonstrated in Paris on Tuesday.
White House Coronavirus Task Force effectively ended by Trump
By Bryan Dyne, 3 June 2020
Now that all fifty states have begun reopening in some form, the pandemic is considered over by the US ruling elite even as coronavirus infections and deaths continue to climb.
Coup d’état in Washington: Trump declares war on the Constitution
Statement of the Socialist Equality Party (US), 2 June 2020
In a series of politically criminal acts, Trump is establishing a presidential dictatorship based on the military and police.
Video: Police on nationwide rampage
1 June 2020
Throughout the country, police attacked nonviolent protestors and journalists with batons, tear gas, rubber bullets, and even vehicles.
Trump incites violent police rampage against protesters
Statement of the Political Committee of the Socialist Equality Party (US), 1 June 2020
Trump’s calls for police violence and repression have been a common theme throughout his administration. Trump views the police as a potential power base for a dictatorial and fascistic regime.
Trump escalates anti-China campaign
By Peter Symonds, 30 May 2020
US President Trump dramatically escalated his reckless anti-China campaign yesterday, making clear that a dangerous confrontation between the two countries is all but inevitable.
White House considers expelling Chinese graduate students and researchers
By Shuvu Batta, 29 May 2020
The Trump administration is reportedly planning to expel some three to five thousand Chinese graduate students and researchers.
With support from the teacher unions, Trump demands the unsafe reopening of schools “ASAP”
By Nancy Hanover, 29 May 2020
As COVID-19 cases continue to climb in 24 states, Trump is recklessly demanding the immediate reopening of schools, while the American Federation of Teachers has pledged its full support.
Trump intrudes in China-India border standoff
By Keith Jones, 29 May 2020
US President Donald Trump intruded into the tense border standoff between China and India Wednesday with a spurious offer to mediate and even “arbitrate” “their now raging border dispute.”
Trump threatens to close social media platforms after Twitter puts fact-check warnings on his tweets
By Kevin Reed, 28 May 2020
President Trump issued a threat to shut down social media companies on Wednesday after Twitter placed a fact-checking label on two of his tweets making unsubstantiated claims about mail-in ballots.
Trump bizarrely accuses television talk show host Joe Scarborough of 2001 murder
By David Walsh, 28 May 2020
The unhinged tweets concern the July 2001 death of Lori Klausutis, 28, a Scarborough staffer, who fainted due to an undiagnosed heart condition and struck her head, according to the coroner.
Dow Jones hits 25,000 as pandemic death toll reaches 100,000
By David North, 27 May 2020
The Wall Street surge anticipates the shutdown of all restraints on corporate operations and capitalist profiteerring.
With his poll numbers falling, Trump denounces November election as “rigged”
By Patrick Martin, 27 May 2020
The president and his son-in-law Jared Kushner are laying the basis for declaring an election defeat in November to be illegitimate.
Thomson Reuters actively helping Trump administration target immigrants
By Meenakshi Jagadeesan, 27 May 2020
The parent company of the Reuters news agency has been aiding Immigration and Customs Enforcement with the targeting of immigrants for arrest, detention and deportation.
Memorial Day in America: 100,000 COVID-19 deaths surpass combined US combat fatalities in Korea and Vietnam
By Barry Grey, 25 May 2020
A false narrative dominates the entire coverage of the expanding pandemic—that human life must be balanced against the “economy,” by which is meant the economy of the rich.
Coronavirus pandemic spreads across the US South
Hospitals overwhelmed in California and Alabama as national death toll approaches 100,000
By Bryan Dyne, 23 May 2020
The spike in cases in such divergent areas of the country is another indication that, contrary to official policy, the spread of the coronavirus pandemic is not slowing but increasing.
Hydroxychloroquine: New scientific study refutes the quack-in-chief
By Benjamin Mateus, 23 May 2020
President Trump claimed this week he had been taking hydroxychloroquine as a preventive measure. His statements demonstrate both ignorance and hostility to science.
Oppose the Trump administration’s deportation of 1,000 immigrant children!
By Norissa Santa Cruz—SEP candidate for US vice president, 23 May 2020
International laws and statutes that once offered special protections for immigrant youth seeking asylum have been made a dead letter by the Trump administration.
“Obamagate” claims spark new round in internal US political warfare
By Patrick Martin, 22 May 2020
There is no progressive or democratic side in the conflict between Trump and the Democrats.
US withdraws from Open Skies Treaty, heightening danger of war with Russia
By Clara Weiss, 22 May 2020
US withdrawal from the Open Skies Treaty is a deliberate escalation of military tensions not only with Russia, but also with the major European imperialist powers.
Trump issues new threats as Iranian tankers approach Venezuela
By Bill Van Auken, 22 May 2020
The Trump administration has vowed to take unspecified “measures” to block the shipment of Iranian fuel to Venezuela, raising the threat of state piracy on the high seas.
The Trump administration makes Taiwan latest front in anti-China campaign
By Peter Symonds, 21 May 2020
The US has provocatively hailed the re-election of Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen and pressed Taiwan’s case at the annual World Health Organisation (WHO) ministerial assembly.
Canada’s official opposition attacks Trudeau for “appeasing” China
By Roger Jordan, 21 May 2020
Conservative leader Scheer’s inflammatory comment, likening the Liberal government’s policy towards Beijing to British imperialism’s attempt to reach an accommodation with Nazi Germany, marks a new high point in the Canadian elite’s frenzied anti-China campaign.
Firing of State Department inspector general tied to Saudi arms deal
By Bill Van Auken, 20 May 2020
The firing stemmed from a probe into the Trump administration’s declaration of a “state of emergency” to prevent Congress holding up arms sales to the Saudi monarchy.
Trump official blames high US coronavirus death toll on the diversity that “unfortunately” exists in the population
By Jacob Crosse, 19 May 2020
The fascistic comment is the latest attempt by the Trump administration to find an excuse for its catastrophic performance in the COVID-19 pandemic.
As death toll mounts, White House steps up efforts to scapegoat China for pandemic
By Peter Symonds, 18 May 2020
Blaming China not only deflects attention from the Trump administration’s responsibility for the horrific US death toll, but feeds into its anti-China trade war measures.
Purge of government watchdogs escalates drive for authoritarian rule
Trump fires State Department inspector general
By Barry Grey, 18 May 2020
Over the past six weeks, Trump also has removed the inspectors general of the Intelligence Community, Defense and Health and Human Services.
Back-to-work drive places countless thousands at risk
By Patrick Martin, 18 May 2020
Major American factories are reopening today, each one the potential center for a major new outbreak of the coronavirus.
Trump threatens to cut all ties with China
By Peter Symonds, 16 May 2020
The US president’s phony allegations—that China failed to prevent COVID-19 becoming a global pandemic—have been integrated into Washington’s trade war measures.
Washington places Cuba and Venezuela on “terror” list
By Bill Van Auken, 16 May 2020
After fostering an abortive mercenary invasion aimed at overthrowing Venezuela’s government and murdering its president, the US placed Caracas on a list of governments deemed uncooperative in the “war on terrorism.”
The murderous pseudoscience of “herd immunity”
By Andre Damon, 16 May 2020
Proponents of “herd immunity” argue that measures to contain COVID-19 should be abandoned, allowing the disease to infect billions of people and kill countless millions.
As Global coronavirus death toll tops 300,000
US whistleblower warns premature return to work will bring “unprecedented illness and fatalities”
By Bryan Dyne, 15 May 2020
Dr. Rick Bright warned yesterday that the pandemic “has the potential to eclipse the devastation wrought by the 1918 influenza, which globally claimed over 50 million lives.”
The drums of economic nationalism are beating louder
By Nick Beams, 15 May 2020
A series of comments published in the New York Times in recent days points to the rise of economic nationalism within the US political establishment the logic of which is war against China.
Supreme Court considers blanket immunity for Trump
By John Burton, 15 May 2020
The Supreme Court on Tuesday held oral arguments on whether to give Donald Trump immunity from congressional and grand jury investigations.
The Trump administration vs. science
By Patrick Martin, 15 May 2020
The president’s attack on his top coronavirus advisor, Anthony Fauci, is part of an appeal to the most backward and reactionary forces to support the deadly policy of “reopening” the US economy.
US agencies drum up allegations of Chinese hacking of vaccine research
By Peter Symonds, 13 May 2020
The claims of Chinese hacking of vaccine research are not only part of the Trump’s anti-China propaganda war but will be used to justify US cyber warfare against Beijing.
Trump crony appointed as new head of US Postal Service
By Kayla Costa, 12 May 2020
Louis DeJoy, the recently appointed US postmaster general, has donated millions of dollars to the Republican Party and reaped immense profits from sitting atop private logistics corporations and investment firms.
As US House returns to Washington, Democrats signal readiness to grant companies immunity for worker deaths
By Barry Grey, 11 May 2020
It is already clear that any “Phase IV” stimulus bill that emerges will further enrich the financial aristocracy at the expense of the jobs, the wages and the very lives of the working class.
First ICE detainee dies of COVID-19 in San Diego
By Adam Mclean, 11 May 2020
Lacking basic sanitation and living in squalor, infections among immigrants in ICE custody have skyrocketed.
At Trump’s urging: US Justice Department quashes Flynn prosecution
By Patrick Martin, 9 May 2020
The dropping of perjury charges against retired General Flynn—to which he had already pled guilty—is a further step toward the consolidation of an authoritarian regime in Washington.
The COVID-19 pandemic and global imperialist war
By Bill Van Auken, 9 May 2020
For all of the vapid talk about us all being in it together, the US ruling class views the pandemic as an instrument of war.
Trump administration suppresses Centers for Disease Control coronavirus guidance document
By Bryan Dyne, 8 May 2020
The CDC report would have laid out step-by-step instructions for a variety of “critical” businesses and institutions to safely reopen.
Whistleblower complaint details Trump administration’s corruption and obstruction of anti-pandemic efforts
By Barry Grey, 7 May 2020
Dr. Rick Bright, who headed the office overseeing the development of a coronavirus vaccine, was removed from his post after he leaked information concerning his opposition to Trump’s promotion of hydroxychloroquine.
At “reopen the economy” event, Trump confirms plans to shut down coronavirus task force
By Barry Grey, 6 May 2020
Trump made a point of calling the American people “warriors,” implying that they had to be prepared to die. And to die, moreover, for Wall Street.
Lawsuit against US Department of Education claims wages being garnished to pay off student loan debt
By Alexander Fangmann, 6 May 2020
The lawsuit alleges 285,000 students had their wages garnished in the second half of March, despite being banned by the CARES Act during that period.
The American oligarchy decides for death
By Niles Niemuth, 5 May 2020
The Trump administration has embraced an approach to the pandemic that will—and that it knows will—result in the deaths of tens of thousands of people in the coming weeks and months.
Scapegoating China for US administration’s failures
Trump and Pompeo’s “big lie”
By Andre Damon, 4 May 2020
Knowing that its policy will lead to a rapid growth in fatalities, the White House is preparing a narrative to argue that whatever happens, it is China’s fault.
Trump escalates attacks on China over COVID-19
By Peter Symonds, 2 May 2020
US President Trump has stepped up his propaganda war and threats against China, blaming it for the deadly COVID-19 pandemic that has cost the lives of more than 230,000 people internationally.
Trump blocks federal funeral aid to families of COVID-19 victims
By Jacob Crosse, 2 May 2020
While $45 billion has been allocated to the Federal Emergency Management Agency through the CARES Act, a memo from Trump bans the agency giving burial funds to thousands of victims.
Global arms spending tops $1.9 trillion as fight against COVID-19 is starved of resources
By Bill Van Auken, 29 April 2020
The continued spending of trillions on arms and war amid the present pandemic represents a crime against humanity.
Round two of the “Paycheck Protection Program”: Another disaster for US small businesses and their employees
By Barry Grey, 29 April 2020
The abortive start of the second round of the “small business” program demonstrated that the vast majority of small businesses and their employees will receive little or nothing in relief from the economic collapse.
Trump orders meatpacking plants to remain open, as coronavirus sickens thousands of workers
By Christopher Davion and Marcus Day, 29 April 2020
Trump’s executive order is aimed squarely at shielding the profits of Tyson Foods and other corporate firms, not at defending the food supply chain or the safety of workers.
Rasputin in the White House
By Eric London and David North, 25 April 2020
Ignorance, cronyism and gangsterism at the pinnacle of the American state.
South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee reopening as coronavirus deaths mount
By Matthew MacEgan, 22 April 2020
The actions amount to a death sentence for thousands of working people, and particularly the elderly.
Trump announces plan to halt all immigration to US
By Eric London, 22 April 2020
Trump’s “pause” on immigration is a desperate attempt by the crisis-riddled administration to distract from the criminality of the ruling class’s own response to the coronavirus pandemic.
As US deaths exceed 40,000, Trump escalates reckless back-to-work campaign
By Andre Damon, 20 April 2020
The government’s overriding concern is to ensure that the pandemic does not interfere with the enrichment of Wall Street and the major corporations.
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