Teach-in: Anti-Trump-ism and the Left (New York)

Teach-in on Trump led by Platypus members Gabriel Gaster and Pam Nogales in New York on October 28, 2016.

Trump is opposed by virtually the entire mainstream political establishment, Republican and Democrat, and by the entire mainstream news media, conservative and liberal alike. Democrats and Republicans oppose Trump from the right, defending the status quo against an uncertain future. While leftists denounce Trump for his “racism” and “sexism” they fall below the threshold of a political critique. We should do better.

Everything Trump calls for exists already. There is already surveillance and increased scrutiny of Muslim immigrants in the “War on Terror.” There is already a war against ISIS. There is already a wall on the border with Mexico; there are already mass deportations of “illegal” immigrants. There are already proposals that will be implemented anyway for a super-exploited guest-worker immigration program. International trade is heavily regulated with many protections favoring U.S. companies already in place. So why does the idea of Trump incite such hysteria on the Left? How do we make sense of this phenomenon? What would it mean to oppose Trump politically, from the Left?