In Trump’s view, the U.S. led global order that structured international relations for more than a half century no longer serves, if it ever did, U.S. interests and deserves a quick burial. “Trump,” writes University of California political scientist Stephen Fish, “wants to return to a world in which great powers take what they’re capable of taking and everybody else just has to live with it. But more than that, he’s actually attempting to create a world that is dominated by autocracies because he wants to create autocracy in the United States and ally with autocracies abroad.”

That sounds about right, although I would add that Trump envisions the U.S. retaining its position as the dominant power in this new anti-democratic, authoritarian world order. The only major power that isn’t welcome into this “august” body is China. Unlike other major powers, China is considered a competitor, and a socialist one at that, to the imperial and hegemonic designs of the Trump administration and his billionaire backers.

To win against the MAGA onslaught, democracy not only has to be defended, but also deepened and extended to new areas of socio-economic life. Formulas of the past no longer resonate to millions in the present nor address the problems of the future.

The characterization of the Democratic Party as a party sitting on its hands, like a modern day Nero, is neither accurate nor helpful. Implicit in the characterization is that the Democrats are of one mind and in the pockets of corporate America. There are, to be sure, corporate and conservative democrats. But to leave matters here makes opaque a range of political tendencies and brands operating within the Democratic Party and opposing Trump and MAGA.

Bernie and AOC are admirably and tirelessly resisting the authoritarian designs of the new administration, but they aren’t the only ones in Congress. Sometimes, in our zeal to heap praise on them, we forget that the Progressive Caucus can count roughly 100 members. Nor should we assume moderate Democrats in Congress are sitting on their hands in present circumstances. My own Congressman, for example, who sees himself as a moderate spoke powerfully at a rally this past weekend and is hosting a town hall meeting next week. Nor should the actions of Democratic governors and other elected Democrats at the state and local level go unmentioned.

To this we should add that the Democratic Party provides a roof over the head of the main progressive organizations in the country, not least the labor movement, people of color, and women.

Thus it would be a serious mistake to collapse the Democratic Party into a singular corporate, do nothing shell. Indeed, I would argue that the center of gravity in today’s Democratic Party is trending in a liberal-progressive direction. And at this moment when the future of U.S. democracy hangs in balance that is of crucial importance to repelling the push towards a U.S. variety of authoritarianism whose precise morphology and future are a story still to be written.

Most democratic minded people expected an assault, organized by Trump and his closest advisors, on the federal government and democratic rights — immigrant rights in the first place. What stuns, and increasingly outrages them, is the fast pace and broad sweep of this assault.  

It is fair to say it has many of the markings of a coup d’etat. After all, its aim is to impose without public consent or legislative debate a new political-authoritarian order. In the face of this assault, albeit one with no historical precedent, the strategic task of democracy’s defenders is to assemble an expansive coalition that stretches from Never Trumpers to Angela Davis and everything in between, not least the Democratic Party, for the purpose of blocking this coup. 

In these circumstances, the role of the broad, nonsectarian left is to assist this process, practically and ideologically. It probably needs no saying that it will take creativity, initiative, modesty, sweated labor, and breadth of approach on its part. Building one’s political silo is one thing; exclusively hanging out in that silo is a no no! The future of the broad, nonsectarian left as a consequential force in US politics will turn on its ability to meet this challenge. 

Wasn’t that the case in the 1930s and 1960s? 

America has always, even on its better days, had an illiberal strain, as brilliantly elucidated in the recent book by Stephen Hahn: Illiberal America: A History. But the present assault, orchestrated by Trump and MAGA, on the political and social foundations of the U.S. goes beyond “illiberal.” It has many of the markings of a neofascist regime. Some may think otherwise, and they may well be right. In any case, most would agree that the present administration is aggressively white supremacist, hyper nationalist, xenophobic to the extreme, christian fundamentalist, and authoritarian in its pedigree. It seems hardly debatable that Trump and the MAGA movement fall outside of the “bourgeois democratic” boundaries of U.S. politics.

Moreover, this political juggernaut, led by an unstable, demagogic strongman, will retreat, in the first place, only under the sustained pressure of diverse and coordinated actions of a broadly based coalition of actors and organizations — including the Democratic Party.

Currently, such a front is in its early stage of formation, evidenced by the many actions in far flung parts of the country, not least the nation’s capital. It will only grow in size, depth, and understanding.