In thinking about the escalation of violent and racist rhetoric, one should keep in mind that the latter fuels the former. Trump understands and exploits this dynamic at every opportunity. Wasn’t this evident last week when he attacked Mitch McConnell and Elaine Chao, calling her, “The China Loving Wife, Coco Chow?”

The categories/concepts of class and class struggle can be interpreted in the the most narrow, sectarian way and then deployed accordingly. Of late, I notice this phenomenon here and there. But thankfully most political and social activists aren’t going down that daft rabbit hole!

In some strains of Marxism years ago (maybe now too?) “the rule of law” was considered no more than a constitutive element of the capitalist political superstructure. Its function was solely to legitimize as well as conceal capitalist rule and exploitation. That claim, as I see it, was one sided, undialectical, and unhistorical then and remains so now. In the current struggle against Trump and the larger MAGA movement, the defense and application of the rule of law is an integral part of the struggle of the broad based, diverse coalition battling for the preservation and deepening of democracy and democratic rule.