It’s never good to have an idiot, whose hands are on the levers of power of the most powerful country in the world, parading around on the world stage. That he’s an object of derision at these meetings comes as no surprise. We better get rid of this guy next fall. If we do, most of the world community will surely breathe a sigh of relief.
A few bad ideas that some peddle, usually in the guise of a class, radical approach:
1. To explain the present impeachment fight as no more than an expression of an inter-imperialist rivalry between Russia and the U.S. over control of Ukraine.
2. To criticize the Democrats for supposedly reducing the stakes of impeachment to simply a national security issue.
3. To argue that a “real” approach to impeachment would throw “everything but the kitchen sink” into the articles of impeachment that the House Judiciary Committee is now drawing up.
The rise of Trump has taught us that the formation of class understanding is a complicated process. It takes place not only at the “point of production, but well beyond it. It’s a political and cultural as well as an economic phenomenon. Years ago, actually decades ago, the writings of the British Marxist historians, and E.P. Thompson especially, helped me to rethink how I understand class formation and consciousness. Lenin’s writings, albeit in my second reading of them in the early 1990s — “What is to be Done” in particular — did too, while nudging me, at the same time, to take a fresh and critical look at Marxism-Leninism.
I should add to complete the picture that the failure of real life to conform with my understanding of class formation and much else was perhaps the biggest incentive to reappraise my worldview. To sit still seemed illogical as well as a retreat from the spirit of marxism.
That support for impeachment didn’t move from 50 per cent to 60 per cent or more in the aftermath of the impeachment hearings doesn’t surprise me. What does is the assertion that these numbers are baked in and that the upper limit in support for impeachment has been reached. It’s too early to arrive at that conclusion.
I like to think of the impeachment process as a breaking dam and we are seeing the first flush of Trump’s criminality pouring out into public view in a new way. The hearings were a major moment in this process, but there is more to come, not least the formal impeachment document in December and the impeachment trial early next year. In the meantime, fresh disclosures and revelations of the misdeeds of Trump and all will continue to see the light of day. Things are fluid.
Politics becomes an art in present circumstances, much like it was at other grave moments in our country’s history, not least at the time of the Civil War. What this means, among other things, is that reflexive, small circle, comfort zone thinking should be retired by all who see Trump as a clear and present danger.
