What the “Trump Phenomenon” Says About the State of Class Consciousness in America

What the “Trump Phenomenon” Says About the State of Class Consciousness in America


Sigmund Freud defined an illusion as a false belief whose underlying motive is wish fulfillment. By this definition the perception that an all too large portion of the working-class electorate has of Donald Trump, as their tribune and champion, is a very understandable illusion. The American working class feels itself to be in dire need of a champion because it finds itself in such dire straits in our era of late capitalism. Its worsening precarization and pauperization has set it up to fall easy prey to a demagogue who portrays himself as its savior.

But there's of course another equally obvious reason that much of the working-class public has swallowed the illusory bill of goods that Donald Trump is hawking. The American people have been thoroughly sold the myth that it's one of the sunny features of American execptionalism that workingpeople on this side of the pond can safely dispense with the concept of class; that, all evidence to the contrary, the division of society into socioeconomic classes with conflicting interests is not in the slightest a reality of American society.

That a good many American workers are still gravely stuck in this class unconsciousness that protects the capitalist ruling class from the growth of blue-collar disgruntlement into a full-fledged class struggle that would topple the plutocrats at the top of the class totem pole is certainly not just the result of serendipity operating in favor of capitalist elites.

For some time now, conservatives and other pro-capitalists, the mass media and popular culture have done their level best to nip class consciousness in the bud. They've dedicated themselves to repeatedly telling the big lie that the United States is an ideally classless society. They've taught the man and woman on the street to dismiss the notion of class as divisive, and to demonize those who promote it as sowers of discontent. They've thereby conditioned Joe and Jane Sixpack to view the very idea of class as a dangerous and un-American foreign import rather than a fact of life that it would behoove workingpeople to come to terms with. They've succeeded all too well in making the exceptionalist hype that America is a perfectly meritocratic, classless society a part of American patriotism and chauvinism.

And today, in this election year, we're witnessing the fruit borne by all of this highly effective propagandizing against class consciousness. The successful discouragement of class awareness has made it absurdly and dangerously possible for a narcissistic, career capitalist like Donald Trump to hoodwink a great many blue-collar folks into counterintuitively believing that he's their man. This despite the outrageous blatancy of his unmitigated inability to genuinely identify with wage earners, his total lack of sincere compassion for the less fortunate, and his proposal of remedies for America's economic ills that would in fact only benefit members of his own class!

Regrettably, there's no way around it, it has to be viewed as extremely sad commentary on the level of class consciousness of Americans that despite the obscene income inequality that prevails today, a disturbing percentage of the 99% are capable of remaining in almost clinical denial about the significance of class, and of taking a flaming member of the 1% to be their knight in shining armor.

And, of course, the lack of class consciousness is also an underlying and significant factor making for the immigrant-phobia, racism, and sexism that Trump's campaign features, because when people fail to correctly identify the capitalist system and its power elites as the ultimate source of the economy's woes, they tend to go in for the scapegoating explanations proffered by demagogues of The Donald's ilk. This is yet another way in which class unconsciousness explains the Trump phenomenon. (And, by the way, it points up the fact that rather than class consciousness being divisive, it's actually the lack of class awareness that leaves people susceptible to scapegoating and conspiracy theories and thereby leads to divisive identity politics, i.e. the ugly divisiveness of racism, sexism, and homophobia.)

But this election year also makes it quite evident that the right and the Republican Party has had way too much success in creating a class-unconscious, ideologically dumbed-down lowest common denominator to pander to. The lowest common denominator (the Tea Party and the alt-right) has taken over the asylum (the conservative movement and the Republican Party) and is trashing whatever undeserved credibility their side of the aisle once enjoyed by outing it as the bastion of bigotry that it's always been (just think back to the John Birch Society!)

But, it being darkest before the dawn, this is potentially a quite hopeful development for our society's political life. Trump's hardcore supporters are of course appallingly unbothered by the darkness that he personifies and promotes, the class unconsciousness that he cynically takes advantage of, the hateful politics of division that he stands for (if he sincerely stands for anything). But, by letting the ugly isms and phobias, the racism, sexism, and heterosexism, the immigrant-phobia and Islamophobia of the right all hang out so glaringly, Mr. Trump may actually do our society the service of turning its masses against the right, and eventually effect a swing toward the values of the left. So, although the words would currently stick in our throat, perhaps one day we might be able to say “Thank you for your service, Mr. Trump”.

At any rate, the mass appeal of Donald Trump's demagogic shtick should be recognized by the left as a clarion call of duty to redouble its efforts to raise class consciousness. It's imperative that the left heroically rise to the challenges presented by this critical historical occasion. After all, nothing less than the soul of the nation and the survival of its body politic is at stake, and only socialists possess the class awareness that's capable of saving us from the kind of doomed future that the likes of Donald Trump are trying to beguile and bully the American electorate toward.

In conclusion, cultivate some class consciousness already folks, and then you'll realize that if you're a workingwoman or workingman (or workinghermaphrodite, for that matter) and you vote for Trump you're a major chump.

 

My apologies, btw, for being a bit prolix.

 

How does this not apply to those in the working class electorate that support Hillary, and the platform upon which Hillary runs?

 

Yes, it can be stipulated that Mrs. Clinton is certainly a "consenting party" to the capitalist status quo. Mm-hmm, like virtually all high-level politicos she functions to uphold the plutocratic power structure of our society, but Mr. Trump is an obviously more extreme, unabashed case of a member of the elite who will function as a protector and promoter of the special interests of the economic elite, to the severe detriment of poor whites, minorities, the already sufficiently victimized-by-America masses of the Third World, and the planet's ecosphere. And, in addition, well, he suffers from a narcissistic personality disorder that it doesn't take a psychiatrist to diagnose, and he blatantly promotes the racism that the inequities and injustices of a capitalist society body forth as. In short, he's an ugly caricature of an alpha male with a social-dominance oriented mentality that frequently veers into racism and sexism, i.e. he's clearly the more dangerous individual to put in the White House.

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Mr. Trump is of course a narcissistic, capitalist anal aperture (you can substitute the obvious crude colloquial term here), but the white working-class voters who support his campaign are counting on him only being an anal aperture to other groups, to immigrants, Muslims, and minorities. This is a gamble that may pay off for The Donald, but it will certainly make tragic losers of Caucasian proletarians who foolishly cast their ballot for him. For Mr. Trump can certainly be depended upon to visit his anal aperture-ness upon: below-the-poverty-line whites, whites dealing with various socioeconomic challenges, physically disabled whites, whites coping with the environmental troubles inflicted on them by the corporate powers that be, and wage-earning whites in general; in short, all of this country's white citizens, except of course its predominantly white, male, capitalist elites, the exclusive group that Mr. Trump will genuinely identify with and function as a champion of. An anal aperture of Donald Trump's ilk is rather like the scorpion in the well-worn proverb, being an anal aperture is in fact so much a part of his character that he'll very predictably betray the naive trust of the portion of the white working-class electorate that puts him in the White House and fairly promptly sting them in the backside. Wake up working-class white Trump supporters, before you cast a vote that you soon come to regret, before you make yourselves complicit in inflicting a great misfortune on this nation.

 

Well, to quote another individual who had a pretty dreadful mentality and was utterly unqualified to be president, Ronald Reagan (recall his appalling and sick-minded Cold War era remark to the effect that he would rather have seen the lives of all of the lovely children of America snuffed out in a nuclear conflagration than entertain the prospect of them growing up to become socialists; and his staunch support for an El Salvadoran regime that instigated the savage rape and murder of progressive Roman Catholic nuns — so much for conservatives like Mr. Reagan being genuinely pro-life!), “There he goes again”. Yes, Mr. Trump has once again, in a barely subtle fashion, offered encouragement for the assassination of Mrs. Clinton.

Stage magicians do something called “forcing” a card, or whatnot, which involves directing a subject to pick a specific playing card, or to do something without actually explicitly instructing him/her to do it. Mr. Trump seems to have taken a page from their book, and to be trying to force the murder of Mrs. Clinton. Apparently, like football coach Henry Sanders, Mr. Trump’s “winner’s” mentality thinks in amoral terms of winning being “the only thing”, the only thing that truly matters, even if it’s achieved as a result of the violent death of his opponent. This is of course because Mr. Trump is utterly driven by egomania, and his pathetically needy ego will latch on to any win whatsoever in order to maintain the delusion of grandeur that it’s snugly ensconced in (this operating out of a conscienceless egoism, a blatant sense of one’s own superiority, and a sense of entitlement to say or do whatever one feels like saying or doing regardless of the potential consequences, is in fact characteristic, by the way, of a narcissistic sociopath).

Well, if you or I were to make comments that forced, or positively hinted at the possibility or desirability of, the assassination of a major-party presidential candidate we would promptly go on the Secret Service’s, and the FBI’s radar, we would be swiftly hauled in for questioning, our lives would be severely disrupted by the fallout visited upon us by law enforcement, and we would suffer at least the consequence of an enormous amount of stress. But Mr. Trump enjoys the protected status of being a presidential candidate, and a member of this country’s economic elite, so he doesn’t have to pay the same steep price that the average criminally trash-talking, assassination-inciting American citizen would. Yes, being a rich Republican running for president has its perks.

At any rate, folks, I once again ask, is this really the kind of mentality that you wish to elevate to the highest and most powerful political office in the nation?!

 

At this point what difference does it make

At any rate, folks, I once again ask, is this really the kind of mentality that you wish to elevate to the highest and most powerful political office in the nation?!

Last edited by charleslb; Today at 02:37 PM.

 

In a nutshell...dumbing-down on steroids. I crack up when some nitwit poster drinking gallons of Kool-Aid talks about trump as if he's not one of the entitled self-serving elites.

 

This is the same bill of goods Democrats sell every election.

I think what Donald presents is the hope that the Government can find ways to solve problems.

Frankly I have no hope Donald can solve hiring problems. Nice of him to think he can though.

 

[MENTION=65142]PeppermintTwist[/MENTION]

Obama joined that group with Bill and Hillary Clinton.

If you think they worry about you, guess again.

I have no doubt that since he was still a teen. Donald has worked hard for his achievements.

When you are a politician as are the Clintons, fame is automatic. For Donald his rise was not due to fame.

Fame is how a person gets extremely rich. Ask Oprah Winfrey if you don't think her fame made her extremely rich.

The Clinton's may go from broke to billionaire class if they keep this going. If she wins, more cash in her pocket.

Trump already writes books and appears on TV so I have no doubt at all even he will prosper more when he wins the presidency.

 

I will sum it up for you

Trump support comes from people that have been ignored, marginalized and blamed for the last decade and when they do speak up with legitimate concerns and complaints they get called racist islamophobe and xenophobes get compared to the KKK and Nazis what Clinton likes to call the deplorables and they have had enough
It is that simple

 

I could call anyone voting for Hillary a world class chump...

 

Sounds like something straight out of Marx.

 

FYI, Jim Jones was a democrat, most of his followers were democrats and he rubbed elbows with
some very infamous California Democrat politicians. Keep that in mind when you talk about who
is drinking the Kool-Aid.

 

Nonsense.
Only people predisposed to opposing Trump took his statement to mean what you take it to mean.

 

IN other words, all the Trump supporters are voting with a YUGE CHIP ON THEIR SHOULDERS. I AGREE.

 

Clinton builds the basket and Trumps fills it up.

 

An angry vote counts as much as any other vote and when you anger a majority you can kiss your election hopes goodbye
also an angry vote is a motivated vote

 

The prospect of this country's electorate giving enormous power to a character such as Mr. Trump, i.e. someone who's empathy-challenged and narcissistic to the point of being a veritable sociopath, in fact matters. Although I of course don't subscribe to the outdated great man theory of history (according to which history is simply wrought by individual leaders), a horrendous individual such as Trump is still capable of making a horrendous difference.

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Thank you for the compliment.

 

I agree that anyone who believes that Mrs. Clinton is an enlightened leftist is a dupe. She, like most high-level politicians in a capitalist society, is merely a "consenting party to the status quo"; i.e., a representative of the capitalist ruling class, not the 99%. However, at least she's not a flaming racist/race baiter, sexist, immigrant-phobe, Islamophobe, anti-Semite, and all-around throwback to the bad old days when being a racist, sexist, immigrant-phobe, anti-Muslim bigot, and anti-Semite was acceptable. And anyone who doesn't appreciate this significant difference between Mr. Trump an Mrs. Clinton is in fact a simpleton.

 

Or is it the case that only Trump supporters are in denial about how truly appalling some of his statements are, preferring to rationalize or dismiss their significance rather than face the ugly reality of the mentality of the candidate whom they support.

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Well, last night The Donald was once again at perpetrating the fraud of trying to portray himself as a man of the common people, an advocate of the working masses! LOL!!!!!!!!!!! Of course in reality he's a raging egotist, a flaming narcissist who is 100% preoccupied with seeking self-aggrandizement by running for president of the United States, and has room in his mind and heart for absolutely zero genuine interest in the plight of workingpeople.

Moreover, he's a member of the economic elite, the plutocratic establishment (regardless of his preposterous efforts to sell himself as an outsider), and therefore his true interests are those of his exclusive class, not the struggling-to-make-ends-meet masses, with whom he can't really relate in the slightest. And it's through the special interests of the economic elite, through a perspective and orientation shaped by his class interests, that he interprets life, and the various social and economic problems of our society. Consequently, Mr. Trump's cures for what ails our society will in fact mainly benefit Mr. Trump, and his fellow economic power elites, which he will merely and facilely rationalize as being good for the rest of the country's populace (the old "What's good for General Motors is good for America" rationalization).

No, workingwomen and men of America, Mr. Trump will not rescue you from all of the adversity thrown your way by the capitalist system. Rather, he embodies and personifies the tendencies of the capitalist system that immiserate you. He's quite simply a cartoon caricature of a capitalist alpha male, with all of the empathy and compassion (that would be zero empathy and compassion, if that's not already abundantly obvious to you) that capitalist alpha males are known for. That is, he's quite simply a mean-spirited clown who's rich primarily as a result of an accident of birth (i.e., because his daddy was one of the fattest fat cats in New York), and it would be foolish to expect him to be a serious chief executive of the government, let alone a caring friend of the little guy & gal. Yes, think critically proletarians of America, and realize that he's not your hero, not in this or even the most far-fetched alternate reality.

 

Did you cut and paste this from CommunistPartyUSA.org ?

http://www.cpusa.org/article/what-the-trump-phenomenon-says-about-class-consciousness/

 

Sounds like academia is providing us with a good supply of cultural Marxist these days.
Admitting they are Hillary supporters is a problem for them for some reason.

 

Voting for either Trump or Clinton makes one a major chump. Neither belong within 240,000 miles of the oval office. The fact that our two major parties decided to give us these nominees shows both has lost touch with real America. Both parties live in a locked room in the corner of a building completely shut off from mainstream America. All either party cares about is their party, not the people, not America as a whole, not this nation, only their party. If they cared, we would have two completely different candidates running for the presidency today instead of these _________ fill in the black with whatever derogatory word or words fit.

 

You labor under the illusion that capitalism is what's at lay here when what we are really operating and have been since WWII along with most of the rest of the Western pseudo democracies is a neo fascist state in which the illusion of private ownership continues to exist but the reality is that the government through a series of ever more draconian regulatory scheme has reduced corporations to tributary entities in which CEOs and boards of directors are little more than an additional layer of bureaucracy whose primary job is to try to make all this regulatory claptrap work. That task is becoming increasingly difficult and in the US nearly impossible because there are so many different governmental entities writing rules and regulations. This is largely why so many western economies are barely in the black. It is not capitalism that is failing it is state run socialism once removed and it is largely failing because bureaucrats what ever the class may think are not omniscient omnipresent and omnipotent.

 

I look back on the past presidents and none have been so much of a threat
to democracy and our Constitution as the current President. Yet you are not
in the least bit worried about him and (my guess is) not in the least bit aware
of his extra-constitutional actions. I bet you have no problem with the usurpation
of power by the executive or the judicial branches of government. If you truly
were concerned about what a President Trump may portend for people of your
political persuasion, then you should have been equally alarmed at the actions
of Obama over his two terms. But your not. The purpose of the Constitution is
a document which is supposed to limit the power of the government, and preserve
our freedoms. Now, there is not much we can do without first getting permission
from the government. I don't see a President Trump ever doing anything to take
away a right from any American, as President Obama has. You might lose the
right to take other American's money for you own uses.