In response to the largest anti-government protests in American history, President Donald Trump issued a call Sunday night for the mass roundup of “millions upon millions” of immigrants. The lengthy social media post, in which he ordered raids and mass arrests by federal agents, uses language that has no parallel in American politics, outside of the ravings of neo-Nazi groups and white supremacists. 

After calling on ICE officers to carry out “the largest Mass Deportation Program in History,” Trump continued:

In order to achieve this, we must expand efforts to detain and deport illegal Aliens in America’s largest Cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, where Millions upon Millions of Illegal Aliens reside. These, and other such Cities, are the core of the Democrat Power Center, where they use Illegal Aliens to expand their Voter Base, cheat in Elections, and grow the Welfare State, robbing good paying Jobs and Benefits from Hardworking American Citizens.

In naming the Democratic Party, the nominal opposition within the framework of the corporate-controlled two-party system, Trump is threatening to abolish what little remains of constitutional democracy in the United States. After this diatribe, why should anyone believe that there will be legitimate elections in 2026? Or in 2028, for that matter, when Trump has declared his interest in seeking an unconstitutional third term in the White House?

Trump’s vituperation against the Democrats has a sinister subtext. His social media post came barely a day after a fascist gunman in Minnesota, Vance Boelter, murdered Democratic state legislator Melissa Hortman and her husband, after shooting another legislator and his wife. The assassin, now captured by police, had a long list of other Democratic legislators, including their addresses, and went to the homes of two other legislators in an unsuccessful effort to extend his killing spree.

Under “normal” conditions, the response of capitalist politicians after such a horrific event would be to strike a posture of unity and plead for “lowering the temperature” of political conflict, as the Democrats did after the killing of Hortman. Trump’s response is the opposite: he pours gasoline on the fire, inciting his followers to target Democrats. 

This is quite deliberate. Trump gave his order to ICE to massively intensify its attacks on immigrants, not through an executive order that would pass down the chain of command to the Department of Homeland Security, but through a posting on social media. He wanted his violent denunciation of the Democrats to reach his fascist online followers and impel some of them to take actions like those of Boelter.

Trump went on to tell ICE agents that “REAL Americans are cheering you on every day.” In other words, the millions who marched on Saturday, in the “No Kings” protests, opposing his dictatorial attacks on immigrants, and condemning the brutal repression delivered by ICE, are not “real” Americans. They are not entitled to have their voices heard, but should rather be ignored or suppressed.

“I have directed my entire Administration to put every resource possible behind this effort,” Trump concluded. “Our Federal Government will continue to be focused on the REMIGRATION of Aliens to the places from where they came, and preventing the admission of ANYONE who undermines the domestic tranquility of the United States.”

Trump’s final words were directed to “ICE, FBI, DEA, ATF, the Patriots at Pentagon and the State Department,” to “GET THE JOB DONE!” The day before, as millions marched in the streets of 2,000 American towns and cities to oppose him, Trump oversaw a military parade in Washington DC. This showcased the troops, tanks, armored vehicles and helicopters which he is planning to use to carry out mass repression against the American people.

After the failure of his military parade to either rally public support or intimidate the popular opposition, Trump is turning to the building of an extraconstitutional, extralegal force. He is telling his fascist followers, more and more overtly, go ahead and do what you need to do, I have your back. Trump has already pardoned and freed the thugs who attacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Those who follow his directives now expect similar support.

While Trump attacks “Radical Left Democrats,” his real target is the working class and large sections of young people. It is they who are becoming radicalized and turning to the left, not the Democratic Party, which is, like the Republican Party, a political instrument of the financial oligarchy.

One of the most salient features of Saturday’s protests was they were organized spontaneously, largely without the involvement of any section of the political establishment. And among those who marched, there is deep hostility towards both capitalist parties. For that very reason, the Democrats are doing their best to downplay the protests, while the media is largely ignoring that they even happened.

The lack of any response to Trump’s threats, in the media and Democratic Party, is another sign of the entire rottenness of the political system. The Democrats do not lift a finger against Trump, even when he brands them as criminals and threatens to target the major cities in which they hold office for mass anti-immigrant repression.

This underscores the perspective of the Socialist Equality Party that the defense of democratic rights must be based on the working class, and is bound up with the creation of new forms of organization, rank-and-file committees, independent of both the Democratic Party and the trade union apparatus.

At a well-attended webinar held by the Socialist Equality Party Sunday, under the title, “Trump’s Coup and How to Stop It,” SEP leaders discussed the issues posed by the parallel events of June 14: the largest-ever anti-government protests, the open mobilization of military force in Washington, and the eruption of right-wing political violence.

The SEP analysis focused attention on the historical dimensions of the present political crisis in the United States, which is the product, not of Trump’s deranged personality, but of the protracted decline of American capitalism and the insoluble problems which now confront a desperate ruling class, seeking to maintain its rule and protect its vast wealth under conditions of a growing movement of the working class, in the US and internationally. The financial oligarchy has no answer to this crisis except imperialist war abroad and political repression and dictatorship at home.

In the statement issued by the SEP and distributed by the thousands at the “No King” demonstrations, we advanced a four-point program to fight Trump’s coup d’état.

• The fight against Trump must be rooted in and led by the working class, centering on the call for a general strike to force out the Trump-Vance administration.
• Mass opposition to Trump’s attacks must be connected to specific democratic demands: withdrawal of troops from American cities, dismantling of ICE; removal and prosecution of those involved in his attempted coup.
• The fight against dictatorship must be waged on an international basis, linking workers in America with their class brothers and sisters in countries around the world.
• The fight against dictatorship and war must be a fight against capitalism and for socialism. The defense of democratic rights requires putting an end to the profit system and vast social inequality on which it is based.

As the SEP statement concludes:

The struggle against dictatorship requires the revival of genuine socialism—rooted in the revolutionary, internationalist traditions of Marxism and embodied in the program and history of the Trotskyist movement and the International Committee of the Fourth International. It is only on this foundation that the working class can build the leadership necessary to confront the immense dangers it faces.

The Trump administration, in all of its actions, demonstrates the historic bankruptcy of capitalism. Humanity is once again confronted with the basic alternatives: socialism or barbarism.