Trump and Netanyahu Are Uniting the World Against the US and Israel

We live in troubled and tumultuous times. Political divisions are at a boiling point in many parts of the world; representative democracy in the neoliberal age has become oligarchic; a neofascist specter is haunting Europe while US President Donald Trump has already destroyed much of whatever was left of American democracy; the climate crisis is intensifying; Russia and Ukraine are still locked in battle since Russia launched an invasion more than three years; and we are witnessing an unfolding genocide in Gaza in real time. Moreover, Trump’s America is in open conflict with the world while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has succeeded in confirming Israel’s status as a rogue state and alienating it from the rest of the world.

What happened to democracy, to the rule of law, and to international law? Have Trump and Netanyahu united the world against the United States and Israel? Political scientist, political economist, author and journalist C. J. Polychroniou offers a sobering account of the state of democracy and US foreign policy under the Trump administration in the interview that follows with the French-Greek independent journalist and writer Alexandra Boutri.

Alexandra Boutri: I want to start this interview by asking you a rather blunt question about the current state of politics in the advanced capitalist world. Are we witnessing the end of democracy?

C. J. Polychroniou: Democracy and capitalism are not comparable, as your question seems to imply. Real democracy starts with the premise that all people are equal and that they can control how they are governed, while capitalism is a socioeconomic system where a society’s means of production are owned and controlled by private actors for profit. Capitalism creates wealth but is also an engine of inequality and makes the rich richer and the poor poorer in a relative sense. Capitalism needs rules that serve first and foremost the needs of the capitalist class, and not of the people in general. Indeed, capitalism is inherently undemocratic and can coexist with different forms of political authoritarianism, including dictatorship.

However, over time, thanks to struggles from below with the aim of building non-exploitative societies, the worst effects of capitalism were tamed in developed countries and democratic rights and freedoms flourished and even expanded. In a few cases, of course, revolutionary struggles even led to the collapse of capitalism and its replacement by state socialism, an economic system in which the state owns and controls the means of production and determines societal needs and wants. But while the revolutions in Russia (1917), China (1949), and Cuba (1959) succeeded in eliminating private ownership of the means of production and the creation of goods and services for profit, thereby giving rise to more equal societies and successfully improving living standards, the governments that came into being were anything but democratic. So you had greater equality but very few freedoms. Under capitalism, at least in the developed world, you had greater inequality but a trend of flourishing democratic rights on account of political, social, and economic pressures and demands from below. Instrumental in the shifting relationship between postwar capitalism and democracy was the role of trade unions as agents of social solidarity and the radicalization of the broad public, particularly among workers, due to the immensely important political work carried out by socialist and communist parties in most Western countries.

It is due to these factors that social democracy emerged as a countervailing force to the power of capital. However, social democracy enters a period of severe electoral crisis from the 1990s onwards as it not only failed to provide a meaningful alternative to neoliberal capitalism but social democratic and socialist parties across Europe, including of course the Democratic Party in the United States, accepted many of the basic principles of the neoliberal doctrine, such as privatizations, cuts in welfare state programs, and orthodox fiscal policies. As things now stand, we are living in a period of massive erosion of economic and political rights coupled of course with the resurgence of authoritarian capitalism. In addition, we live in a world of growing inter-imperialist rivalries, the resurgence of genocide and ethnic cleansing, and the complete collapse of international law. I don’t know if it is the 1930s all over again, but humanity is once again living not only in dangerous but dark times.

The Trump phenomenon has exposed the systemic and frightening weaknesses in US institutions and democratic norms.

Alexandra Boutri: Allow me to focus on the United States. How is it possible that Trump is getting away with his extreme agenda of rolling back civil and human rights, destroying the rule of law and undermining the Constitution, launching an unprecedented assault upon the environment, and behaving as “imperial president at home, emperor abroad.”

C. J. Polychroniou: Let me start by saying that there have been massive protests against the Trump administration since returning to the White House. However, it’s obvious that protests are not sufficient on their own to halt Trump’s attacks on civil society and the environment. Many American institutions have failed to meet the moment. They folded under pressure from Trump instead of challenging his anti-democracy project. As for his formal political opponents, the Democratic Party, the situation is ever worse. The Democratic Party has no vision for the future, and its leadership is really for the birds. Hakeem Jeffries, House Minority Leader, and Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader, are the sort of weak and ineffective politicians who are good only for catering to special interests, which is precisely why working-class voters have abandoned the Democratic Party or why polls show that Democrats are deeply pessimistic about the future of their party. Indeed, the Trump phenomenon has exposed the systemic and frightening weaknesses in US institutions and democratic norms. The two-party system is also a complete failure.

Trump has always had a thing for authoritarian thugs, and he plays that role himself to perfection. Except that unlike some other authoritarian thugs out there, Trump is erratic, incompetent, and dangerous. Yet, 40% of Americans approve of Trump’s overall job performance, with 93% of Republicans giving Trump the thumps up. Do these presidential job approval ratings explain in themselves the so-called democratic backsliding in the United States? Unfortunately, I think they do.

Alexandra Boutri: There is a growing consensus that the US-Israel empire, thanks to President Donald Trump acting like an emperor and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s genocide and “greater Israel” vision, is uniting the world against it and that its collapse may not be far away. Do you share such a view?

C. J. Polychroniou: There is of course an element of truth in the statement that Netanyahu and Trump are uniting the world against Israel and the United States. Israel is now a global pariah, viewed as a lawless and criminal state by majorities in many countries, while Trump has succeeded in the amazing feat of pushing friends and enemies of the United States closer to China at a time when Beijing is pushing for a new global order. Indeed, I think it’s accurate to say that Trump is creating an anti-US global coalition, which includes not only China, Russia, and India, but also Turkey, Brazil, and scores of smaller and middle powers who may still be on the sidelines for diplomatic reasons. Trump has suddenly turned against India, and not necessarily for purely economic reasons, or as part of some broader strategy, but mainly because India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi refused to cave to the emperor’s whims, which included his demand of playing the role of peacemaker between India and Pakistan over the Kashmir dispute, and embarked on a collision course with Brazil by launching an unprecedented attack on the country’s government and judicial system and hitting the country with a 50% tariffs over Jair Bolsonaro’s coup-plot trial.

When it comes to US foreign policy under the Trump administration, it seems that only Israel can still have things its own way.

This is what US foreign policy has become under the Trump administration, i.e., an extension of his ego and guided by personal relationships and whims. Trump’s erratic foreign policy moves have even alienated key allies in Europe, although European leaders are too spineless to challenge Trump and many European states continue to find themselves in a vassal position.

When it comes to US foreign policy under the Trump administration, it seems that only Israel can still have things its own way. True enough, US public support for Israel has significantly declined over the years, especially now with genocide unfolding in Gaza and a plan to annex the occupied West Bank. Nonetheless, it is most unlikely that the US will stop giving military aid to Israel even though continuing to do so is illegal under its own laws. Israel is the Middle East’s superpower, and the US would not do anything hasty to punish such a reliable ally over minor inconveniences like genocide and ethnic cleansing.

As far as the part of the statement about the US-Israel empire being not far from collapse is concerned, all I can say is that all empires eventually fall, and the reasons they do seem to be military and economic. But climate change and plagues seem to have played a key role in the collapse of the Roman empire and may very well be the forces that will bring about the total collapse of human civilization, not merely the collapse of the US empire. Of course, you still have the scenario of an all-out, strategic nuclear war erupting between US and its major rivals, Russia and China. And it’s obviously impossible to predict whether it will be nuclear weapons or the climate crisis that will destroy civilization as we know it. Noam Chomsky, though, told me on quite a few occasions that he personally assigned even odds to each catastrophe. Hard agree.