Trump may or may not have known about this connection when he tweeted originally. But he certainly did by the time he decided to attack Theresa May in further tweets. Which means that he is quite prepared to use whatever source available to promote his odious views. He is also prepared to ignore the brutal murder of an elected politician. This suggests that he sees himself not just subscribing to but promoting the far right ideas which have gained purchase in a number of countries and which are centred on high levels of racism towards Muslims and towards migrants in general.
The sheer level of hostility to Muslims – who are now subject, in various countries, to bans on travel, clothing, debate in schools and colleges, and much else, is reaching record temperatures. Attacks on Muslims from high profile politicians – and who is more high profile than the US president? – don’t just remain in the domain of political debate but have negative consequences throughout society. The hate speech of the shock jocks, bloggers and politicians translates into attacks on mosques, the enforced removal of hijabs, and a denial of the right to discuss freely issues such as war or Palestine.
While Muslims are at the sharp end of these attacks, they raise the level of racism generally, with a brutalisation of society which treats migrants and their descendants as somehow less worthy of reward, citizenship, or the basic rights accepted for the majority.
It is true that this attitude is most marked among the far right, but it permeates wide swathes of society. Racism within politics, the media and institutions such as the law or the education system is endemic. But in this case, Trump’s tweets were too much even for most politicians and journalists.
Theresa May was forced to speak out against him twice and there is renewed pressure over the proposed state visit – something which looks like more and more of a bad idea from the point of view of the British ruling class. Even the scaled-down visit in the new year, to open the fortress in Battersea which is the new US embassy, is problematic.
However, one of the lessons of modern politics is that today’s foul rants from the fringes of far-right politics can become the mainstream establishment common sense tomorrow. We are seeing this in Germany and Austria for example. The 'respectable' politicians are all too willing to whip up fears if it wins them votes. The misery and insecurity felt by millions in the last decade since the financial crash has also opened up a new era of scapegoating, prejudice and racism.
It is this which creates, in turn, a seedbed where far-right ideas can gain a purchase with much wider layers of people. One important way of dealing with this is to refuse to allow fascist ideas to get this wider purchase and to expose them for what they are from the very beginning. We must refuse to allow them to become normalised. Those like Trump who are prepared to use such ideas for their own ends have also to be called to account. The fascist core at the heart of many far-right political movements also needs to be isolated and defeated before they can develop a serious base. This is why confronting and demonstrating against the far right and fascists is important, as German socialists and anti-fascists did against the AfD in Hanover last weekend.
There does, however, have to be a link between this and wider politics of resistance and change. Anti-racist politics are espoused by many people who have a moral revulsion at racism and fascism, quite rightly. But anti-racist politics which remain at the level of moralism cannot succeed. In order to defeat racism, we also need to provide alternatives to the misery and despair of capitalism which allows such ideas to take hold. If we are to reject the divide and rule that is at heart of capitalist competition, it means providing practical and theoretical solutions to the problems created by capitalism.
That’s a big task but it’s one that the left can’t ignore. Otherwise, we will fail exactly the people we are meant to be representing.
By Lindsey German.
Lindsey is a member of Counterfire a socialist campaigning organisation.
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect this blog.
