Back Into the Breach: Thoughts on the Second Trump Presidency

We shouldn't have to deal with this. But, unfortunately, we're going to.

Unfortunately I spent a chunk of yesterday watching Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth’s appearance before the Senate. Hegseth’s nomination is an incredible indignity. On top of the mountain of accusations against him and the consistent leak of stories regarding his struggles with addiction in the workplace, he is unbelievably unqualified for the position. For Donald Trump, it was the allure of picking the white guy who went on Fox News and heaped him while spouting off his opinions regarding the military and, when discussing why he chose Hegseth, Trump regularly references his “advocacy” for soldiers convicted of war crimes. To add insult to injury, we have to deal with people like Tom Nichols telling us that this is the moment the GOP lost its mantle as the party of “national security.” As if 9/11, Iran-Contra, Nixon and Reagan’s treason, the stolen docs, all of it, just never happened.

Blech.

It’s an abysmal slog. It’s bad enough that Hegseth is, himself, a repulsive jerk, but the possibility of his helming the Department of Defense as we continue to teeter on the brink of World War III that really seals the deal. Of course, we shouldn’t mythologize the position or pretend like it’s some hallowed institution, but putting this asshole in charge at a generationally important moment and waiting for him to deploy the military and shoot protesters is just the putrid icing on top.

In less than a week we will watch Trump sworn in as the 47th President of the United States. He and his cadre of incompetent cronies, creeps, and billionaire robber barons will effectively seize control of the federal government and then we’re off to the races. For the last couple of months I’ve received a host of emails from concerned readers. Some have asked if I thought there was a possibility the Democrats could keep him out of office (no chance), if Jack Smith’s report might do the trick (no way), and what advice I have for people.

I put together a few thoughts on the latter in my article Preparing for the Storm: A Brief Guide to Getting Ready for What’s Coming. But I also want to share what I’m anticipating from the incoming Trump Administration, particularly in the beginning, because I think it’s necessary that people brace themselves.

At the end of the article I’ll provide a list of audios and articles I’ve been compiling as resources. Again, we cannot rest on our laurels and expect our politicians, our media, or our institutions to save us. It’s on us to organize in our communities, our workplaces, and within our circles, in order to fight back against what’s coming.

A Quick Word

There are plenty of lessons we should learn from the First Trump Administration, and I will expand on those in a few moments. But I also want to be clear: this is going to be different. Though we are often fed a narrative that society and America are progressing while also being told that not much is changing - an incredible contradiction that reveals the heart of this ongoing sham of a situation - 2025 America is a much different environment. Trump’s rhetoric, the continuing radicalization of the Republican Party, the Democratic Party’s capitulation, the wealth and oligarchical classes’ manipulation, and deteriorating conditions have placed us square in an incredibly dangerous and fluid situation.

Understanding how our politics and culture have changed, what Neoliberal capitalism and, by extension, the wealth class, wants and needs, as well as taking into consideration the trajectory we’re on and trends that have emerged, is necessary if we’re going to be fully prepared.

Chaos

One thing that will not change is the roiling mayhem that Trump brings with him. Focusing too much on Trump, as he is a figurehead for the wealth class’s agenda, is a surefire way to lose this fight, but we do need to remember that Trump’s performance as a dysfunctional tyrant is an everpresent condition.

Trump is not so much a “leader” as he is a chaos agent. He is a malignant narcissist who filters every issue in the world through his own experience and aggrandizement while aggressively abusing everyone in his path, including subordinates and the American people. As I discussed in the most recent episode Audio From A Collapsing State, authoritarianism is systematic and weaponized abuse, and Trump’s approach to “governing” is marked by this. He pits his loyalists against one another and revels in their battles. He picks unnecessary and maddening fights. He is intellectually bereft and obnoxiously uncurious. And, relatedly, obscenely lazy.

You should prepare for this. Every day that Trump is in power will be exhausting. You’ll wake up in the morning and be greeted with no less than three or four new articles detailing some hairbrained new proposal or revelation (like tossing a nuclear weapon into a hurricane) or outlandish/offensive statement. It will wear your down. We have to learn how to separate the insane ramblings of Trump the person and the lines he’s spewing on behalf of his billionaire benefactors.

What’s important here is to be ready for it. Possibly, in the past, you expected the Democratic Party or even a handful of Republicans to put an end to the nonsense. Or a special report or investigation. Or the media. Now, hopefully, you have come to understand that Trump, as a malevolent force, cannot be allowed to take up too much room in your mind or do too much damage to your well-being. We must do this while also not falling for the “this is a distraction” nonsense that keeps us from looking deeper into his wilder ideas and understanding that he, as an individual, did not come up with the idea to take Greenland but is doing so on behalf of the tech oligarchs who own him and his presidency.

It’s going to be exhausting, but we can’t afford to be taken by surprise or to fail in our understanding of what is happening.

The Media

In the first Trump Presidency our media enjoyed incredible profits by selling the illusion of “resistance” to opponents. The absurd “Democracy Dies In Darkness” tagline at The Washington Post was nothing but a useful slogan and round-the-clock documenting of Trump’s accompanying chaos was incredibly good for business. This approach was made possible because A) Trump lost the popular vote and the reaction was swift and B) the political and cultural environment had yet to fully metamorphasize into its current state.

I wrote about the Morning Joe debacle previously. You’re going to see more where this came from. Already we’re seeing widespread normalization of Trump and the fascistic agenda he’s forwarding and a complete unwillingness to question the wealth class as they, surprise surprise, control these media platforms. Based on segmented marketing, you’re going to see a whole host of different approaches, ranging from state-sponsored-level propaganda (Fox News) that launders everything Trump does and doesn’t do to permission structures created by liberal platforms that give him “the benefit of the doubt” and allow moderates to grow increasingly more conservative and Right Wing. This happened from time-to-time during his first term, but this is likely to be on a whole different level, especially as places like CNN reinvent themselves and MSNBC is possibly sold and refitted for corporate purposes.

This will also be affected by decentralization of media, which is already taking place. A lot of these monopolistic structures are going to give way to forming ventures featuring personalities (see: The Contrarian) and a revitalization of the “this court case / investigation / legal maneuver is going to get Trump!” brand of consumer marketing. I’ll talk more about this at a later date.

As I’ve discussed, it’s time to change the way you consume media. Go into it understanding rhetorical appeals and read between the lines. Identify who is an honest broker and what the speaker/platform/personality’s motivations are.

Immigration / Crackdowns

Trump benefited from the Democratic Party and the liberal media’s embrace of the “immigrant question” and the trend toward supporting deportation and closing of the border. To the delight of his white nationalist crowds, he promised to round up everyone in the country illegally and send them back. A lot of the questions I get from readers and interviewers is whether I think he’ll actually do this.

Most likely not. The American economy is dependent on immigrants. The wealth class that Trump represents is not interested in removing an unprotected and exploitable labor force. That would cost them ungodly amounts of profit. They do, however, benefit from this environment as it allows them to exploit these workers with the assistance of a racist, xenophobic, terrified public that can be easily controlled and manipulated and their anger at the wealth class displaced onto political enemies and vulnerable communities.

What I think is more likely is a show of force by Trump and the administration. If I had to venture a guess, not long after his inauguration we’ll see a very loud and very public push for deportation that will showcase activities by law enforcement, the military, and paramilitary groups. There will be some high-profile raids that will be shown on the evening news and some “criminal” immigrants will be front and center as a means of normalizing the action. It is highly likely that these actions will set off near-pogroms in which radicalized Americans go into business for themselves in order to “assist” the program. It will be ugly and brutal and create the type of “emergency” environment authoritarians need to operate in. It is likely in this period you will get an unflinching glimpse at who our politicians are and what your friends, family members, neighbors, and coworkers actually believe.

The purpose is to fortify the exploitative environment in which immigrants can be taken advantage of and, with increased fear, keep them from seeking remedies to worsening treatment. As well, it will likely feed into a larger narrative that Trump and company will need more power in order to dole out violence to “protect” America. The country, they say, is under attack. They’ll tout a load of threats, including completely imagined ones, and over time that threat will expand to protesters and anyone opposing this agenda. We’ve already seen developments that point to this, including the actions taken against campus protests and the beefing up of surveillance and law enforcement systems. What will be necessary is an early punch in the face to the American people - a warning and display of violence and domination that could likely dissuade future protests or resistance.

If you haven’t before, it’s time to learn about the First Red Scare following World War I and how this led to organized attacks on Black Americans and the Left. Oh, and then the Second Red Scare following World War II, which was a front for attacking Leftists, women, gay people, and Black Americans.

I assume you catch my drift.

The Political Environment

This is one of the easier things to predict.

The Republican Party will fight amongst itself over who supports Trump the most and you’ll see handful of them spotlit, threatened, and humiliated. This includes members of Trump’s cabinet. If I had to guess, Marco Rubio is heading for some hard times. Trump’s failures and struggles will be blamed on insidious conspiracies and Deep State plots, even as the Project 2025 / wealth class think-tank ghouls hollow out the administrative state and replace longtimers with chosen goons. The party will radicalize further and further and likely push for disastrous tax cuts, more rigging of the economy, endless deregulation, and more and more symbiosis with the oligarchs.

The Democrats will fight amongst themselves as the schism between the moderate neoliberals and any members wanting to break the consensus. The purse strings are still controlled by the corporatists, so the majority will likely break with wealth class interests and normalize Trump’s antics. From time to time you’ll hear about their “concerns.” Because of course you will.

What I’ll be interested in, as an observer but also as an organizer, is whether grassroots coalitions and labor unions will press the issue. I think we should a decent idea by the end of 2025 whether there is momentum building there or if the powers that be have cut it off at the knees. Or, well, whether the will to stand against this has run dry.

Culture

Again, the corporate producers of movies, television shows, and music have been selling their products as a simulation of resistance, creating a culture over the past decade that prioritizes inclusivity and progress, thereby triggering a Right Wing reactionary movement based on consumer outrage and fear. This was never ideological but opportunistic.

Accompanying Trump’s return to the White House will be a conservative and Rightward moving period that lionizes white men, vigilante violence, unchecked capitalism, and a return to patriarchal themes. If you want an example of how this works, simply look at the 1980’s and the cultural trends that went along with Ronald Reagan and the birth of the Neoliberal consensus. Be prepared for jingoistic themes. Waving flags. Revisionist history that reinterprets everything from World War II to the War on Terror. History as a base for popular culture is about to be twisted to the point of breaking, which is essential for forming the authoritarian reality.

Women will be portrayed in traditional gender terms, homemaking and child-bearing emphasized, gay and trans people will likely be mostly erased from popular culture save for some highly specific demographic targeting entertainments, and minorities of all designations will retreat into the background as white men are lionized and featured.

You’re also likely to become very sick of seeing American-themed graphics everywhere.

Foreign Policy

I’ve said many times that Trump is a symptom of a larger disease, mainly that capitalism has created the conditions for an authoritarian turn within the United States and around the world. We’ve seen what he does as a leader and how he cozies up to authoritarians. Prepare for Vladimir Putin to be welcomed back to “polite society” and the international order. This will coincide with American allies like France, the UK, Germany, and Canada becoming more radicalized and possibly taken over by MAGA/Putin-like authoritarians who peddle the same conspiracy theories and promote the same illiberal agendas.

What I’ve long worried about was when MAGA, as a self-proclaimed isolationist movement, would come to embrace militarism. That’s likely to happen now. The foundations have been laid for everything from a “war” with Mexico to the normalization of conquest in Greenland or with the Panama Canal. Trump will flex imperialist muscle in the pursuit of resources for his wealth class masters, and we’re already seeing that this will be supported by permission structures within our media. If he decides to attack another country or saber rattle, everyone is going to jump on board. This is due, in part, to the psychological need of many Americans to move past the depressing and demoralizing stage of decline and into a manic reaction. This could get very bad very quickly.

The Oligarchy

Behind Trump’s screaming and fearmongering, his benefactors are going to have the time of their lives. What remains of regulation will be shredded as much as possible. Contracts are going to be given out to which billionaires can perform fealty the best in the form of verbal worship and also rivers of bribes and corruption. In the past you might have gained a sense that our government was serving the interest of the wealth class, but in this iteration it is going to be very obvious. They’ll dress it up patriotic rhetoric and fearmongering, but very little of it will be hidden. Because there simply isn’t a need anymore.

There are a few things I’ll be watching. One is how the tech oligarchs intersect with governmental power regarding surveillance and law enforcement. The modern surveillance capitalism system affects our reality and unconscious, but it is also the most historically powerful surveillance system ever created. In the past it was used to search for “terrorists.” How quickly that term gets thrown around in reference to people opposing this regime, people interested in helping protect immigrants and women and gay and trans people, will be telling. At some point it will be overt. You’ll wake up and see a headline like “Elon Musk handed FBI/DOJ messages/search history/communication using X.” This is where the mask comes off completely. The question is whether it will start quickly or if it will take time and be saved. How aggressive they get with their weapons will tell us a lot.

The other thing is whether there is a cultural and grassroots backlash. If we start seeing partisan Red/Blue politics fall by the wayside and begin watching more conversations about class focusing on the oligarchical class, then we’ll know part of the direction this is heading in. That will likely lead to a scenario like the one I described above, as well as repressive law enforcement tactics and even deployment of troops, but I do expect conditions are ripe for some kind of disturbance or protest movement. There are several actions being taken to ward that off, and the crackdown I described will be a component of that. If this doesn’t emerge then I have questions about the possibility of an actual movement coming to pass, but history tells us we will likely see clashes, whether it’s protests, labor actions, or something else entirely.

Conclusion

Again, I’ve talked pretty regularly about the need to organize on the local level. A lot of what I’ve described here is beyond your control, but what you’re able to do in your life and in your work and in your day-to-day activities goes a long way in affecting all of this. You are about to be thrown into a swirling maelstrom and it will take a toll. You need to anchor down in your principles, find the people you can trust, and lay the foundation for something that will bolster you and allow you to fight back as this thing gets worse.

Below I have resources that I’ve been compiling. We’ll talk more in this week’s episode of Audio From A Collapsing State about all of this, and we’ll continue to work through the steps of organizing and getting ourselves prepared for the fight that’s coming.

Resources

• Beginning to Resist: Thoughts on how we, as individuals, should spend the months leading up to the second Trump presidency and preparing for the cruel austerity his wealth class donors are going to unleash.

• What the Hell is Going On: Here is an explainer regarding our present circumstances for anyone who has had a feeling that the traditional Democrat / Republican / Red / Blue narrative was hiding something. Here, we go through the problems in the United States and how the wealth class has effectively put itself in a position to totally takeover our government.

• The Oligarchical Order: A primer on how to give up conventional and failed political understandings in favor of seeing how capitalism directs the course of events and where it is leading and what to expect.

• Authoritarianism and the Crisis of Meaning: Here we get into how consumerism represents an addictive drug that has hollowed out our sense of purpose, leaving us to take this as a moment of self-reflection, recognize that we have effectively been made to hate and doubt ourselves, thereby keeping us from realizing we deserve better.

• Americans Should Learn From South Koreans: The attempted coup in South Korea serves as an incredible example for how popular mobilization among the population can change the political paradigm and undermine authoritarian power grabs. We should pay attention and take heed.

• A Thoroughly Confused Country: Americans have little in the way of class consciousness, which was an intentional state desired by the wealth class. This primer gets into the class makeup of the United States, including contradictions and motivations, that will be crucial in understanding as we do our work.

• Authoritarianism as Clarity: As authoritarians take power, the world becomes a lot clearer. We can see who we can trust and who we shouldn’t. This episode gets into the history of Vichy France and the lessons we can learn on how to operate as individuals within an authoritarian environment.

• Fostering Hope in Hard Times: Some thoughts on how to maintain hope as authoritarianism sweeps in.

• Preparing For the Storm: A few thoughts on what you should be doing here in the beginning of the year to prepare yourself mentally, emotionally, and in terms of security.

• Understanding the Enemy: A guide through the evolution of capitalism from free markets to its current evolving form - oligarchical authoritarianism, as well as insights into how our politics has made this change happen and moments in which the evolution has been curbed.