[Pictured: People watch a presidential debate between Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris at the Berkeley Art Museum | Photo Credit: AP]
On Tuesday evening, September 10th, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump squared off in their first and only Presidential debate. The one main takeaway from the debate is that after several decades of lesser-evilism, it has become increasingly difficult to identify who the lesser evil is. This is because the Overton window has shifted so far to the right in the neoliberal era that the space which was once occupied by traditional liberals like FDR and JFK is now a void. The Democrat Party has moved into the realm of Reaganism, paying lip service to race and gender issues to soften its loyalty to corporate governance, capitalist degradation, and war. This has left the Republican Party as the forerunners of late capitalism’s slide from covert to overt fascism, albeit not without an internal struggle led by the entrenched neocons who are now jumping ship to join the Reaganist Democrats.
In this decades-long slide toward overt fascism, Republicans have pushed for an expansion of the Southern Strategy into parts of the Midwest and rural coastline, still relying heavily on racist, bigoted, and xenophobic sensationalism to appeal to voters. This remains a successful strategy in 2024 due to the material degradation caused by late capitalism, which has sparked a reactionary response from “middle-class” whites who feel their privileges slipping away and need a bogeyman to blame. In response, Republicans and conservative media feed them with a never-ending list of scapegoats — illegals, criminals, wokeness, Haitians, etc — designed to provide cover for the real culprits: the capitalist class and corporate governance.
Meanwhile, Democrats have assumed the role of warhawks from the 1980s/90s neocons, using everything from outdated cold-war propaganda to their own brand of xenophobia to push for more wars. The fact that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton both praised Reagan during their campaigns, and Harris pulled a similar move with John McCain on Tuesday, suggests this is a conscious and strategic move to express loyalty to the military industrial complex. It's no coincidence that Dick Cheney recently endorsed Harris.
This brings us to Tuesday’s debate, which made it clear that both parties remain committed to capitalism/imperialism, both support Israel’s genocide of Palestinians, and both serve the same wealthy donors. It also left us with some unanswered questions and a further realization of a solidified convergence between the two capitalist/imperialist parties and their candidates:
Trump believes the states should decide on Roe v. Wade because that is more “democratic.” Does he feel the same about Brown v. Board and segregation?
Harris and Democrats have promised to protect the reproductive rights and bodily autonomy of women for decades, but have ultimately failed to do so. Why should anyone still believe they can and will?
Democrats want war on Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea. Republicans want war on China, Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, and Mexico.
Harris wants to continue the neoliberal economic agenda set by Wall Street. Trump talks about a protectionist/isolationist stance that defies the free-trade orthodoxy while also surrounding himself with Wall Street advisors.
Both candidates brag about draconian border policies and the police state. Both candidates take pride in the empire's violent and destructive military/intelligence occupations abroad, which have destabilized much of the world and ironically created the migration crises in both hemispheres.
The conclusion drawn from not only these debates but the trajectory of politics over the past several decades is that the US empire is in a very late stage. It has spread itself thin while neglecting most of its own population. Capitalism has also reached a very late stage. The rich are running out of blood to suck, and the capitalist state is feeding them with financialized schemes that are not sustainable.
The political system and its two ruling parties are responding in kind, becoming increasingly erratic and unintelligible. As Trump continued to push racist conspiracy theories on Tuesday evening, Harris boasted about the military might of empire. Ultimately, in staying consistent with the past four decades of US politics, nothing of substance was offered to the American people from either side. Perhaps the most tragic element from this is that too many Americans still can’t see it for what it is because mass media is preconditioning minds with propaganda from both sides - liberal and conservative - to obstruct critical thinking and rational analysis. All of this has combined to form an entire system and society that is based on lies, delusions, contradictions, and instability. Truth is difficult to find in such a scenario. And politics have become more irrational than ever.
