a Twitter thread from @HamptonThink

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The real tragedy of the Trump phenomenon is that it has roots in some very accurate observations: the government IS a corrupt "swamp," the "deep state" and military industrial complex DO have undue control, and mass media IS mostly "fake news" (propaganda). But what it misses..

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completely, or intentionally covers up, is the fact that all these things, which are direct byproducts of capitalism/imperialism, have developed over the course of two centuries for the purpose of benefitting and protecting capitalists like Trump, both in the US and throughout

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the world. In fact, Trump, as we know him, would not exist without them. Despite this, he has ascended to the role of an "anti-establishment opponent" of the very state that has created him – the capitalist state.

In his ascension, Trump has captured the loyalty of millions who,

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ironically, have been beaten down by these same systems that exist and operate just so the Trumps of the world can continue to thrive. This is yet another intense contradiction stemming from capitalist modes of production and the corollary systems (government, media, etc.) that

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have sprung to protect and justify an economic base that is highly exploitative and alienating, even to the most privileged sectors of the working classes within the imperialist core, who have experienced their own deteriorating conditions during capitalism's neoliberal

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(late-stage) era. These contradictions, which make no sense on the surface, can only be seen with a firm understanding of capitalist/imperialist developments as a historical process.

Trump’s “solutions,” which center around isolationism and doubling down on capital’s

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authoritarian grip, both through domestic policing (“law and order”) and global strength (confrontation with China and “military power”), would do little to alleviate the societal ills that plague the US because, quite frankly, they are just a slightly modified recipe for the

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same disastrous course we already on. Just as the “solutions” coming from the traditional ruling class (Democrats and Republicans) call for much of the same – increased police budgets, confronting Russia, expanding NATO, deregulation, bailouts, and incessantly feeding capital

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while ignoring the widespread despair experienced by the working-class majority.

At the end of the day, while appearing as a “break from the establishment,” Trump represents a mere split within the same capitalist ruling class that has led us to the brink of disaster,

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manipulating millions of desperate people with emotional tugs that will inevitably corral us all into a slaughterhouse. Meanwhile, the supposed alternative, which is the “establishment” (Democrats, Republicans, media), has already brought us to the gates of the slaughterhouse.

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Draining the swamp, destroying the deep state and military industrial complex, and eliminating corporate “fake news” can only be accomplished by burying capitalism, ridding ourselves of the parasitic capitalist/owning class, dismantling the repressive bourgeois government that

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enslaves us, and implementing a new economic system that places the means of production in the hands of the people.

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