We know voting in bourgeois USian democracy is only affected by people in swing states (and even that is "which ghoul do you want to administer the dictatorship of capital") but hear me out.
A comrade recently posted about ironically or unironically (I didn't read enough into the thread) voting for AfD in Germany and it reminded me of a WaPo article that read:
"Several U.S. military leaders have advised Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that prolonging large-scale operations against Iran is unsustainable and risks weakening their ability to confront threats elsewhere, including the U.S. homeland, according to people familiar with a recent assessment prepared for the Pentagon chief."
So it got me thinking, by continuing to overextend the military, as empires do, are we actually seeing "two, three, many Vietnams"? Is the way to exhaust the empire's military into submission to vote for Trump? On one hand we have the King of Hubris (hubris being the guarantor of empire decline) and on the other hand things might have played out this way while wearing a Democrat mask, too, as we know the real driving force is capital accumulation and Epstein island retreats. The down side is the harm that comes to marginalized and oppressed people, which again also happens under Dems when it's their turn to protect capital accumulation and Epstein island retreats. I know in Germany it's different because there are several parties but in the US we're a one party state, but with typical American extravagance, we have two of them (shout out to Julius Nyerere). So would voting for Republicans be a net positive for the world and the demise of capitalism? Should we just abstain from voting? Vote blue for harm reduction?
A big piece of evidence for this theory comes from my personal experience- how many people I know afk that are now (recently) radicalized. People I wouldn't expect in a million years to actually be down with changing the system are now fervent revolutionaries. Comrade Trump is the greatest left wing organizer since Lenin. That's right I said it.
That implies the goal is building socialism in the US instead of just bogging down the imperial hegemony blocking socialism everywhere else.
I can't say this is good strategy, but I'm pretty convinced Trump is the lesser evil (not on purpose either) when compared with the other bourgeois party. But again, voting in bourgeois parliaments is not praxis.
Even by this metric, I don't think that you can make the argument Trump has done Socialism in Venezuela or Cuba any favors
Of course, he is very actively trying to hamstring any socialist projects. He is just slightly less competent at it than the Dems IMO. This is not a material difference, so is negligible overall in terms of importance. No one should be working for Trump thinking it will benefit socialism in any way whatsoever.
No, the working class is international. It exists in the US, it exists in the third world. The working class everywhere, including he US, is terrorized by Trumps admin. What you're proposing is not a viable tactic, it is not a viable strategy.
Lenin advocated participating in bourgeois elections and even wrote a whole book about it, and how people who were absolutists were politically undeveloped. Participating in elections isn't a revolutionary strategy, but it can be a part of one.
Lesser evilism, but for MAGA? How does taking the #1 thing we criticize the democrats for and using it to support Trump make any sense? You are incoherent.
I did not propose anything, certainly not voting for Trump as a harm reduction strategy. I'm just pointing out that Trump has probably done less damage to international socialism than a marginally more intelligent imperial admin run by the Dems would have.
The Vaush argument is not an effective one. Lenin was certainly not suggesting to vote for Dems.
This is an uncharitable read of what I was saying. Do not mistake me for a lib suggesting that you vote for or support the lesser evil. Supporting Trump for this reason is as foolish as when we criticize the dems for it. Our point should be that lesser-evilism is not an effective strategy to achieving our goals. Who tf cares who the lesser evil is if it is evil regardless?
I was merely suggesting that if we look at the actions of bourgeois leaders, Trump is creating an environment more favorable to the objective of liberating the world from American imperialism by overextending the military on strategic blunders while diminishing American soft power on silly threats towards euroklanadian crackkker countries.
Operationally, from the standpoint of building socialism in the US, Trump probably does make things harder. My point is that US hegemony will be destroyed by developing areas in the global south, not expecting some bs white savior syndrome of Marxist revolution in the US before then.
What I said is only incoherent if you are inferring shit that I did not imply. Ffs do I need a dozen asterisks on Hexbear so people dont read this shit as support for Trump? I expect that shit from liberal.world, but not here.
I think you're imagining socialism as something separate from the working class, and imperialism as something essentially USAmerican. The interests of the capitalists and the workers are total opposites. Contradictions abound, and capitalism creates its own grave diggers, but Trump reps the interests of the capitalists, just like the democrats, and inflicts horrible attacks on the working class all over the world.
You haven't provided any evidence to the contrary so I dont know why you feel the need to point out that Trump is better for socialism than the democrats, it seems like you're over thinking, trying to have a take. There is clearly a lot of confusion in this post and I dont think you're helping clear up any of it. Like, you throw that Lenin chapter in my face, compare me to Vaush, when Lenin is explicit about strategy and tactics:
You aren't suggesting a tactic or a strat, based on your own defense. So what exactly is the point? You're making a highly controversial claim with no evidence and then get upset when someone takes you at your word. It seems like you're a little too in your head and need to get out and do some actual organizing work.
But I appreciate the lengthier response.