Trump returns as president: Our side speaks.

Six commentaries & videos on why he won, what he may mean for the US & world, and what opportunities may arise for progressive forces.

Cover art by my mate Glyn Goodwin, which we are using for a second time. THANK YOU.

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By Alan Story

“Welcome home” Joe Biden called out to his predecessor and successor as US president, namely Donald J. Trump, as Trump and his partner Melania came onto the porch at the White House in Washington yesterday ( 20 January.)

It certainly was Trump’s big day. Before it was over, he had once again become the world’s most powerful politician and commander-in-chief of the world’s most powerful armed forces, delivered a 30-minute inaugural address, signed a lorry load of executive orders - all reactionary to the core – and he even had time for a dance or two with Melania at a presidential ball.

The mainstream media has had its say and most mainstream politicians, here and elsewhere, have as well. Even Liz Trump – sorry Truss – got her quote and photo into the media; see below.

But what of commentators who don’t “welcome home” Trump… and who may speak on behalf of the 99% as they/ we used to be called? Did BBC News, for example, carry an in-depth interview with US journalist Chris Hedges who is a leading expert on Israel and Palestine and ask him what Trump’s policies may mean here? What a daft question! Our media is a closed loop.

Today THE LEFT LANE carries the views of such commentators, progressives and socialists, who are trying to answer questions such as what Trump's presidency will mean, why he won and what opportunities it opens up for progressive forces.

Jump in below and make your own comments.

“Exeunt, The Man from Scranton” by Patrick Lawrence (READ HERE)

Joe Biden in July 2024, days before he was forced out of the race to be as re-elected as US president.

Writing in ScheerPost, US journalist Lawrence assesses the presidential record of Joe Biden. He begins: “I honestly do not think Joe Biden ever had a chance to make sense of his four years as president.” Lawrence continues that former US House speaker Nancy Pelosi remarked “that Joe Biden now ‘takes his place in the pantheon of American democracy.’ See what I mean by making things up? See what I mean by ridiculous?” He concludes that Biden “has hankered ardently after a ‘legacy’ …America is now complicit in a genocide… He bequeaths the danger of nuclear war and an economy—near to a magic trick, this—that clocks well in the statistics but has most of the citizenry in one or another way desperate.”

“Donald Trump Is The Empire Unmasked” by Caitlin Johnson (READ HERE )

This image was doing the social media circuit on 20 January.

Early on Tuesday morning, this brief piece came into my email from straight-talking Australian journalist Caitlin Johnson. One of her takes about Trump’s inaugural performance: “The US isn’t suddenly ruled by billionaires now that Trump is president; it was already ruled by billionaires. The US isn’t suddenly an empire bent on global domination now that Trump has been sworn in; that was already the case. But you’re not supposed to just come right out and say that. Well, Trump comes right out and says it.”

Chris Hedges on Trump, Musk, Gaza, the rise of totalitarianism and the end of the US Empire. (WATCH HERE)

Near the time Trump was inaugurated, French activist, author and film producer Frank Barat interviewed leading US journalist Chris Hedges. As usual, Hedges clearly dissects where the Trump may lead the USA and the world. “The walls are closing in,” says Hedges.

If you only have time to read or watch one thing, sit back and make it this item.

“Of the rich, by the rich, for the rich.” By Owen Jones (WATCH HERE)

In an 11-minute video filmed later on Monday, UK freelance journalist Owen Jones presents a typical scrappy and well-researched piece on Trump’s return to power.

“American degradation: Trump returns to the White House” by the WSWS Editorial Board (READ HERE)

Another 20 January piece concludes: “This vast contradiction defines the current situation. While the ruling class is shifting violently to the right, the general movement of the masses is to the left, toward social and political radicalization, in the US and internationally. And while the ruling class has abandoned the democratic ideals embodied in the Declaration of Independence, and reasserted by Lincoln during the Civil War, the working class has not. They remain deeply embedded in the consciousness of the American masses. These ideals—of equality, liberty and justice—find their true expression today in the program of international socialism.”

Ex-PM Liz Truss posted a picture of herself on X, with the words: “In DC. The new @realDonaldTrump term can’t come soon enough. The West needs it.”

“Incoming!” by Eliot Weinberger (READ HERE)

Writing in The London Review of Books in mid-December 2024, Weinberger gave an early preview of expected players in the Trump administration. “The future secretary of state ( Mario Rubio) had previously called the future president a ‘con artist’, a ‘Third World strongman’, ‘the most vulgar person to ever aspire to the presidency’, ‘a person that has no ideas of any substance’ and a ‘guy with the worst spray tan in America’ who wets his pants. He now says: ‘I didn’t know him as a person.’ “

On 20 January, Rubio was confirmed as the Secretary of State by the US Senate. He replaces Anthony Blinken.

CHECK THIS OUT

Watch this effective – and very funny - brief video by Olivia Colman on climate change. And looking very different than in the image below.

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Thanks to a few mates/ friends of The Left Land who suggested some of the above articles under deadline pressure.

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Edited by Alan Story, THE LEFT LANE is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber: http://theleftlane2024.substack.com/subscribe

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