Cornel West talking:
I think he’s already betrayed working people in terms of making sure, in his view, that Wall Street is in the driver’s seat. And what I mean by that is that in an emerging neofascist moment, you have the rule of big business, which is big banks and big corporations. You scapegoat the most vulnerable. It could be Muslims, Mexicans, gay brothers, lesbian sisters, indigenous peoples, black peoples, jews, and so on. And then you also have militaristic orientations around the world. And so, you see the extension of the repressive apparatus, as those of us who hit the streets, those of us who will be — are willing to go to jail, we’ve had to recognize we’ll have more coming at us under Trump administration. But, the crucial thing is, is that he had talked about his connection with working people. And it’s clear that the one percent are still running things.
What neofascist — it’s an American style form of fascism. What I mean by that is we’ve had neoliberal rule from Carter to Obama. That neoliberal rule left in place a national security state. It left in place massive surveillance. It left in place the ability of the president to kill an American citizen with no due process. That’s Obama. That was the culmination of the neoliberal era. Now you get someone who is narcissistic — which is to say out of control psychologically — who is ideologically confused — which is to say, in over his head — and who does he choose? The most right wing reactionary zealots which lead toward the arbitrary deployment of law, which is what neofascism is, but to reinforce corporate interests, big bank interest, and to keep track of those of us who are cast as peoples of color, women, jews, Arabs, Muslims, Mexicans, and so forth, and so — So, this is one of the most frightening moments in the history of this very fragile empire and fragile republic.
– President-elect Donald Trump’s treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, deep ties to Wall Street including working as a partner for Goldman Sachs, where his father also worked. Mnuchin’s hedge fund also played a role in the housing crisis after it scooped up the failing California bank IndyMac in 2008. Under Mnuchin’s ownership, IndyMac foreclosed on 36,000 families, particularly elderly residents trapped in reverse mortgages. People would go to Mnuchin’s home to protest outside as they were foreclosed out of their own homes. Mnuchin was accused of running a foreclosure machine. The bank, which was renamed One West, was also accused of racially discriminatory lending practices. In 2015 Mnuchin sold a bank for $3.4 billion, $1.8 billion more than he bought it for.
This is what you call spiritual blackout. There is a level of callousness. There’s a level of indifference toward poor and working people. Preoccupation with greed and most importantly, lack of accountability. Doing anything they can do unless, in the end, they get caught by the law, and of course, oftentimes they have already disproportionately influenced those who apply the laws, those who supposed to be regulating them. And so, this is another instance of Wall Street run amok. I mean, I, and some of us were very critical [indiscernible] and others, very critical of Geithner, Summers, the Ruben crowd straight out of Wall Street when brother Barack Obama moved into the White House.
so that you can see on the neoliberal rule, Wall Street’s still in the driver seat. We were hoping, with brother Bernie Sanders, that we could bring the neoliberal era to a close. And by neoliberal, what I mean is, when you see a social problem, you financialize, you privatize, and militarize. You get mass incarceration on the one hand, privatize schools — I know sister Diane Ravitch, on of the great prophetic voices of our time, in this regard will talk about this later — and then you militarize, which is to say drop bombs on seven Muslim countries and then wonder why Muslims are upset. Or you drop bombs on innocent children with U.S. drones and then wonder why the gangsters, the fascists coming out of the Muslim world, are organizing. And of course, we’ve got to be anti-fascist across the board. But this is going to be the most trying of times in our lifetime. There’s no doubt about it. And at 63 years old, I am thoroughly fortified for this fight. I will tell you that.
a significant number of those who voted for Trump were actually working people, middle-class people, who are looking for a way out given the fact they’re losers under neoliberal globalization. And they tilted toward Bernie Sanders, but the Democratic Party and its neoliberal regime marginalized him and us. And so, the only alternative is this pseudo-populist billionaire with these narcissistic sensibilities and fascist — neofascist proclivities. And he presented himself as caring for their situation. And so, that economic insecurity, that economic neglect is very real. There’s no doubt about that. And it’s disproportionate white brothers and sisters, but they are suffering. And it was a cry of the heart.
Unfortunately, given the right-wing populist and the authoritarian orientation of Trump, he uses that kind of anguish to scapegoat Mexicans, Muslims, and others rather than confront the most powerful — 21 percent of those who voted for Trump do not like him, but they feel as if they had no alternative. And we have to keep in mind 42 percent of our fellow citizens didn’t go to the polls at all. Already given up on the system, you see. And so, the system itself is, now, is in such a chronic crisis. And we said before the election that Trump would be a neofascist catastrophe. And it’s very clear from his picks that he is moving in that direction.
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Cornel West
Professor Emeritus at Princeton University. He’s written numerous books, most recently “The Radical King: Martin Luther King, Jr.” His other books include “Black Prophetic Fire
— source democracynow.org