Far from bringing prosperity to workers in the US, Trump and the literal billionaires running his administration, including world’s richest man Elon Musk, have launched a war on the working class both within the country and abroad. Only one month into Trump’s presidency, these attacks are set to continue, as is a growing movement against Trump’s policies.
Billionaires lead the charge in spending cuts
The most notable of Trump’s billionaire cabinet members, Elon Musk, has led several attacks on the federal workforce, firing thousands of workers and freezing trillions of dollars in federal grant funds. The latest attacks from Musk and his so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) include claiming fraud within the Social Security system, spreading rumors that tens of millions of dead people receive fraudulent government payments—claims which are untrue but could lay the groundwork for a drastic and harmful change to a program that nearly universally covers all people in the US for retirement.
Yet Musk’s own multibillion-dollar ventures have also received significant government funding. Musk’s rocket company SpaceX recently confirmed a “supplemental” contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), adding USD 7.5 million to the company’s work with the government agency.
Labor unions representing federal workers and other sectors of the workforce have stopped several of Musk’s attempts in their tracks, launching legal counteroffensives that halted Trump’s effort to furlough millions of federal workers as well as Musk’s gaining of access to ultra-sensitive federal payment information.
Trump meanwhile is seeking to extend his 2017 tax cuts for the ultra-rich, backing a USD 4.5 trillion tax cut in a budget plan pushed by Republicans in the House of Representatives. Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) effectively allowed the ultra-wealthy to retain USD 2 trillion in wealth. The TCJA lowered the corporate tax rate and the personal tax rate for those making over USD 500,000 per year, and weakened the estate tax. Lowering taxes for the wealthy will add trillions of dollars to the federal budget deficit, in turn impacting the government’s programs that could benefit the working class.
Attacks against LGBTQ community
Trump’s administration has launched a wave of attacks against marginalized populations including the LGBTQ community.
On his very first day in office, Trump signed an executive order that his administration claims would defend “women from gender ideology extremism and restore biological truth to the federal government.” This order proclaims there are only two biological sexes, signalling a far-reaching attack on the rights of transgender people in the US. It requires that the federal government use the term “sex” instead of “gender,” and directs the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security to “require that government-issued identification documents, including passports, visas, and Global Entry cards, accurately reflect the holder’s sex.”
Resistance grows against mass deportations
Some of Trump’s most high profile attacks against the working class has been his assault on immigrant workers—launching his draconian campaign for mass deportations across the country. Since Trump has come into office, the number of people in Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) detention has skyrocketed, reaching the upper limits of ICE detention center capacity. The number of people detained went from 39,238 in early February to 41,169 in mid-February, with ICE’s nationwide detention capacity being 41,500. According to data obtained by NBC News, a large portion of those detained by ICE are not criminals, contrary to the Trump administration’s fear mongering. In the first two weeks of February, 41% of the 4,422 total new ICE detainees had no criminal convictions or pending criminal charges. In fact, Trump’s first legislative victory, the Laken Riley Act, requires the detention of undocumented immigrants merely accused, not even convicted, of crimes as petty as shoplifting—with the potential for deportation. Trump has even gone as far as to order the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security to prepare the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base to receive 30,000 migrant detainees in order to manage the influx.
However, as Trump’s mass deportation operation has ballooned and spilled over onto Cuba’s sovereign territory, the resistance against this right-wing global immigration offensive has also grown. Since Trump’s inauguration, actions have sprung up across the country, both spontaneous and planned, in opposition to ICE raids.
In Massachusetts, organizers have launched a campaign to demand that their state stand with immigrant communities in declaring Massachusetts a sanctuary state—ensuring that state officials, especially those within the Democratic Party, will not collaborate with Trump’s policy of mass immigrant detentions and deportations.
In Colorado, a state which Trump has made the epicenter of anti-migrant fear mongering rhetoric, residents, together with organizers have built a community-based resistance effort which includes community patrols, mass demonstrations, and “Know Your Rights” trainings.
Resistance to Trump’s mass deportation efforts has gone global, with Mexico preparing to receive deported migrants through the “Mexico embraces you” program, which provides access to welfare, healthcare, employment, and financial aid. In January, Colombian migrants arrived safely back to their home country from the US, after a tense diplomatic debacle between Colombia President Gustavo Petro and Trump. The migrants had initially been put on US military planes on January 25 to be deported back to Colombia. However, the next day, President Gustavo Petro stated that he would refuse to receive planes of Colombian migrants if they were not treated with dignity.
Attacks at home and abroad
While Trump’s domestic policy indicates a broad attack on the working class at home, his administration’s foreign policy shows a willingness to extend this attack to all corners of the globe. One of his first acts as president was to reinstate Cuba as a “State Sponsor of Terrorism,” a mere few days after Biden had removed Cuba from the US’s SSOT list. This designation has been devastating to the island, piling on unilateral sanctions to the already harmful US blockade, leading to multiple humanitarian crises.
Trump has ramped up aggression against China, imposing a 10% tariff on all Chinese imports. Trump’s efforts to end the war in Ukraine can also be seen to have anti-China motivations, as US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said during a visit to Brussels that, “we also face a peer competitor in the Communist Chinese with the capability and intent to threaten our homeland and core national interests in the Indo-Pacific,” signalling a desire to shift the US’s foreign policy focus away from Europe and further towards China.
Trump’s embrace of Israeli Prime Minister and wanted war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington, DC, especially the shocking comments made about leveling Gaza to the ground to create “a big real estate site,” have caused shockwaves throughout the globe.
When asked whether he would send US troops into Gaza during a joint press conference with Netanyahu, Trump responded: “As far as Gaza is concerned, we’ll do what is necessary. If it’s necessary, we’ll do that. We’re going to take over that piece that we’re going to develop it.”
