Trump and Project 2025: The authoritarian method in the madness threatens us all
The reactionary assault playing out in the United States is a deadly serious attempt at a wholesale authoritarian takeover. It is a ‘clear and present danger’ threatening the whole world.
In the first instance it threatens American democracy and the American people themselves. US democracy, always subject to the power of corporations and wealthy oligarchs, is now blatantly and starkly ‘government of the oligarchs, by the oligarchs, and for the oligarchs’ – and a full-on authoritarian version of that to boot.
The US transformation into an authoritarian regime now underway is just one of the latest attacks on democracy around the world. But just 70 days into Trump’s ‘second coming’, he and his regime have emerged as the bullying leaders of this world-wide hard-line right-wing movement. With the global reach and power of the US, he has shown his ability to coerce other nations to fulfill his far-reaching ambition.
Australia is not immune to this. Trump’s presidency poses major threats to Australia in terms of trade, foreign policy, defence, and even our responses to injustices around the world. And it lends comfort to newly radicalised and energised reactionary movements here, as it does globally.
Progressive movements, parties, networks, and people here will need to develop a unified response to push back against and defeat the threats to Australia’s independence and the interests of most Australians.
Progressive and democratic forces world-wide, no matter what their other differences, will also need to develop a working unity of purpose and action to push back against the growing threats from those global authoritarian, crypto-fascist, and outright fascist movements.
What is actually happening in the US?
Trump as President, his Vice President J D Vance, his ‘right-hand man’ Elon Musk, and the right-wing ideological forces embedded in and surrounding his administration, are acting to establish and entrench authoritarian rule as far as they can before they face the congressional mid-term elections in late 2026. Elections that in any case they clearly would like to rig, distort or bias in their favour, and they are already taking steps in that direction.
Part of this is the ‘shock and awe’ effect of the range of actions already being rolled out, which include large-scale deportation of immigrants; wholesale sacking of public servants; gutting or even disbanding of government departments and agencies; dismantling of vital services including international humanitarian aid; banning all references to diversity; flouting of the law, the Constitution, and court orders based on those, with threats to judges attempting to uphold them.
Similarly, his actions on the global stage have been so extreme they have rattled longstanding international alignments such as EU, NATO or the UN: proposals for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza and potentially other occupied Palestinian territories; disengagement from previous bipartisan support for Ukraine, with bullying threats to Ukraine, and demands to not only profit from, but also control, its resources; and use of a large tariff stick to beat other nations, risking a global trade war.
Trump’s apparently ‘mad clown’ claims to incorporate Canada as the ‘51st state’, to take over Greenland, and to repossess the Panama Canal must be taken seriously – as indeed they are by the nations concerned. All the other ‘chaos’ is already having deep and profound effects on the lives of his genocidal and neo-colonial targets, and on US citizens – particularly the most disadvantaged, women, LGBTQI people, Afro-American and ethnic communities and refugees targeted by Trump’s newly confident, white-male, shock troops.
Increasingly the threat of climate catastrophe looms over the future. Trump and his minions not only deny the fact of global heating, but also actively work to undermine even the inadequate national and international efforts to address it, in the interests of the fossil-fuel corporations in particular.
These actions, combined with persistent lying and the stylized arrogant demeanour and bullying actions of Trump, Vance, Musk, Rubio, and others, signal the emergence of a ‘might is right’ power politics even more dangerous than those of the US imperial project that preceded it. The destruction of even the mildest semblance of international cooperation threatens everything from trade to peace. It is a blatant strategy of denial of a ‘multipolar’ international order that genuinely recognises the rights of all nations to independence and sovereignty.
The method in the ‘madness’
Undeniably there is a chaotic and demagogic aspect to the Trump administration. It is impossible to imagine his utterances and social media missives are carefully scripted. But well-resourced right-wing think-tanks like the Heritage Foundation have coordinated their activities in an attempt to give some unifying coherence to Trump’s 47th presidency. This was set out in great detail in Project 2025, the hardline right’s manifesto, agenda and playbook for Trump’s second term.
Within the Trump camp there are diverse groupings such as libertarians (Musk & Thiel), economic nationalists (Bannon) and religious (evangelicals). Excluded is the neoliberal policy establishment. These ‘serious MAGA folk’ are frustrated to some extent by their diverse ideological underpinnings. For the moment they appear united enough in supporting even greater and more obscene upwards wealth distribution to the rich through further tax cuts, and slashing government expenditure as a means to severely limit the capacity to govern.
It is easy to understand how the chaotic and sometimes contradictory statements and actions thrown in all directions serve as disruptive and distractive political grenades. They seem to have stumbled upon ‘chaos’ as a winning virtue, borne of necessity, to stun and demoralise the political opposition.
These tactics appear to be working but are likely to have a short use-by date. Already Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez rallies are mobilising mass opposition to Trump while the courts are now systematically being used to challenge the legality of Trump’s and Musk’s actions. However, these throw into stark relief what is at stake. If, as seems likely, Trump simply ignores legal orders, it will become clear that what the US is confronting is a coup.
Longer-term political and economic strategies aim to cement authoritarian rule on behalf of the billionaire oligarchs. Personnel from right-wing think-tanks and MAGA loyalists have been put in charge of the military and of federal law enforcement. The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has stripped Congress of its power of the purse, with its head Elon Musk ruthlessly wielding his not-so-metaphorical chainsaw to gut and reshape government agencies as MAGA agents. News outlets that challenge Trump in any way have been excluded and/or subjected to investigation. The independence of the judicial arm of government is being undermined and threatened. Even the conservative Chief Justice John Roberts of the Supreme Court had to issue a mildly-phrased yet clear rebuke when Trump called for a judge who ruled against him to be impeached.
Understanding the origins of Trumpism in order to deal with it
The unravelling of social cohesion in the US has been the making of Trump. Central to this has been the failure of neoliberal policies that go back to 1980s President Ronald Reagan (and championed by the American establishment on both sides for decades) to bring back growth and prosperity. These policies instead gave power to financiers, increased social inequalities, and devastated manufacturing and public services. Trump exploited the collapse of many industrial enterprises and the economic wasteland left behind as the owners of capital moved production overseas. Combined with the further application of neoliberal economic policies by Democrat and Republican administrations, there was a widening in economic disparity. The middle class contracted in size, the poor grew more numerous and their lives increasingly precarious. Meanwhile, the rich became far richer than even they had anticipated in their wildest dreams. The serious political consequences of this decades-long upwards and inwards concentration of wealth and power, and the consequent fraying of social cohesion, manifested themselves in Trump’s election victories in 2016 and 2024.
Filling the void left by the unravelling of the neoliberal consensus is a coalition of far-right and reactionary forces who have seized the initiative and are constructing a new political and ideological consensus on the American right. This coalition did not come from nowhere. Wealthy ideologues in the US, Europe, and Asia have spent decades building political infrastructure and funding projects and campaigns aimed at overturning the democratic norms, rights, and freedoms that have been won over many decades of activism by the left, trade unions, and progressive social movements.
Across India, Turkey, continental Europe, Latin America and the Anglo countries, a network of political parties, media outlets, think tanks, campaign groups, educational institutions and online influencers have successfully utilised a sophisticated right-wing ‘Gramscian strategy’ – adopting concepts such as ‘counter-hegemony’ and ‘war of position’ to implement their own agenda – to build popular support for their authoritarian, chauvinist politics and win government. This has paid huge dividends as parties aligned to this ‘Reactionary International’ now govern or are a major opposition party in more than 20 countries.
Most challenging about the far-right takeover of the Republican Party is that it has been able to coalesce three of the largest driving agents of the US economy – the big-tech, fossil-fuel, and finance-capital corporations – around their agenda. Trump and his allies can now mobilise the economic, social, and political power of these corporate giants to advance their agenda in the US and around the world.
But why did so many in disadvantaged and disempowered America turn to Trump? There is already much analysis, and more will be needed to fully understand this, but three aspects are clear: scapegoating of immigrants (legal and illegal) provides an easy and racist explanation that many long for; blaming trading partners for cheating the US replaces an objective political-economy and class analysis for the offshoring of manufacturing industries to lower-wage countries; and the attacks on women and diverse groups restore a sense of power to many white men. All this built Trump’s base, while new-breed billionaire oligarchs now throw support behind tax cuts that will further enrich them.
International Implications
The current gyrations in US foreign policy are the spasms of a weakening but still dangerously strong imperial power whose elected leaders perceive it to be under a growing threat from its one real rival. The rising economic and military power of China has been a growing concern of US administrations for some time. Trump has elevated the ‘China threat’ as the highest priority and is articulating that as the reason for managing a strategic de-prioritisation of Europe. China does indeed pose a genuine threat to the global pre-eminence of the US and this has troubled all recent US administrations. The sheer unpredictability of Trump means an economic war could more quickly spill into military conflict between nuclear superpowers.
Right-wing think-tanks and commentators have similarly been arguing that Russia should be perceived less as a threat and managed more as an opportunity – both for the value of its mineral resources and to weaken its reliance on China. And, following the Nixon-Kissinger doctrine, split Russia and China. Trump may also envisage other private financial interests, in Russia as elsewhere.
It could never have been expected that governments in Europe (or the Americas or Australia) would synchronise their responses to US foreign policy and its trashing of international norms. It is harder for European governments to reverse their position on Russian aggression and what are deemed acceptable resolutions to the Ukraine conflict, even if they wished to.
In part for that reason, but probably for others as well, Trump, Vance and Musk have ventured into outright commentary on and interference in the domestic politics of their supposed NATO allies. They have sought to legitimate and give overt support to the far-right in the recent German elections. Naked and unapologetic interventions into other countries’ politics are part of the highlight reels of American Brutalism. There is every reason to think they will do more of the same where they see opportunity in Europe and elsewhere.
Australia needs to be prepared for that. The demands made by the US for Australian universities to conform to Trump’s policies in order to maintain research grants is an initial example.
The Labor government has so far taken a cautious approach, probably with tariff issues and the impending election in mind. But if the election results in a Labor government and a progressive parliamentary majority, Australia will have to push back hard against the Trump regime’s bullying and threats, as Canada has, and join all other nations prepared to
do the same.
As a first step, Australia needs to fundamentally rethink and revise its defence and foreign policies, with a genuinely inclusive, national, public discussion that considers how we can, and should, relate with Indonesia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, and the Pacific Forum.
The case for an independent foreign policy has never been stronger. Such a policy would prioritise partnership and peaceful cooperation within our region: economic, social, cultural, and defence. One of the most critical aspects is to develop an independent and non-conflictual relationship with China.
An effective and self-reliant defence strategy would mean, in the first instance, abandoning the hugely expensive AUKUS nuclear-submarine deal that is in any case almost certainly a dud even on its own terms.
SEARCH Responses
The Trumpian and related threats to Australia and the world will probably not get the attention they deserve during the campaign towards the Federal election now set for 3 May. The Liberal-National Coalition was already deploying destructive and divisive scaremongering strategies before Trump, going back to John Howard. While recognising that ‘full-blown Trump’ is for now not possible in Australia, Dutton has consistently practised an especially nasty version of the Trump-like playbook to sow divisions and fears as a means to attain government and deliver an agenda framed to serve the interests of the rich and powerful.
Although in its first term the Albanese government has under-promised and then underwhelmed, the immediate priority is to defeat the LNP Coalition, elect a progressive parliamentary majority, and ensure that Labor forms at least a minority government with crossbench support. Then will come the hard work for progressive movements to campaign and press for policies, measures and legislation towards greater equality, justice and environmental sustainably in Australia and the world.
Whatever the election outcome, key issues will include: more radical measures to meet the real scale of the climate catastrophe and ecological disasters more generally; an independent Australian foreign and defence policy, including withdrawal from the AUKUS submarine deal; a broad-ranging review of the taxation system and radical reform of it so that corporations and the wealthy pay their fair share of tax; and vigorous resistance to Trump’s bullying, including working with other nations for a truly multipolar and fair world order that respects international law and the rights of all peoples to self-determination.
In this context, and in response to the threats of ‘Trumpism’ and the global hard-line right, the Committee proposes the following initiatives and actions for SEARCH.
- The immediate priority is to work towards defeating the Dutton-led Coalition and electing a progressive parliamentary majority in the impending Federal Election. This will provide the best chance of securing strong and independent policies in response to Trump.
- Whatever the election outcomes, SEARCH will seek, and help organise, exploratory discussions with others on the left to address issues of common concern in the post-election and Trump-world context.
- We will invite members to contribute views, analyses, and suggestions on how to respond to Trumpism and the authoritarian right for a special Members Discussion Bulletin to be published post-election. (But views welcome from now.)
- Organise both SEARCH and more broadly-sponsored, in-person and online, forums to discuss policy and action responses to both Trumpian authoritarianism and the neoliberal devastation that helped bring it about and to build solidarity among progressive movements to reject Trumpism and neoliberalism and work for alternatives.
- Now, more relevant than ever, to support ongoing campaigns for an independent Australian foreign policy that prioritises partnership and peaceful cooperation within our region, including for a nuclear-free and independent Pacific.
- Support campaigns for the immediate termination of the AUKUS submarine deal.
SEARCH Committee
2 April 2025
