Chapter 11: Racism and Fascism in the Era of Donald J. Trump and the Alt-Right: Critical Race Theory and Socialism as Oppositional Forces

This chapter is in two parts. In Part I, I begin by briefly noting that racism has at least a five-hundred-year history in the US. Before addressing its escalation and intensification, I discuss the attempted normalisation of fascism that is a direct consequence of the election of Donald J. Trump. I go on to consider the project of some of his neo-Nazi supporters in the alternative right (alt-right), focusing first on their wish for a white ethno-state; and second, on their policy preparations for a (desired) fascist USA.

In Part II, I move on to oppositional forces and alternative visions: Critical Race Theory (CRT), on the one hand, and Marxism and socialism, on the other. Both CRT and socialism of the twenty-first century articulate total opposition to racism and fascism. I argue that, while Critical Race Theorists are, by definition, active in formulating progressive critical analyses of racism, and are fully committed to challenging racism and “white supremacy” (the latter concept being perceived by Critical Race Theorists in a very broad sense), and to promoting social justice more generally, CRT is inhibited by a lack of a concrete program and projection of a future society. With theorisation of capitalism outside their remit, Critical Race Theorists do not engage in a direct critique of it, let alone advocate capitalism’s overthrow, nor do they analyse its fragility. Marxism, on the other hand, is a theory both against capitalism, fully cognisant of its fragility, and for a socialist future. Socialists also have a political program based on antiracism, anti-fascism and a commitment to a fully inclusive socialism, in the context of an international struggle against capitalism. Working within various socialist and socialistic groupings and parties in the USA today, Marxists, other socialists and progressives are articulating an alternative worldview to Trump and the alt-right, but unlike CRT, are proposing an identifiable post-(neoliberal) capitalist future, that I refer to as the United Socialist States of America, a society under the ownership and democratic control of workers and working class communities. Crucially, the essence of this socialism of the twenty-first century in the US and worldwide carries with it, in addition to a commitment to the end of social class exploitation, not just an obligation to eradicate racism and fascism, but all other forms of oppression and exploitation.¹