A lot of media attention was devoted to President Donald Trump’s meeting a few weeks ago with China’s President Xi Jinping, who also leads the Communist Party in that country. Less space was devoted to New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s meeting with leaders of Die Linke, the direct descendent of the Marxist-Leninist governing party in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR).
Completely ignored, however, was Communist Party USA (CPUSA) Co-chair Joe Sims’ meeting with Vietnamese President and General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Tô Lâm.
To those not paying attention, these are all potentially world historic events.
While Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) electoral candidates are justifiably receiving considerable media attention, with far-right commentators waxing apocalyptic about the dangers of socialism, especially among young people, commentators would be wise to use a broader lens.
Missing from the analysis—from both the right and most segments of the left—however, is an assessment of what actual communists and socialists are doing and saying domestically and internationally—beyond elections.
Persistent and pernicious red-baiting is so obligatory and reflexive among the ruling class that it has blinded most observers to the fact that a sea change is taking place in domestic and global politics—as Xi and China, as well as Die Linke and DSA, and we should include Tô and the CPUSA’s Sims, are increasingly the only adults in the room when compared to Trump and his sycophants.
Note the embarrassing recent dismissals of White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia and U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle; note Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., whose anti-vaccine agenda is even being called “crazy” and “stupid” by other Republicans; note that Republicans are so unpopular that they on the defensive in deep red states like Texas. I could go on and on. Eventually, you have to pay the piper.
The Trump administration’s self-inflicted wounds—via the on-again / off-again trade war(s); the debacle in Iran driving up gas prices; the ICE roundups and murders; the grifting, grafting, and self-enriching; the attacks on free press; and the attempts to rig the midterm elections; etc.—are all symptoms emanating from a crisis of capitalism (and bourgeois democracy) in decline.
These are signs of weakness, not strength.
In fact, Xi came to the White House in a position of strength, knowing full well that U.S. imperialism and the U.S. dollar are in decline.
Astute observers and future historians will note that the retreat of the USS Abraham Lincoln from the Middle East wasn’t just a physical retreat. Its hull rusted, its sailors running dangerously low on supplies, and with morale aboard bordering on the suicidal, the ship’s withdrawal was also a symbolic retreat. It was an illustration of U.S. capitalism and militarism in retreat, as Iran and the Houthis continued to exercise control on a major part of world oil supplies.
Trump and his sycophants can spin all they want, but this is an embarrassment of historic proportions for U.S. imperialism.
No wonder the press and the pundits aren’t connecting the dots vis-a-vis Xi, Die Linke, and Tô. They know they don’t have any answers.
The neoliberal order is dying. The unipolar world is dead. Something new is rising, and a lot of people are looking at socialism. Maybe they should reach out to Sims and the CPUSA.
As with all op-eds published by People’s World, the views expressed above are those of the author.
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