Reflections on Trump's First Year

Donald Trump is an unsavoury character. From “grab ‘em by the pussy” to references to “shithole countries," to the ban on Muslims entering the US, to his refusal to condemn far right violence in Charlottesville, he has made clear that he is a misogynist, racist, xenophobe, and would-be fascist. Yet, it would be wrong to read Trump as an aberration in an otherwise functioning US political system. On the contrary, that the system itself has thrown up such a vile specimen as its figurehead is testament to its moribundity and the advanced stage of crisis in which US capitalism now finds itself.