Richard Wolff explains why America chose Trump as its Empire declines

[Uncle Joe]

[markie]

1. excellent

hmmm.... this thing called socialism sounds interesting

[thucythucy]

2. I'm curious as to why he sees the American "empire" in decline.

I don't see any great "decline" happening, not in terms of American economic or military power.

Yes, the fruits of our relative prosperity are being shunted more and more to the top strata, which hurts everybody else.

But to say America is in decline strikes me as buying into the whole MAGA mythology about how we need someone like Trump to make us "great" again. It feeds this overall illusion about things like violent crime--which is actually down, despite MAGA fear mongering.

Decline how? As opposed to what and when?

[Uncle Joe]

3. I believe one way that you tell, is how we treat the United Nations in turning away and de-legitimatizing

the best institution that human kind currently has for peaceful long term co-existence.

We as a people and nation desperately need to start thinking outside of ourselves.

Here are some signs listed in Wikipedia.

American decline is the idea that the United States is diminishing in power on a relative basis geopolitically, militarily, financially, economically, and technologically. It can also refer to absolute declines demographically, socially, morally, spiritually, culturally, in matters of healthcare, and/or on environmental issues.[1][2][3] There has been debate over the extent of the decline and whether it is relative or absolute.[4][5][6]

Shrinking military advantages, deficit spending, geopolitical overreach, and a shift in moral, social, and behavioral conditions have been associated with American decline. The ascent of China as a potential superpower emerged as a central concern in discussions about the decline of American influence since the late 2010s, with some scholars suggesting that China has the potential to challenge the United States' current position as the world's leading superpower, though other scholars have criticized this view.[7][8][6][9]

Scholars say that the perception of decline, or declinism, has long been part of American culture.[10][11] Rhetoric of American decline was prevalent in the 1950s, 1970s and 1980s, as well as in the aftermath of the 2007–2008 financial crisis.[12]

(snip)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_decline#:~:text=Shrinking%20military%20advantages%2C%20deficit%20spending,been%20associated%20with%20American%20decline.

Bernie Sanders has been warning about oligarchy for the past 30+ years, but the oligarchs just came out from behind the curtain with *rump's inauguration.

[thucythucy]

7. "The perception of decline" is what stands out for me in your post,

along with terms such as "relative" and "potential."

A "relative decline" might be no decline at all. "Shrinking military advantages"--compared to what other nation? Russia? India? Those nations that are making the most significant new investments in military infrastructure, and are most rapidly growing in military capability happen mostly to be our allies. And it seems every day I read something on DU about China's now faltering economy, its demographic problems, its environmental issues that are only now being recognized. China in recent years has managed to alienate the other major nations of the Pacific rim--its neighbors--with its bellicose rhetoric and muscle flexing, to the point that Japan, the Philippines, Australia and others are now beefing up their own armed forces. If anything, China may now be at the peak of its relative power. In the past it had mainly to deal with the US military on the Pacific rim. Thanks to its sabre rattling-- and its support of North Korea--Japan is now making or about to make an enormous expansion of its own military. Even tiny Singapore is hastily arming.

I think the referenced "shift" in "moral, social and behavioral issues" is code for increased rights for LGBTQ peoples. Often when I hear of "America's decline" it is precisely in reference to the increased acceptance of gay people, especially by post Boomer generations. As you point out, "the rhetoric of American decline" is a long standing American tradition, most especially by the right. William F. Buckley wrote about the "decline" of American "civilization" caused by the impending passage of the Voting Rights Act. Right wing groups have long bemoaned our "decline" in morals--meaning their distaste for women's increasing opportunity to control their own sexual lives, the increased visibility of gay people, the rise in multi-racial families--all of these are to them evidence of "American decline."

All of this is tried and true right wing BS, and often echoed down the decades by those on the extreme left. Indeed, various Marxists have been touting American decline since the 1920s. In today's political climate this feeds into MAGA delusions. And when Trump tells us "only I can fix it," he's not talking about the disparity in wealth or declines in health outcomes. He means the relative loss of white male privilege and hegemony, which I for one don't at all see as a "decline of America."

That I think is the most significant factor in the rise of Trump and Trumpism. The existence of gender neutral bathrooms and the increased visibility of trans people were salient issues in this past election--thanks to clever targeting and messaging by the right. The fact that our candidate was a Black woman was also a major factor in how this past election played out.

Racism and sexism and homophobia are long standing American realities. They are major factors in explaining where we are today.

[Uncle Joe]

9. When was the last time that we had a January 6th insurrection or a non-peaceful transfer of power?

I don't believe that the greatest threat to our national security in the short term to be China so much, but the constant transfer of wealth from our middle class to the oligarchs.

The Supreme Court with Citizens United make bribery all but legal.

In the 1990s Russia had a good shot at democracy after the Soviet Union collapsed but they focused more on vulture or dog eat dog capitalism which gave rise to their oligarchs which in turn gave rise to authoritarian Putin which in turn gave rise to the invasion of Ukraine.

The corporate media much of it owned by our own oligarchs gives more alarm at the possibility of social investment in the American People or "socialism" than threats to our democracy.

Today of our oligarchs; of which Nazi saluting Musk; alone spent a quarter of a billion dollars to get *rump elected and what are the first words out of *rump's mouth but to threaten our closest neighbors North and South, along with NATO ally Denmark over Greenland.

*rump is no different than Putin in this regard and our oligarchs aren't any different than Russia's.

I believe the greatest threat to United States national security is the stranglehold that national and global oligarchy pose.

Do we as a nation cherish democracy along with our bedrock 1st Amendment more than oligarchy, you would need to ask Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, but he can't answer anymore because Saudi oligarch and our apparent ally MBS had him all chopped up.

Logic and reason dictate that Oligarchy is structurally unsound for any nation.

I don't care what our political opponents argue for or against, the only thing that matters is what we stand for.

[Lonestarblue]

4. I see our decline in smaller ways than military might.

When compared with other wealthy developed nations, we have declined in several ways.

—most expensive but least effective healthcare
—lower life expectancy than other developed nations
—declining results for 4th and 8th graders on international education tests
—higher education too expensive for many students
—erosion of manufacturing capability
—erosion of civil rights, especially voting rights
—erosion of respect for government and the institutions of democracy, including the Supreme Court
—complete decline of civil discourse
—erosion of respect for differing viewpoints and acceptance of violence to achieve political goals
—serious decline in fair, nonpartisan media, both broadcast and print
—decline in earning power of today’s wages adjusted for inflation (though it improved under Biden)
—decline in unions that provide job training and fair wages
—decline in share of taxes borne by the ultra rich leading to higher deficit spending
—decline in women’s freedom to make their own medical decisions around pregnancy and decline in positive health outcomes as insurers rather than doctors determine medical treatments people are allowed

I’m sure there is more, but this list added together shows how much we have lost versus the past decades.

[thucythucy]

5. I agree with much of your list

but these are problems that can be solved--the means are there.

I took "decline" as mentioned in the video to mean an objective and measurable loss in wealth and resources. The wealth and resources are still there, the problem is they've been co-opted by a relatively small clique for their own aggrandizement.

By contrast: the British Empire declined during the 1920s and thereafter due to the catastrophic losses--human, material, and financial--suffered during World War I. This continued after WWII, with the result that the British Empire no longer exists.

You can see similar collapses for the Russian and French empires of the same period, due to much the same reasons, for instance the tremendous destruction of wars and foreign occupation and looting.

The Roman Empire declined due to loss of provinces to encroaching migrations, and a steep decline in its agriculture.

Nothing comparable is happening to the United States today. Our problems are mostly of our own making, and we can well afford to fix them.

I'm bothered by this talk of "American decline" precisely because it feeds into the MAGA narrative that we need "a strong man" to reverse it. It was used against Biden-Harris, and repeated so often that masses of people believed it despite the actual facts. Crime during the Biden administration was down, as was child poverty--until the GOP repealed SNAP--as was inflation compared to "other developed nations." Objectively speaking the United States is still a behemoth on the world stage. The economy of California alone dwarfs that of most European nations.

The irony is that the very problems you've cited were all caused or exacerbated by Republicans, who then use this "decline" narrative to attack Democrats.

Rather than talk about some general "decline of America" I think it would be much better to focus on the issues you mention one by one, and not feed into the MAGA narrative.

[Mysterian]

10. Are you joking?

We are making enemies around the world, including our next-door neighbors. Our sphere of influence is shrinking. The moral authority of the USA is gone. We are no longer a trusted partner is our once strong alliances. Our democracy is gone, thanks to a corrupt Supreme Court and a degenerate republican party. The health of our population is abysmal and worsening rapidly. You must have tunnel vision if you don't see the USA in rapid decline.

[TheBlackAdder]

6. Simple: If you're going out, you might as well leave them laughing.

[UTUSN]

8. K&R