What Happened?
The re-election of Donald Trump is a chilling yet all too predictable reality. In 2020 a broad front formed to deliver Joe Biden to the White House. Millions of US Americans of diverse and often contradictory political and social backgrounds – including many Christian socialists –united to put an end to the crass chaos and social austerity of Trump’s first term. Many hoped the Biden-Harris Administration would be a benevolent caretaker government, influenced by their newfound partnership with progressive voices in Congress to deliver prosocial outcomes while the Democratic Party could prepare for a new generation of leadership to step forward in 2024. This did not happen.
Despite some early legislative and administrative successes that amounted to a modest post-neoliberalism, the Biden-Harris Administration refused to fight for their agenda’s core elements: implementing a public healthcare option, raising the minimum wage, strengthening worker rights, protecting the vote, reforming policing, and investing in the social infrastructure of the country. By the end of the trifecta Democratic government after the 2022 midterms, inflation was runaway and confidence in the Administration in general and Biden in particular was waning. What happened next shocked the conscience.
In the middle a quixotic bid for re-election that was near universally endorsed by Democratic officialdom while shunting a fair primary, the Biden-Harris Administration began supervising a new phase in the genocide of the Palestinian people by the Israeli government. After months of popular protest against this slaughter and increased public perception that he was cognitively unfit for office, Joe Biden was obstinately pushed out of the race by the same party operatives that had been providing cover for him. With just 107 days left until the election, Vice President Kamala Harris was crowned as the new Democratic nominee.
Under these circumstances, it was always going to be an uphill fight. Donald Trump’s grab-bag vision of pseudo-populism, personal grifts, right-wing conspiracy theories, and fanatic nativism already had the momentum against the deeply unpopular inflationary incumbency. Not to mention the impact of the vicious misogynoir that the GOP immediately began leveling against Harris personally. Despite making a relatively progressive choice for a running mate in Tim Walz, the Harris campaign ultimately failed to articulate a clear break from the unhappy status quo. Instead they opted to shift rightward. Harris promised more tinkering around the edges of social policy at home and superlative “lethal” hawkishness abroad. In the final analysis, the majority of Americans rejected this stale liberalism for a troubling, yet more emotive, false idol of radical rupture. It would seem that the ancient wisdom writer is correct, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Donald Trump will once again be the President of the United States.
Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy.
Where Do We Go?
As many left-wing pundits have already noted, the road to beating Trumpism and displacing failed liberalism lies through a rebuilding of multiracial working-class solidarity. The power to ameliorate the lives of poor and working people will never be achieved without both speaking to and organizing with poor and working people. Anything else is but the sound of clanging cymbals. Liberals and Democrats may not understand this, but we who are steeped in liberation theology and preach the Socialism of the Gospel know this truth as a fire shut up in our bones.
In the coming months and years of this dangerous Administration, ICS will continue to evangelize the necessity of working-class organization while proclaiming the love of Jesus as manifested through social policy, mutual aid, and refuting the institutionalized aims of a Christofascist movement that superficially invokes the tradition of a Palestinian Jewish day laborer. The Bias Magazine will publish thoughtful pieces that help explain our current conjuncture as well as practical pieces addressing how Christian socialists can both organize ourselves and organize with our neighbors. We will continue our work of political-theological education through regular webinars and by rethinking how our base societies can reach more members to foster learning and community. We are also planning to expand how we engage ICS members, like-minded churches, and aligned institutions to launch progressive organizing initiatives that counter Christian nationalism and push Christianity to be a force for poor and working people and that defends women, social minorities, and the environment.
If any of this work gives you hope for the uncertain days ahead, consider joining or financially supporting ICS. Our movement is only as strong as our faith and our commitment to organization. We look forward to seeing you online, at the pickets, in the streets, and in small groups. We have a Gospel to proclaim.
Come, Lord Jesus! Come, Kindom of God!
The ICS Board
