After the collapse of the Biden campaign

President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the US presidential race is a further demonstration of the enormity of the political crisis in the United States. In just nine days, the Republican presidential candidate narrowly escaped assassination, while the Democratic president is now forced to end his re-election campaign.

After his disastrous performance in a June 27 debate with Trump, Biden said for weeks that he would not drop out of the race. Ultimately, however, he bowed to combined pressure from top party leaders in Congress and billionaire donors. Although Biden has backed Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him as the leader of the Democratic ticket, the final decision rests in the hands of the financial oligarchy and representatives of the military intelligence apparatus.

In just its seventh month, 2024 already recalls the crisis year of 1968, when American politics was turned upside down by the Vietnam War, the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, and President Lyndon Johnson’s decision to abandon a re-election campaign. But the crisis of American capitalism today is much deeper, and more shocks await us.

Biden’s withdrawal followed the Republican National Convention, an orgy of fascist reaction, anti-immigrant hysteria, and Christian fundamentalism. The convention, aimed at the lowest cultural and moral levels, was the completion of the MAGA takeover of the Republican Party, a.k.a. a party of American fascism.

Less than four years ago, Trump left office in disgrace after his failed attempt to overturn the Constitution and block the transfer of power to Biden and Harris. But today, Trump has the support of a substantial portion of the American capitalist class, including billionaires like Elon Musk. The possibility of a fascist regime is not a matter of far-fetched speculation. It is a political reality.

Trump currently leads in national polls, as well as in the “battleground” states whose electoral votes are likely to be decisive. This is not due to mass support for the fascist policies advocated by Republicans. Instead, the reactionary nature of the Democratic Party and its policies of war abroad and attacks on the working class at home have left vast numbers of workers vulnerable to the right-wing pseudo-populism embodied by Trump’s vice presidential running mate, Senator J.D. Vance.

The Democratic Party has long since abandoned any significant connection to social reform measures that would improve the living standards and democratic rights of working people. It is a party of Wall Street and military intelligence, primarily concerned with asserting the global interests of American imperialism. This is combined with the promotion of identity politics aimed at dividing the working class and advancing the interests of privileged sections of the upper middle class.

In the media and in political commentary on Biden’s withdrawal, references have been made to his “great record” as president.