“Today, we face the rise of Donald Trump with frustration, fear, and anger.
We understand the chilling uncertainty facing our already long-suffering brothers and sisters, immigrants, Muslims, people of color, queer and trans people, and women, as violent, right-wing bigots are actively targeting them.
And together, we approach this new era diligent in our fight against these increased acts of violence.
But if our eyes are truly open, we can see that though they’re heightened, these are not necessarily new conflicts.
Didn’t we vow to never forget the mass shooting at Pulse nightclub– less than six months ago? We won gay marriage but where are the full equal rights and protections for our queer and trans communities?
Have we let it escape us that President Obama has deported more immigrants than any other president? Did we forget about the millions of women coast-to-coast, helpless as birth control and safe abortions drift further out of their reach?
And did we not gather right here on campus last year to make our voices heard on the crushing weight of tuition and student loan debt, only to chant Black Lives Matter instead, in the wake of endless police executions of poor and marginalized people?
So, while Trump offers a shocking and unpredictable new wave of threats, if we look hard, we can see that they are arriving on a path that has already been well worn.
But, while there is an irrefutably treacherous, right-wing terrorist faction at the core of Trump’s campaign, it was his camp’s keen ability to exploit widespread anti-establishment resentment that allowed for this narrow win.
The dirty DNC did everything in their power to undermine Bernie, whose call for a political revolution lead him to poll extraordinarily well against Trump, and instead nominated Clinton, who was a massive disappointment to both the left and the right, fed up with politics-as-usual.
In a campaign of absurd, empty promises, Trump’s turnout was fueled almost exclusively by that anti-Hillary rhetoric. The right filtered anti-Hillary sentiment paired with frustration in the rise of the cost of living but the decline in standard of living, into a dangerously misguided decision.
Millions of us, across all walks of life, were coerced by Trump’s message to vote for him essentially only as an impotent strike against the establishment.
The corporate-controlled leadership of the DNC took an enormous gamble in nominating a weak Wall Street warmonger against Trump, once again prioritizing profit over our life and liberty.
And we, the people lost. It is you and I, our future generations, young people, working people, communities of color, queer communities, and women who will bear the brunt of this carelessness.
We must continue to make our voices heard and organize mass protests and civil disobedience against ever attack by Trump and the Republican-led house and senate.
But we also must begin building a mass party of the 99%.
The most effective way to fight Trump and the momentum gathering around him is to build a powerful, anti-establishment left, independent from the same big business politicians of the Democratic Party that led us here.
The community that rallied around Bernie proved that it is possible to run on a bold left-wing platform, challenge the CEO’s getting fat off tax breaks while their workers are forced to get by on government assistance, and to lift all working people.
Those who were left behind by the weak efforts from the left elite, those who will regret gravitating to Trump, or the millions who stayed home on Election Day, can be won over to a new 3rd party.
But the media is already spinning the election to push people into opposite sides, assigning blame, and giving the talking heads some bloodshed to get hard about.
Instead of being distracted by the fight over this unfortunate outcome, we must look to the next pollical season for weeding the root.
We must stop protecting the dangerous political establishment and the Democratic leadership from their responsibility for Donald fucking Trump.
A flood of demonstrations will continue across the country to fight back against Trump.
These are the seeds a massive grassroots– a movement like we’ll have never seen before.
Socialist Alternative here in Pittsburgh and across the U.S. is at the forefront of these resistance efforts, organizing broad community coalitions, and we invite you to stand against Trump’s agenda of bigotry and hate with us. Thank you.”
I wrote and delivered this statement at the Students Rising: March Against Trump, at the U. of Pittsburgh campus, on November 17, 2016.
Casandra Armour 