AGAINST by APARNA R
I’m writing in opposition to this amendment. I appreciate the author for bringing this forward, but I think the amendment is too focused on understating the harms of a Trump administration and making an equivalence between Biden and Trump. I believe that is a dangerous position for socialists to take and support the underlying resolution unamended. I urge you to vote against this amendment.
As socialists, opposition to fascism is a core tenet. This presidential election unfortunately provides us with two terrible options, both devoted to big corporate donors and abetting genocide. I don’t endorse either side– I fully support Uncommitted in MD, and I’ll be writing in Rashida Tlaib in DC. And that’s why I support the original resolution unamended- one that doesn’t endorse Biden, but calls for us to support uncommitted ballot campaigns and socialist legislators and to fight the right. A Trump presidency would be markedly different than Biden and would threaten our lives and the lives of vulnerable communities across the country. To see what a second term under Trump could look like - look at Florida and Texas, where kids are losing gender-affirming care, where people are going through forced births, where border crossings are being criminalized, and where construction workers are being forced to work in 100 degree heat without water breaks because the state strips back every possible protection. I do not want any of that to become a nationwide trend. As difficult as our work is under the current administration, it would become even more difficult under a fascist one.
A second Trump term could lead to a nationwide abortion ban and possible bans for the abortion pill and birth control. It would accelerate deportations even more and Stephen Miller has indicated that he would target millions more immigrants living in the US. Trump would likely take away Home Rule in DC, which would get rid of our local government and what little autonomy we have. One of the small bright spots of the past four years has been an emboldened NLRB that has made it easier for workers to organize in a hostile legal environment– with a second Trump term, those gains would be lost and workers’ rights would be stripped even further. And if Trump wins, he plans to clear out the civil service and replace them with people loyal to him.
We are all under attack as visible socialists under a Trump administration. Project Veritas has already infiltrated the chapter and ruined livelihoods and brought death threats to our members. There will not be an org to bring people into if every apparatus of the state, from the IRS to the National Guard, turns on DSA.
Trump winning again won’t send a message to Dems to move left- we know that because him winning in 2016 didn’t do that. The Democratic establishment can survive a second Trump term, but so many people across the country can’t. All a Trump win will do is put a fascist administration in place off the backs of our most vulnerable communities. People came to DSA in 2016 and 2020 because of Bernie, not because of Trump. They saw a national campaign and a mass movement that provided us with the possibility of a better world. A 2024 Trump presidency would be devastating for our country and for every single one of us. Please vote against this amendment.