Contents "The internationalist proletarian" n.17
INTERNAL SETBACKS OF THE SECOND EDITION OF THE WALLED-IN WITHDRAWAL: FLIGHT TOWARD WAR
Against the backdrop of the rise and fall of the tariff wall as a panacea, the faction of the bourgeoisie advocating a policy of walled-in withdrawal has achieved the following “milestones” in domestic policy during its first year in office.
On the positive side for the bourgeoisie, this first year has seen the military sector opened up to big tech companies, and legislation has been passed to encourage business investment, including “100% first-year bonus depreciation for investment in equipment and factories. The legislation also allows for an immediate deduction for research and development costs” (Bloomberg, 11-07-2025), and “US banks generated record profits last year of almost $300bn” (Financial Times, 24-02-2026) as they prepare for the promised reductions in capital requirements.
On the other hand, however, in less than a year, the record for the longest government shutdown, which had been brought about by this very same faction of the bourgeoisie, was broken, leading to a 43-day federal government shutdown in October-November 2025 due to a lack of agreement on the federal budget.
The brutality displayed by the current ruling faction has generated resistance that has forced the deployment of the National Guard in Washington, D.C., Chicago, Portland, and Los Angeles, and led to threats of similar deployments in Baltimore, Memphis, New Orleans, Oakland, and San Francisco. The chaotic situation, including the cold-blooded killings in Minnesota, has forced part of the Republican Party to oppose the rampant violence that threatens to further destabilize the situation. As a result, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the flagship of its domestic policy, has been without funding for 53 days, and under the budget agreement, ICE and the Border Patrol remain unfunded.
This display of brutality has served to obscure the fact that, according to the data, the actual number of deportations is substantially lower than during the previous administration (when the decrepit Biden was in power).
This shows three things: first, the typical behavior of a bully who exaggerates his rhetoric and posturing to mask the insignificance of his actual capacity for action; second, that his actions are aimed more at intimidating the immigrant working class than at expelling the masses; and third, the skill of the so-called “left” in repressing the proletariat more harshly than the “right,” while still managing to pass itself off as its defenders.
The US capitalist system is too heavily dependent on the exploitation of immigrant labor to be able to do without it: “Data from the U.S. Department of Labor show that in 2021–2022, approximately 42% of hired agricultural workers lacked legal authorization to work” (Financial Times, 28-03-2026). On the other hand, the campaign to intimidate immigrant workers also affects employers: “According to a survey by the National Restaurant Association, 55% of restaurant owners have been affected in recent months by immigration control activities. 18% said their employees were not showing up for work, and 25% reported having difficulty hiring and retaining staff.” (Expansión, 28-03-2026).
As for the promise to reduce the government deficit, the result is quite the opposite: “Donald Trump's tax plan is expected to add nearly $2.4 trillion to the US government's deficit over the next decade” (Expansión, 05-06-2025). This has led the last of the three major US credit rating agencies to concede the facts and join in downgrading the US credit rating: “Moody’s lowered the US credit score to Aa1 from Aaa on Friday, joining Fitch Ratings and S&P Global Ratings in grading the world’s biggest economy below the top, triple-A position.” (Bloomberg, 16-05-2025).
Of course, the working class’s healthcare conditions will be the first to be cut under the new fiscal plan “the number of people without health insurance is projected to increase by 10.9 million by 2034” (Expansión, 05-06-2025).
At the same time, the living conditions of the labor aristocracy and the petty bourgeoisie continue to deteriorate, the social slaughter of the middle classes through forced proletarianization, as their access to the labor market becomes increasingly difficult. For example, in New York City “The total number of available entry-level jobs in the city fell 37% between 2022 and 2024” (Bloomberg, 13-03-2026).
Delinquency rates are rising: “Delinquency rates on loans ranging from mortgages to credit cards rose to 4.8% of all outstanding US household debt in the fourth quarter, the highest level since 2017” (Bloomberg, 10-02-2026).
Spending is being cut back: “Americans ate 1 billion fewer meals at restaurants between January and March than during the same quarter of the previous year” (Financial Times, 16-08-2025), most of which are fast-food restaurants that used to be affordable but are now beyond the means of many: “Wendy’s is in the process of closing hundreds of locations after three consecutive quarters of year-over-year revenue declines” (Financial Times, 21-02-2026).
This is what the bourgeois faction advocating a policy of walled-in withdrawal has achieved: an inability to fulfill its promises, sacrificing the living conditions of its electoral base along the way and demonstrating its inability to control the social situation.
This IMPOTENCE has been attempted to be compensated for by the glorification of “lightning” military operations, such as the one carried out in Venezuela (which we will analyze below), a prelude to the military attack against Iran (see p. 20), the prolongation of which threatens to split the MAGA movement’s base in two. The president’s clash with some of his media representatives (Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Candace Evans and Alex Jones) has led the latter to openly call for the president’s disability: “We must invoke the 25th Amendment. He is a lunatic genocidal maniac. Our Congress and the Army must intervene”.