What about Trump’s real crimes?

Former President Donald Trump was indicted June 8 by the U.S. Department of Justice. The 37 counts stem from his removal of classified documents from the White House after leaving office; the documents were discovered at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. These charges, as well as 34 federal felony counts for “falsifying business records” in the Stormy Daniels scandal, make Trump the first former U.S. president to face federal charges. On June 14 his attorney entered a plea of “not guilty.”

Many people who despise everything Trump stands for would love nothing more than to see #45 go to prison, regardless of circumstances. 

But the actual charges don’t even touch Trump’s real crimes. For the caging of migrant children — no indictment. For the unqualified support of the Zionist occupation of Palestine — no indictment. For the racist language used against Haiti and countries in the Global South, as well as against China during the height of the COVID-19 crisis — no indictment. For openly mocking people with disabilities — no indictment. For opposing the Equality Act, which would protect the LGBTQ2S+ community from discrimination — no indictment. For his vile woman-hating, misogynistic statements and conduct, including sexual assault — no indictment. 

For appointing union-busters like Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and National Labor Relations Board General Counsel Peter Robb — no indictment. For demanding the execution of the Exonerated Five (formerly known as the Central Park Five), even after their convictions were overturned — no indictment. For publicly aligning himself with the most vile fascist forces like the Proud Boys — before, during and after Jan. 6, 2021 — no indictment.

For criminal yet legal statements and actions too numerous to list, all targeting the working class and especially the most oppressed — not one single charge!

A squabble among capitalist thieves

Trump is accused of violating the Espionage Act through “willful retention of national defense information.” This act — passed in 1917 during World War I — has more often been used against progressive and socialist forces. False charges of spying for other countries have been used against Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, the Cuban Five and most recently members of the African People’s Socialist Party.

The indictment states that: “The unauthorized disclosure of these classified documents could put at risk the national security of the United States, foreign relations, the safety of the United States military, and human sources and the continued viability of sensitive intelligence collection methods.” (thehill.com)

What this really means is that the “security” of U.S. imperialism’s war machine and its vast spy apparatus would be compromised if another country somehow gains access to these classified documents. But the “enemies” of imperialism are not the enemies of the global working class. The fight between fascist-minded imperialists and “democratic” imperialists — who are equally pro-Pentagon — is not our fight. 

This is a quarrel between factions of the capitalist class — the class that lives off the stolen labor of the majority of people, the working class.

A real, independent people’s indictment of Trump would have to be conducted outside of the bourgeois legal system and would involve a mass mobilization of the working class and all oppressed peoples and groups he has targeted — to make sure there is a just result. His crimes and those of his class can only be stopped when the capitalist system itself is abolished.