Trump’s decisive victory in the US presidential election puts him in a strong position. Trump is a racist and Islamophobe, who has engaged in warmongering in his previous term and is a supporter of Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel.
He won for a range of reasons, perhaps most importantly economic discontent. His victory also owes much to the refusal of traditionally Democrat voters to endorse Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza and for extending the war on the Palestinians to Lebanon.
Harris lost the votes of Muslim and Arab Americans, as well as many others, on this issue.
However, Trump’s support for Netanyahu’s policy is clear. And for all his talk of wanting to stop wars, his record when he last held office shows that far from delivering peace, he doubled down on US war and proxy wars, in Syria, Somalia, Afghanistan, and Yemen.
He also ordered new nuclear missiles, ripped up nuclear treaties and demanded increased NATO military spending.
Trump talks of bringing peace to Ukraine, but he is committed to an increasingly hot war with China. He is also demanding that Nato allies increase their defence spending at the expense of funding areas such as health or education.
Trump has also talked of “two enemies” – outside and inside – and has vowed to defeat that “outside enemy” by mass deportations, reinstating his travel ban on people from predominantly Muslim countries and expanding it to prevent refugees from Gaza entering the US.
Stop the War convenor Lindsey German said:
“A Harris victory would not have stopped Israel’s genocide in Gaza or drive to war across the Middle East, but Trump’s racism, Islamophobia and bigotry, and his close relationship with Netanyahu could well enable Israel to pursue its desire for full control of Gaza and the West Bank.
“We face an extremely dangerous situation worldwide, with a growing arms race. We in the anti-war movement must redouble our efforts to end the genocide and wars in the Middle East. We also need peace in Ukraine, for the west to stop arming Ukraine, and for an end to the escalation of militarism and conflict aimed at China in the Pacific.”