Trump in the White House: Tragedy and Farce

By rejecting the term “populism” that is widely used to describe the Trump phenomenon and other similar ones around the globe at present, and using the term “neo-fascism” instead, John Bellamy Foster has done a great theoretical service to the Left. This shift in conceptual perspective prompts him to compare current developments to those in the 1930s, to examine their political economy roots, and to highlight the “destruction of reason” that characterizes all fascism, then and now. This book is a pioneering contribution that is extremely important and valuable.

—Prabhat Patnaik, professor emeritus, economics, Jawaharlal Nehru University; author (with Utsa Patnaik), A Theory of Imperialism

Disdain for human rights, elections, democracy; hatred of intellectuals, artists and journalists; obsession with power and punishment, with being first and biggest and right; rampant corruption, corporate cronyism, runaway nationalism, racism, homophobia and sexism: the Trump White House is a neo-fascist project. Resistance is possible, but only if we name things for what they are and trace Trumpism to its neoliberal roots. “To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle” said Orwell. Lucky for us, John Bellamy Foster is doing the work.

—Laura Flanders, broadcast journalist; host, The Laura Flanders Show; author, Blue Grit: Making Impossible, Improbable, and Inspirational Political Change in America

John Bellamy Foster’s Trump in the White House should be read by all those concerned not only about Trump but about the social conditions that produced this phenomenon. No doubt we have reached a stage where democracy has become antithetical to capitalism, where the bosses of the world would rather muffle democratic institutions than allow their property to be touched. JBF goes beneath the surface, demanding that we follow, asking for more radical change than merely the removal of Trump.

—Vijay Prashad, author, The Poorer Nations: A Possible History of the Global South

Informed and informative, thoughtful and thought-provoking, exceptionally well written, organized and presented, Trump in the White House: Tragedy and Farce is unreservedly recommended reading for every citizen and should be a part of every community and academic library Contemporary Political Science collection in general, and Donald Trump supplemental studies reading list in particular.

—Midwest Book Review

Praise for The Endless Crisis:

The authors carefully develop a powerful case that the normal state of ‘really existing capitalist economies,’ increasingly dominated by multinational megacorporations along with associated financialization, is not growth with occasional recession, but rather stagnation with occasional escapes that have diminishing prospects. Hence an ‘endless crisis.’… This valuable inquiry should be carefully studied and pondered, and should be taken as an incentive to action.

—Noam Chomsky