Sanders backs Trump’s “America First” economic nationalism
24 January 2017
Two days after millions of people marched in the United States and around the world to demonstrate their opposition to the anti-democratic and militaristic policies of the “America First” nationalist Donald Trump—a response to the inauguration of a new US president without precedent both in its scale and its international character—Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders solidarized himself with the new president and his virulent economic nationalism.
On Monday morning, Trump signed an executive order withdrawing the US from the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact. At the same time, Trump repeated his pledge to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Mexico and Canada.
Declaring that these moves would be “great for the American worker,” Trump reiterated the claim that “unfair trade” benefiting workers in other countries—not capitalism and the corporations’ relentless pursuit of profit—were responsible for the closure of factories and slashing of American workers’ wages.
Sanders was quick to congratulate Trump, stating, “For the last 30 years, we have had a series of trade deals—including the North American Free Trade Agreement, permanent normal trade relations with China and others—which have cost us millions of decent-paying jobs and caused a ‘race to the bottom,’ which has lowered wages for American workers…
“If President Trump is serious about a new policy to help American workers, then I would be delighted to work with him.”
Sanders’ endorsement of the billionaire demagogue’s efforts to posture as a friend of the American worker came three days after Trump delivered an inaugural address whose basic theme could be…