Two War Parties- Battling over the worlds biggest war chest

While Joe Biden has withdrawn from the 2024 Presidential election race, the oppressed and exploited people of the world are still made victims by two sides of the same pro-war imperialist American government. 

Ultimately, both the Trump and Biden-Harris Administrations further entrenched… the US war machine. Both expanded military bases, alliances and military assistance around the world. Both expanded the US military budget and pushed forward the modernization of the nuclear arsenal.  Both escalated tensions against China and Russia to pre-empt strategic competition. During the elections, the Democrats and Republicans battled out who could be the bigger war-hawk overseeing the world’s largest military chest, currently funded at $841.4 billion with an additional $32.4 billion for national security programs within the Department of Energy (DOE), and $438.0 million in defense-related activities.

In Trump’s time as President, he represented the Republicans openly fascist faction of the ruling class and activated the ultra-nationalist and most rightwing currents in the US to take on more visible activity, and more escalated forms of action among both State and extra-state forces alike. 

Though Trump’s politically chaotic public statements about the US withdrawing from NATO and the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan promoted an anti-war illusion to his populist base, Trump’s administration in 2016-2020 was responsible for missile strikes in Syria and Afghanistan,  pushing for NATO countries to increase their defense spending, overseeing the drastic military build-up in the Indo-Pacific that Obama started, and illegally recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Zionist occupation state Israel. He backed coup-elected Juan Guido in Venezuela to push for further sanctions and destabilization of the nation. He further passed a nuclear posture review that broadened the circumstances under which the United States can use nuclear weapons to encompass cyberattacks. 

During his 2020 election campaign, Biden marketed himself as a “reasonable” Democratic alternative and response to the fascism under Trump, Biden was able to win over large sectors of progressives towards fundamentally right-wing politics under the guise of  “progressive values.”

Throughout his term, Biden has exposed himself through his aggressive foreign policy, heightened repression and policing within the US, and the continued worsening economic crisis which is exacerbated by the neoliberal policies under his administration among other things. In the midst of the massive upsurge in global solidarity for Palestine, Biden was brought to court for complicity in genocide.

“Genocide Joe” Biden traveled to Israel after the start of the Israeli genocidal war, provided the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) with huge quantities of munitions, refused to publicly call for an indefinite ceasefire, and vetoed UN resolutions it opposed while openly calling himself a Zionist. This all reflects the president’s strongly held personal beliefs on the need to support the Jewish state and the idea that public support for Israel gives America greater behind-the-scenes leverage.

VP Kamala Harris herself has a concerning pro-war record. Exposing her own genocidal support of Israel through US military aid and diplomatic support, she stated after October 7th, “our support for Israel’s security is ironclad, and we stand with the people of Israel in defense against these attacks.” She has reiterated the U.S. commitment to the transatlantic NATO alliance with America's European partners and earlier this year, she vowed the U.S. would support Ukraine's fight for "as long as it takes, showing that she’d continue Biden’s practice of shredding any Ukrainian peace deal brought to the table.  On a visit to Taiwan, the Philippines and other Indo-Pacific states, she stressed what she called the United States' "enduring engagement" in Asia, hitting on previous administration talking points about ensuring an "open and free" Indo-Pacific region, and "freedom of navigation" in the South China Sea. What that really means for the people of the region is more corporate land grabs and militarization to protect them.

Harris herself has a political career predicated on the criminalization of poor working-class Black people in the Bay Area of California, as attorney general. She supported inmate slave labor, criminalization of poor parents over truancy, an increase in Black incarceration, and expressed support of the death penalty. 

We need a stronger anti-war movement to fight against whichever faction of the ruling class takes power in the White House in November. Our task is to take up the calls of the world's people against US military funding, US military base expansion, sprawling military alliances, and war mongering by Washington. We continue to stand with the anti-militarism agenda representing these calls, not the war agenda of any Republican or Democratic candidate, and call on our movements to continue to struggle against US-led war through the elections and beyond.