You’d be hard pressed to find a more abominable gang of billionaires, sex criminals and warmongers than Trump’s incoming cabinet. As a whole, they represent the dangerously right-wing and authoritarian agenda of Trump 2.0. Trump campaigned as if he would represent regular working people against the “elites,” but it’s startling how directly and deeply involved the billionaire class is in Trump’s cabinet. Seven billionaires have been nominated, and altogether, the group’s net worth tops $380 billion—higher than the GDP of most countries. 

As we’ve previously warned, Trump’s second term will be marked by increased authoritarianism. Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, Kash Patel, has warned that he will root out the “conspirators” in the government and the media. Trump will carry out attacks on basic democratic rights and institutions like the press, the right to protest, education and unions. He has promised to carry out “shock and awe” mass deportations that will rip apart families and communities. 

But Trump’s attacks can be stopped. His ability to carry out his agenda is not just a question of who sits in his cabinet but of the class balance of forces in society. In other words, working people can and must get organized to fight back against Trump’s destructive plans. History shows we can beat the far right when the working class takes action.

Cabinet Of Horrors

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, two right-wing billionaires, have been tapped to lead the “Department of Government Efficiency.” From day one, Musk and Ramaswamy have pledged to carry out a union-busting crusade against federal workers and have promised mass layoffs. This would be a blow to all workers, but to Black workers in particular who make up a significant fraction of the public sector workforce. Billionaire interests will nakedly reign supreme in Trump’s government.

Matt Gaetz, who trafficked a minor for sex, was Trump’s initial choice to lead the Department of Justice. Under intense media and legal pressure, he was forced to withdraw from consideration. This was a dent to Trump’s ambitions to build an “Anti-MeToo” cabinet, and it shows that there is still deep, untapped anger in society at unchecked sexual abuse and harassment. But Trump himself and several more of his cabinet picks, including Defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth, are rapists and sexual abusers and it will take more than media pressure to defeat them. Mass protests and workplace action will be necessary to oppose Trump’s agenda as well as all sexism and misogyny, which is baked into the capitalist system.

Trump’s cabinet picks and inner circle is stocked with racists, sexists, transphobes and others with deeply toxic ideas. Stephen Miller, a senior advisor to Trump, is a white nationalist who is a proponent of the racist “great replacement” conspiracy theory. Trump’s administration will include transphobes like Elon Musk, who will lead attacks on LGBTQ people and women in order to reinforce sexist gender roles and distract from their inability to improve the quality of life for working people. It’s the task of the labor movement to reject all attempts at divide-and-rule politics and stand up boldly to protect oppressed coworkers and community members.

Project 2025

Trump’s cabinet picks give us a glimpse into the main priorities of his administration and the wing of the ruling class that backs him. On the campaign trail, Trump distanced himself from Project 2025, but he’s ready to drop the charade. Trump will dangerously ramp up militarism, carry out vicious mass deportations and stoke hate and violence. He plans to demolish what little oversight the state imposes on big business and go after working people and unions. Trump will aim to accomplish this by concentrating power in the presidency to an unprecedented level.

The overriding priority of Trump and the ruling class is to win the fight for global supremacy with Chinese imperialism. Trump’s nomination of Marco Rubio, Hegseth, and others to his cabinet is a reflection of this. He will levy stiff tariffs against China that will upset a wing of Wall Street. But the US ruling class is trapped by the logic of imperialist conflict which means they will fight for every technological and military advantage against Chinese imperialism, and so trade restrictions and tariffs are on the order of the day. 

The drive to deregulation and privatization is a core part of Trump’s agenda. Cutting back social services to the bone and dismantling public sector unions, especially teachers’ unions, is central to Project 2025. Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Education, billionaire Linda McMahon, supports defunding the public school system as part of a campaign to fully privatize education. 

Trump plans to bring key agencies that previously hindered his agenda to heel in his second term. Trump’s FBI director nominee has called for a purge of dissenting government officials. During the George Floyd protests, Trump wanted to deploy the military to bloodily suppress protests but was blocked by his own generals. “I need the kind of generals Hitler had” was Trump’s response, and he will go to great lengths in his second term to install an unquestionably loyal military leadership. While the FBI, military and other arms of the state exist to be wielded against working people and our organizations, and we can’t have any illusions in their “independence,” we have nothing to gain whatsoever from an authoritarian and unconstrained Trump administration.

How Far Can Trump Go?

While the ruling class seems invincible, it is the working class that creates the wealth on which their power rests. We stand in between the capitalists and their long-term goals. Trump’s cabinet selections are absolutely vile, and we can’t afford to underestimate the danger that they pose to working and oppressed people. But we also shouldn’t underestimate our own power to place limits on Trump’s agenda and even score victories. He will almost certainly overreach with his attacks and provoke a backlash, and we should be ready to build on it.

The mass general strikes over the past year against Javier Milei, the right-wing authoritarian president of Argentina, provide an example for how the working class can halt attacks on our working and living conditions. A general strike that shut down huge swathes of the economy followed by four days of massive protests forced Milei to withdraw his first major austerity bill just weeks after it was introduced. But in the absence of continued mobilizations, he was ultimately able to pass substantial portions of it. Although the passage of the “omnibus” bill was a major defeat, the Argentinian working class tasted victory and is more emboldened today to fight militantly against Milei’s agenda. In October, transportation workers went on a sectoral strike to protest layoffs, an action that could inspire broader sections of the working class to move into action once more to defeat Milei’s hated austerity. Likewise, unions have a key role to play in the fight against Trump’s agenda in the US.

But we can’t limit our struggles to opposing individual aspects of Trump’s agenda. Capitalism as a whole is the source of crisis, destruction and upheaval in our society, and we need to build powerful movements against the whole rotten system. That means that we can’t trust the Democrats, a warmongering, billionaire-backed party, with the keys to the capitalist state. They are not a “safe pair of hands” for the capitalist institutions that Trump now controls. We need to fight for working class control over the economy through our own institutions and organizations. We need to build powerful unions and mass movements that can block Trump and plant a flag to inspire the wider working class into action. Fight back against Trump and capitalism—join the socialists!