Cheryl Zuur is the retired president of AFSCME Local 444 and is the co-chair of the Ukraine Socialist Solidarity Campaign. On Sunday, November 10, the USSC held a forum on the election of Trump. The following is a transcript of Cheryl’s introduction to that forum:

I want to thank everyone for coming and we are eager to hear from all of you. How you are doing. Your experiences, your views, your ideas and yes, your fears, grief and shock….

Before I talk about how I think we ended up here, I’m going to talk about the emotional roller coaster that I’ve been on and I’ll bet you have been on too.

I wasn’t expecting Harris to win by a landslide, I thought she might have a chance at winning in a very close race. I wasn’t surprised that she lost. But I wasn’t expecting every voting demographic to vote in larger numbers for Trump, across the country, as they did.

The ugly reality: Trump voters either were overt white/male supremacists, ethno-nationalists, homophobes and science denialists or at the very least gave a pass to those politics.

We have to face the very unpleasant reality that we are living in a country where almost 75 million people voted for a racist white supremacist, a convicted rapist, a criminal, a misogynist and a pathological liar, for starters.

Even acknowledging the very conservative campaign that Harris ran, these statistics are shocking. I feel like I am living in the wrong country. And in an ironic twist that is how Trump supporters felt before his victory.

In 2016 Trump ran a populist campaign, and no one really knew what would happen. In 2024 there was no question about what Trump represented – and people voted for him anyway.

I am angry at the arrogance and willful ignorance of the mostly white socialist left who refused to acknowledge the enormous differences between MAGA and the Democrats in 2024 and who either advocated for third party voting, or not voting at all. The pro Palestine movement was dominated by the Putinist left, and captured by the Islamic Regime’s pro Hamas/Anti US imperialist propaganda. They called out “Genocide Joe” and demanded that Harris be punished, but raised not a peep about the dangers of Trump. This completely played into the hands of MAGA. Unforgivable.

I am angry at workers of every gender and race who voted against their class interest even though they’ve been in free fall confusion for decades. But I am even angrier at the leaders of unions, who for decades have waged a war against class consciousness, and have completely alienated union members by failing to fight for them. If these leaders had told the truth to their members-and the rest of the working class that presidents don’t control prices under Capitalism-capitalists do-and if they had said we must organize to stop MAGA from taking the White House because it will destroy our ability to fight back-we might have had a chance.

I feel despair because this is real. Trump and Vance will take power in January and will rapidly begin to implement their horrifying plans. I have no doubt that Putin and Victor Orban-and maybe even Kim Jong Un will be adjunct members of the Trump/Vance cabinet. Whenever he has a little problem he can call them and ask how they resolved such matters in their early days.

I am afraid because I know that our very ability to organize and resist is in danger. Our very ability to get information and the truth will be at great risk once Trump is in power. I am fearful about the wave of violence that I think Trump will unleash. I do not think that this regime will end in four years. Given Trump’s age and obviously declining physical and mental state of mind, I think there is a high likelihood that JD Vance will replace Trump before the end of his term.

I am frustrated because many people are engaged in “magical thinking” denying that anything substantial will change, because this is America where things just keep keeping on from one administration to the next and well, And the idea that I’ll be ok even if other people aren’t.

That most powerful form of magical thinking-that there is a legal way out that doesn’t involve people having to do anything themselves is rampant and always being spread by the Democrats. The lawyers and the courts will take care of it.

They’ll find some loopholes in Project 2025. The Democrats will get a slim majority in the house and they’ll be able to block some measures.

In 2007 Naomi Klein published the book “Shock Doctrine” which meticulously documents “shock therapy” the brute tactic of systematically using the public’s disorientation following a collective shock—to push through radical pro-corporate measures.

Since the rise of MAGA we have been living through a constant form of shock therapy where almost every week something incredible occurs that we have never seen before. We need to brace ourselves for some very large shocks beginning in January.

My Iranian friend told me this week that the Iranian people have been living under a repressive regime for 45 years, and have learned some very hard lessons. Sadly, she said, Americans are about to learn some very hard lessons.

We didn’t get here overnight. The triumph of MAGA in the US is part of a global phenomena of western democracies embracing, and voting for right wing authoritarian leaders.  Some would say that this process began with the dismantling of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the global triumph of Capitalism, which fueled a new era of globalization and the greatest expansion of world trade in history. Globalization resulted in massive displacement of workers. It benefited the wealthy the most and made them even richer. Millions of people rightfully no longer see that they have a viable future. The American dream is gone.

marya Hornbacher. She traveled some 8,000 miles around the country talking with and listening to people.

Article from the SF Chronicle: What the Trump supporters I met had in common they also had in common with many people who planned to vote for Harris, or who, like the Georgia man, didn’t plan to vote at all, was a nearly palpable, clearly painful sense of disappointment, disaffection, alienation and distrust — in politics and politicians, in government and governance, in their fellow Americans and in American life.

Over and over, I heard the same basic story: They had taken some myth about their country as truth and now felt betrayed. What I saw, everywhere I went, was rage at this real or perceived betrayal: an amorphous, almost aimless rage that seemed to cast about for a target lest it dissolve and reveal the grief at its core. [Oaklandsocialist note: This very worthwhile article can be read in full in its archived version here. More than anything else, it shows the crying need for a radical working class party. For the absence of such a party, we have to blame the union leadership first and foremost and, second, the left including the soft left and the ultra left, both of which work hand in glove with the union leadership. Oaklandsocialist will be writing more on this in the near future.]

I would also argue that conservatives have been working for decades to take back the economic gains made by unions during the 40’s and 50’s, and the human and civil rights won by the social movements of the 60’s and 70’s. They’ve been in it for the long game, from the Tea Party, to the Heritage Foundation to MAGA. They had a plan and with the bipartisan help from Democrats they’ve been chipping away at it. Now they’re about to get the whole enchilada.

Das Gupta’s “Demise of the Nation State” explained a lot. It is well worth reading in its entirety.

This process of globalization was fully advocated for by social democrats in Europe and the Democrats in the United States. On a visceral level workers understand this and feel betrayed. With no serious resistance from unions, and a complete failure of the socialist movement to organize anything, where were workers to turn to for answers; to right wing populism which claims we can have the old world order again by just closing the borders, firing the liberal elites and putting tarifs in place. As we know this is a lie.

What will happen when the promises Trump has made to make life great again are not delivered? Will his base turn on him? If they do, Trump won’t hesitate to crush them. After all, they are no longer needed really. It’s also possible that Trump will deliver in some cases. Perhaps for some people vengeance will be enough and he will deliver plenty of that.

I wish I could say that people will organize a great resistance but I do not think that is the case, given the mass confusion and reaction that permeates society. There could be some sort of spontaneous protests organized. I think it’s far more likely that people will turn on each other to express their rage. We will see an increase in violence of all kinds, domestic violence, attacks on people of color, on Jewish people, on LGBTQ, on immigrants, on women, on the disabled. And why wouldn’t there be? The stage has already been set for that by MAGA as they are the scapegoats for all that is wrong with society. 

I have painted a very bleak picture. I hope I am wrong but we cannot move forward and do what must be done without facing reality, carefully and thoughtfully. 

There are things we can and must do. We must take care of ourselves in order to stay as strong as we possibly can in the days-and years  to come. Taking care includes being in community and in solidarity with others. I  highly recommend the list written up by Andrea Chalupa (Meghan please put in the chat). We need to be in this for the long game. 

I want to make one comment about the growing voices questioning whether the election was hijacked through high tech tampering of voting machines. When I first read about this I was skeptical but after doing more reading I think there is much more going on here that warrants our attention, or at least an open mind. Is there anything that can be done? Maybe, or maybe not.  We can discuss this more in the discussion.

[Oaklandsocialist comments: Actual facts have yet to emerge regarding these claims. In any case, the vote results closely match the polls taken just before the election. And keep in mind that in the past these polls had tended to slightly overestimate support for the Democrats.]

On a political level, we must do everything that we can to strengthen the ties we have to all of those who stand in solidarity with Ukraine, and continue to do what we can to support a victory in Ukraine, as tenuous and challenging as that seems at this moment. We are not alone. There are workers and socialists around the world who oppose Putin, who stand for a victory in Ukraine and who stand for international working

“Women, Life, Freedom”. After decades of repression, the Iranian revolution against the dictatorship lives on.

class solidarity and liberation. We can draw inspiration from the Iranians, Russians and Africans and Palestinians who fight back under the most difficult conditions. Solidarity and resistance builds community and inspires and uplifts. 

Almost 71 million people voted for Harris. Most of them aren’t socialists or even leftists. And they are all in a state of shock, grief, disbelief and anger. Around 60 million people didn’t vote at all. They were disgusted and demoralized. Much larger discussion should be had about that.   We need to keep our eyes and ears to the ground to look for pockets of resistance and organizing to support and encourage, and learn to speak with people where they are.

 I look forward to hearing your thoughts about how to connect with them.