For New Yorkers the Mamdani movement can be a means of making life better for themselves. It can make rent, transportation, and child care more affordable. That economic change will also help lift a huge psychological weight off the backs of millions of New Yorkers. It will be one of the first times in recent history that such a movement has had that potential.

Millions of young people and workers across the country will be inspired to take up a similar struggle. That’s why it has the potential to be the spark that can transform the entire political drift of this country and why the Mamdani Movement has national and therefore international importance. It is also why Trump/Project 2025 has the movement in his crosshairs. Contrary to the all powerful force they project, the Mamdani Movement can defeat them. This will not be an easy task, though. We need to be clear on their plans and what has worked and what has not worked since Trump/Project 2025 took office. This article will review that. First, let’s consider the plans of Trump & his gang:

Secretary of “War” Pete Hegseth and US generals listening to “commander in chief” Trump.

Trump’s plans
On September 30, Trump and his Secretary of “War” Pete Hegseth pulled together every single top general from around the world. They delivered two important messages: (1) either you will be on the same page politically as Trump or you should resign. (2) The “enemy within” is the population of the major cities, and top generals will be commanding a “war” against the population of those cities. Chicago is next. (See Oaklandsocialist’s article Hegseth and Trump take steps to ensure military brass loyal to them over Constitution.)

Sure enough, a test invasion of Chicago followed a few days later. Trump’s interference in the NYC election and his continual referral to Mamdani as a “communist” show that an invasion of New York is on his agenda, possibly soon after Mamdani takes office (which is the most likely outcome of the election).

Now, let’s look at what has been done so far to stop Trump/Project 2025. In doing so, we should keep in mind the potential role of the unions as explained below:

Lawsuits
The main means of stopping Trump/Project 2025 has been lawsuits. That has had limited success, but only very limited. Just recently a Trump appointed judge temporarily blocked Trump sending the National Guard into Portland. That is a setback for Trump, but given that Trump controls the the Supreme Court, it is uncertain what the ultimate result will be. There is also the question of to what degree can ICE replace the National Guard? They received an estimated $75 bn. in the Project 2025 Big Beautiful Bill. According to the Cato Institute, the total amount is close to $1 trillion. That can hire a lot of thugs and provide a lot of arms and training. Their invasion of Chicago reflects that already. The ICE agents who fast speed repelled down

Trump is preparing for Mayor Mamdani

from helicopters to the roof of the apartment building would have had to receive a lot of very specialized training, for example. So lawsuits can be an auxiliary tactic, but especially considering that Trump largely controls Supreme Court mass ICE invasions backed up by the National Guard and even the army and Marines are unlikely to be stopped by lawsuits. 

Mass street protests
There have been mass protests from time to time, such as the “No Kings” protest. If they are just one and done, Trump/Project 2025 can continue to ignore them. Ongoing protests like the ones in L.A. have had limited success but have not stopped Trump entirely, partly because they have involved hundreds, not tens of thousands. If they had, it is likely that Trump would send in the National Guard on a large scale, if the protests are confined to just the streets and communities.

Work places
The key is the major work places and their workers. Workers in New York have the power to shut down air, sea and rail transport into and out of New York City. That could include workers at Amazon, who have been trying to unionize, and at UPS. Not even the National Guard could get them up and running again. That would have a huge impact not only on the US economy but the world economy. Even more important, just as the Mamdani Movement can inspire a similar political movement across the country, so such a political strike can do the same for the U.S. labor movement.

AFL-CIO web site. Like all the unions, they don’t mention of the threat to democratic – meaning workers’ – rights on their web site.

Uncomfortable as the fact may be, what stands in the way of a real fighting union movement is the leadership of the unions. For 80 years they have devoted themselves to conducting a war against all the best traditions of the U.S. labor movement. Today they are dedicated to preventing the unions from getting swept up in, never mind leading, a struggle against Trump/Project 2025. The unions’ web sites, which are their public face, never even mention the drive of Trump/Project 2025 to crush democratic rights. They never mention the military style invasions of Chicago and L.A. for example. And if you go to any of the protests against Trump and Project 2025 you won’t see any significant union contingents there.

Trump/Project 2025 has radicalized tens of millions of Americans, including union members. That provides a potential opening for the resistance, including the Mamdani Movement, to organize among union members and help them organize within their unions. There are union members within the Mamdani Movement, and many more participants in the Movement who have family, friends and neighbors who are union members. They can start talking with and encouraging them to start getting fellow union members together to organize within the unions. That might be a real uphill battle for now, but we should be aware of the potential for a sea change:

In France in 1968, a largely student protest was met with harsh police brutality. As a result, millions of workers joined in and the entire country was shut down for weeks.

The battle of Seattle, 1999. Tear gas filled the air of downtown Seattle. They shut down the WTO conference!

Then there was the 1999 “Battle of Seattle” in which youth were joined by union members – mainly members of the Steelworkers – to shut down that city and force the attendees of the annual conference of the World Trade Organize to abandon their conference and flee Seattle.

This struggle has such a potential and more. Around the world, far right nationalist Trump-like parties and leaders are advancing. If workers here are able to send Trump/Project 2025 scurrying to cover, it will transform world politics.

Members of the U.S. Special Forces who have motorcycle gangs the same as the Hells Angels. Trump & Hegseth have promoted officers who approve of these types.

The alternative
There has been much talk about “fascism” in the United States. Much of that talk is exaggerated and/or seriously distorts reality. But it’s not made up out of whole cloth. Recently the NY Times carried an article entitled They celebrated vigilante justice on the battlefield; then they brought it home. It details how US soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan tortured, murdered and also looted in those countries and how bands of those same troops here at home are maintaining the same psychology here at home. Many of them are linked with outlaw motorcycle gangs. This is part of the true face of fascism. Trump and Hegseth are promoting those commanding officers who approve of those same tactics. We are not about to see outright fascism totally take over, but the dangers are enormous.

That is what is at stake.

It won’t be easy, but imagine what can be accomplished… and what the alternative is.