Neoliberalism's Failure Created the Conditions for Trump's Neofascism
Source: Cornel West. "Cornel West on How Neoliberalism Gave Us Trump’s Neofascism." March 10, 2026. jacobin.com
The Gist
West argues that Trump didn't come out of nowhere - he's the predictable result of decades of free-market policies that enriched the wealthy while failing ordinary people. When those policies stopped working even for the rich, they switched their support to Trump's more extreme approach rather than accept left-wing alternatives.
Conclusion
Trump's neofascism is not an aberration but the inevitable result of decades of neoliberal policies that created oligarchy and failed to provide alternatives for working people
Premises
- There is no American neofascism without the failure of American neoliberalism - neoliberalism was the soil in which neofascism grew
- Trump could not exist in the White House without the support of major monopolies, oligopolies, and Wall Street backing
- The professional-managerial class (lawyers, college presidents, professors, doctors) were complicit in enabling Trump's rise
- When Goldman Sachs and other financial elites tried Obama, Sanders, and Biden but found neoliberalism wasn't working, they opted for the neofascist project
- The Left failed to provide an alternative vision or program when neoliberalism was failing, creating a vacuum that neofascism filled
- Trump's support comes from systemic forces including white supremacist Christian nationalism, not just individual appeal
- Focusing solely on Trump as an individual fetishizes him and ignores the underlying structural systems that created him
Assumptions
- Economic and political systems create the conditions for specific types of leaders to emerge
- Elite financial interests will shift support between political projects based on their effectiveness
- Neoliberalism and neofascism are distinct but related political-economic systems
- The Left had the potential to offer a viable alternative during neoliberalism's crisis
- Historical patterns of resistance and struggle provide relevant lessons for current political moments