The new year arrives with sharpening crises and struggle. A year into his second term and Trump is back more brazen and unhinged than ever. He and his cabal of billionaire bigots have rolled out an agenda that is violent and reactionary: this is most clearly seen in sending masked and often unmarked ICE, Border Patrol and other Homeland Security to terrorize mainly Chicano and Latino communities. From attacks on labor to dragging LGBTQ and reproductive rights backwards, from cutting climate protections to “unleashing” National Guard troops into cities with Democratic mayors, Trump is trying to push the country backwards on many fronts.
Abroad, Trump’s lashing out and aggression points to the accelerating decline of U.S. empire. Tariff wars, cold wars, hot wars – everything’s on the table. After 25 years of failed coups and sabotage, Venezuela stands firm. Trump and Wall Street want the oil of Venezuela, but President Maduro and the people of Venezuela want sovereignty more.
At home, the “strongest best economy ever” Trump boast isn’t looking so hot. For the billionaires, who probably don’t do things like buy coffee (up 18%) and beef (up 15%) things are great. For the rest of us, inflation just creeps higher and higher. The Big Beautiful Bill is a reverse Robin Hood scheme that squeezes middle and low-income households and redirects money upwards to the capitalist class. Starting January 1, the subsidized healthcare plans that millions rely on will be gone, and they’ll see their premiums double or triple with the new legislation. Student loan payments have restarted, and wage garnishments are set to begin. Trump promised to bring down costs, but the subtext was, only for the billionaires.
The uprisings and broad waves of resistance in the past year proved that people are not looking to take this mess lying down. Trump’s attacks came fast and furious, and many are now stalled as movements resist them and people become more organized.
The immigrant rights fight is the leading edge of this struggle, and the Southwest Emergency Summit Against Deportations in Los Angeles in spring 2025 was a turning point. There, community organizers, unions, socialist groups, and Chicano and Latino families pulled forces together with the demand of an end to the raids and mass deportations that began to sweep the Southwest and cities across the country. Fighting for sanctuary city laws, legal defense, community patrols, defense against political repression and mass mobilizations swept other cities, too.
From LA to Chicago to Portland, the people fought back against the detention centers, disrupted ICE raids and deportations, and brought thousands into the streets. And in DC when federal troops were deployed, the people came out in force again to say our neighborhoods are not yours to occupy. Everywhere the forces of repression go, they meet bravery and defiance.
The No Kings protests brought millions into the streets to stand tall against Trump’s crooked agenda. We had, and have, choices: help raise the level of political thinking and lead some energy into strategic and durable struggle, or stand on the sidelines and criticize or oppose. Trump is hugely unpopular now and things are coming apart in this country. In 2026, we can bet on more opportunities to build the broad front against Trump bigger, broader and badder.
The missing piece is that we need a new party of the working class. We need a disciplined, fighting organization that can lead and unite all the fronts of the people’s struggles – communities fighting national oppression, the fight for immigrant rights, workers struggles, fighting climate change, defending women’s and LGBTQ rights, and the anti-war struggle into a united front – the force that brings the monopoly capitalist class to its knees.
In the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, that’s what we intend to build. We’re in unions, community organizations, student groups and coalitions connecting immediate fights to the revolutionary aim of socialism. We’re finding and forging new revolutionaries in the course of all these struggles.
We are going to keep proving that when we fight, we win. Together we will make this country ungovernable. The New Year is upon us and this will be a new year of struggle.
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