GOOD QUESTION, HARI. My view of the "ruling class" stems from G. William Domhoff's work WHO RULES AMERICA? --- which he has continued to refine through a number of editions ---
It's the people who sit on corporate boards with tremendous ownership stakes --- if is people whose family wealth goes back generations --- they go to the same schools, they intermarry, the go to places like BOHEMIAN GROVE --- they attend meetings at DAVOS, etc. MUSK is an upstart. So is Zuickerberg --- (so is Thiel, I venture to say). ROMNEY, ROCKEFELLER, etc. are the families ....the Kennedy family made it into that group AFTER JFK was elected --- Most politicians are "servants" of the ruling class -- it is not an accident that so many of them are LAWYERS. Trump always felt like an outsider -- being "from Queens" not Manhattan --- and he has always acted like an outsider. THE RULING CLASS MEMBERS LIKE ORDER not disorder --- Like the German ruling class, they thought they could CONTROL Trump --- they were "happy" he was defeated by Biden and they worked to make sure Biden didn't damage their standing in the economy (I would venture to guess without having done the work, that Biden did very little to disturb the long run trend of increased inequality -- the main improvement in the standard of living of the "lower orders" ironically occurred on Trump's watch when the emergency spending bills related to the COVID pandemic put a tremendous dent into child poverty --- that was temporary, courtesy of Manchin and Synema ---- One could make the case that the group that DOMHOFF rather meticulously identifies is now SPLIT --- some have definitely embraced TRUMPISM --- (and I agree with those who argue that it aini't fascism because fascism for the most part emerges as a way of suppressing an "uppity" working class --- but it's very much LIKE fascism --- ) while others are anxious to get back to the lives and opportunities they enjoyed under Clinton, GW Bush and Obama --- BUT AGAIN -- I make this "proposal" with great uncertainty --- and for what it's worth, I think if enough political leaders did "depose" Trump using the 25th (24th?) Amendment process, it would be worse for the progressives (the left -- US) becauise Vance is so much smarter than Trump (though he does seem to be a lousy campaigner --- hard to imagine him passing himself off as "a man of the people" the way Clinton, GW Bush (there's a ruling class family for you) and Obama and Biden did --- ANYWAY -- the nice thing about predictions is that if you live long enough to find out whether it was partially valid, off the wall, etc. And no matter what the ruling class is up to, our job --- as best we can be part of it --- is to oppose Trumpism with everything we've got --- even (HORRORS!) making common cause with the corporate wing of the Democratic Party. But anyone actually involved in the labor movement is really doing the important work for sure. AGAIN -- thanks for the question, Hari On Sat, Jun 13, 2026 at 6:25 AM hari kumar via groups.io <hari6.kumar= [email protected]> wrote: > Michael: > Who is the ruling class if not those who have enjoyed the huge surges in > GINI coefficients etc under Trump and Vance? You ahve not defined who it is > you are talking about who is “not happy” with Trump. > Hari > _._,_._,_ > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#42010): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/42010 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/119773879/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
