"What is to be Done?"

“What is to be done?” A question that is being asked now that Trump has performed an about-face less than three months into his presidency. No longer is he the people’s tribune battling the many-headed Hydra of the deep state. Now he is the deep state’s colossus.

The first thing that can be done is that communist Jean-Luc Mélenchon can knock off Emmanuel Macron on April 23 and qualify for the second round of the French presidential election, along with the National Front's Marine Le Pen. This will send a message loud and clear that neoliberal orthodoxy is kaput as a viable political program. Markets will panic. The media monopoly with have nowhere to turn because Macron, Fillon and Hamon will be sidelined.

If Mélenchon and Le Pen cannot box out the neoliberals, and Trump can pull off his 180 without suffering an enormous setback during the 2018 midterms, then Tariq Ali is probably right. The radical center can probably lurch along from one crisis to the next for another ten to 20 years.

Let's hope that elections still matter, and that Mélenchon and Le Pen come out on top April 23.