The USA between disintegration and resistance - a field report

The USA between disintegration and resistance – a field report
By Mandy Tröger
[This article posted on June 25, 2025 is translated from the German on the Internet, https://www.isw-muenchen.de/online-publikationen/texte-artikel/5368-die-usa-zwischen-zerfall-und-widerstand-ein-erfahrungsbericht.]


The social and political situation in the United States is characterized by multiple crises: political radicalization, growing social inequality, structural racism, economic precariousness, and the systematic erosion of democratic institutions. With Donald Trump's return to office, an authoritarian style of government is emerging that will have far-reaching consequences for academia, the public sphere, and social movements. At the same time, new political cultures of resistance are forming at the local level.

I recently had the opportunity to observe these developments firsthand. I attended two academic conferences—first in Denver, Colorado, then in Tacoma, Washington. Both cities offer an exemplary picture of the disintegration of public spaces and institutional structures in U.S. cities. Visible signs of neglect include dilapidated streets and buildings, crumbling bridges, and run-down, sometimes dystopian-looking neighborhoods. Particularly striking is the dramatic increase in homelessness: tent camps along highways, parks, and sidewalks are a normal part of the public landscape. In cities designed for cars, the majority of the population drives past this reality of exclusion.

Concentration of wealth

The urbanization of everyday poverty and the simultaneous concentration of capital in exclusive enclaves marks an economic structural break, as described by Thomas Piketty in his analysis of post-industrial wealth distribution (1). In 2024, the US accounted for almost 40% of the world's millionaires. At the same time, over 80% of adults in the US have less than $100,000, illustrating the unequal distribution of wealth. (2) This concentration of wealth in the top percent of society affects democratic processes, political representation, and social cohesion. The deregulation policies of recent decades, tax breaks for the wealthy, and the privatization of public goods have created a system that systematically restricts or even prevents social participation.

Parallel to material impoverishment, social trust is eroding in the US. People who encounter each other in the few public spaces such as sidewalks or public transportation usually do so with distance and caution. On the one hand, this may be due to the omnipresence of threat scenarios in the media and the easy access to firearms. According to estimates, more than one million new firearms are sold in the US every month. (3) By mid-June 2025, around 6,450 deaths from firearms (excluding suicides) had been recorded. (4)

On the other hand, the erosion of social trust is certainly also due to social polarization. US society, with its de facto two-party system, extremely different realities and cultures – for example between rural and urban areas – and strong lines of conflict along polarized and profit-oriented media, offers little common ground for discussion or dialogue. Facts, evidence, and arguments depend on sociocultural factors, which makes everyday conversations, let alone joint political action, difficult. (5)

The “No Kings” mass demonstrations on June 14, 2025, provided a counterweight. Millions of people took part in nationwide protests against authoritarian tendencies and plutocratic structures under the Trump administration. In Denver, tens of thousands turned out, and my colleagues and I were there. The protests were moving, and the people's banners were imaginatively critical. Slogans such as “Deport Hate, not our Neighbors,” “Immigrants make America Great,” and “Turd Reich,” an allusion to the Third Reich, represent more than just an expression of discontent. The US is at a historic turning point, and the resistance on the streets is an attempt to counteract authoritarian disintegration. People are taking to the streets – not because of, but despite everyday violence.

“No Kings” demonstrations, June 14, 2025, Denver, Colorado

That same evening, I ran into a police lineup with a friend that had formed after a shooting. Such incidents are not an exceptional phenomenon in the US; they are symptomatic of the state of a society in which public safety is increasingly privatized and violence is normalized.
Science under pressure

These issues are also of concern to the scientific community. Anger, frustration, and despair prevailed at the conferences. Scientific institutions are also under intense political pressure. Research in the fields of gender, racism, climate, and social justice in particular has been subject to massive restrictions under the second Trump administration. Funding structures have been restructured, ideologically inconvenient topics marginalized or completely removed from public institutions. Everyone had stories to tell about how their own research funding had been cut and foreign students threatened.

Currently, a long list of terms is being removed from government websites and documents and flagged for review by federal agencies. In doing so, the Trump administration is attempting to remove all references not only to diversity, equality, and inclusion, but also to climate change, vaccines, and a host of other issues. A list compiled by PEN America contains more than 250 words and expressions that are no longer considered acceptable under the Trump administration. They range from “abortion” and ‘women’ to “disability,” “elderly people,” “Native Americans,” and, unsurprisingly, the “Gulf of Mexico.” (6) Language is thus being systematically removed from the public sphere and science is being politically manipulated.

At the same time, international students' visas to US universities are being revoked for various reasons, including alleged visa violations and criminal activity, as well as alleged national security concerns. Recently, the US State Department has also been given the power to revoke visas without formal charges. In addition, the government has instructed US embassies around the world to stop making appointments for student visas for the time being. (7)

Political resistance and solidarity

Despite – or perhaps because of – these political tightening measures, new forms of political organization are emerging in the US, both in academia and at the local level. At both conferences, counterstrategies were discussed and practical tips for resistance were shared. Academics are networking, seeking legal assistance, and publicly questioning the fascist tendencies of the Trump administration. At the same time, tenant collectives, health cooperatives, feminist self-help organizations, and open technology projects are forming in cities such as Denver and Tacoma. At the local level, they work outside institutionalized power structures, seek solidarity-based responses to growing precarious living conditions, and take to the streets despite the growing threat from the state and police.

“No Kings” demonstrations, June 14, 2025, Denver, Colorado

On the last day of the conference in Tacoma, the US bombed Iran, and once again the shock ran deep in a country where crisis mode seems increasingly normal. It is an expression of a profound restructuring of economic, political, and cultural orders. I spent that night in an Airbnb that has been open to international travelers for years. The owner has created a small refuge of peace in her home. With tears in our eyes, we talked about the insanity of the government, about powerlessness and local resistance. How can you preserve your humanity, she asks, when the situation is so inhumane? She keeps her Airbnb open and embraces international travelers who visit her home despite everything. She also regularly runs through the streets of Tacoma with bottles of water to offer to homeless people. This is her resistance: solidarity through kindness. In times of everyday fascism, both are needed—even in Germany.

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Footnotes

(1) Piketty, Thomas. Capital and Ideology. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2020.

(2) https://www.klamm.de/news/reichtumsexplosion-in-den-usa-ein-blick-auf-die-globale-vermoegensverteilung-64N20250618124439.html

(3) http://mdr.de/wissen/psychologie-sozialwissenschaften/schusswaffen-usa-statistiken-100.html

(4) https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/579175/umfrage/vorfaelle-und-todesfaelle-durch-schusswaffen-in-den-usa/

(5) https://www.bpb.de/themen/nordamerika/usa/313005/politische-polarisierung-in-den-usa-zum-verhaeltnis-der-demokraten-und-republikaner/

(6) https://pen.org/banned-words-list/

(7) https://monitor.icef.com/2025/05/us-immigration-authorities-set-out-the-legal-basis-for-revoking-student-visa-status/