“Treason!” “Sedition!” “Spies!” “Bullshit!” “Fraud!” and “Civil war!” Such was the response of the presidential “stable genius” to the ongoing drama unfolding on Capitol Hill concerning impeachment proceedings against him. Trump’s hubris appears to have caught up with him at last as a sprawling investigation spills messily into the headlines. The American president is a wretched reactionary—to put it mildly—and billions worldwide are understandably delighted to see him get some form of comeuppance. But what’s behind the smoke and mirrors? Whose interests are served by this charade?

On 3 August, a white supremacist gunman named Patrick Wood Crusius shot dozens of innocent people in El Paso, Texas. While gunning down those he deemed to be part of an “immigrant invasion,” he declared solidarity with the Christchurch, New Zealand mosque shooter from earlier this year. In the last year, synagogues in Pittsburgh and Southern California have faced similar attacks. These are just the latest in a string of incidents of fascist individual terrorism, which must be understood in the context of the crisis and decay of capitalism.