One of the more interesting sideshows in a US presidential campaign that has not lacked for drama and surprise has been candidate Donald Trump’s growing obsession with United Auto Workers (UAW) president Shawn Fain. Amid the rambling stream of consciousness that makes up Trump’s stump speeches, these days he never fails to land on the topic of Fain at some point, leveling evidence-free accusations of incompetence and calling for him to be fired (as with many other products of Trump’s vivid imagination, this cannot happen, as Fain was elected by UAW members). For his part, Fain has used the elevated platform that Trump has created for him to amplify his message that “Donald Trump is a scab,” as the UAW’s latest must-have merch drop proclaims.

There are many fascinating dimensions to the Trump-Fain showdown, but what stands out in particular is how it encapsulates the deep contradictions of the current moment for labor and politics. On the one hand, the fact that Trump remains a leading political figure with a decent shot at recapturing the presidency speaks to the pathology of a political system that seems utterly incapable of responding to the multiple crises facing the world today: Israel’s brutal genocide in Gaza (which itself seems on the verge of turning into a dangerous regional war), the war in Ukraine, climate catastrophe, growing inequality, the rise of the far right with its attendant attacks on immigrants, tech billionaires exerting more and more control over our lives, increasingly precarious work, economic instability, and so on. In many cases, it is only exacerbating these problems.

On the other hand, what has allowed Fain to gain a national profile and get under Trump’s skin is the fact that the labor movement is currently experiencing an upsurge the likes of which we have not seen in at least a half century. That’s certainly the case for the United States and Canada, the two countries I know best, but we have also seen major strike mobilizations in France, the UK, Germany, Korea, China, Chile, and elsewhere.