America vs the World (and Itself?) – Now What?

America vs the World (and Itself?) – Now What?

“It sort of saddens me. I think one of our superpowers as a country is our relentless optimism…

It is the fuel for entrepreneurship and other exceptional achievements.”

Neale Mahoney, a Stanford University economics professor, reacting to polling showing Americans no longer positive about their future.

So, what’s going on? Here’s a very long, run-in sentence about who we are: We are at each other’s throats, marching unambiguously into autocracy, federalized National Guardsmen and active-duty US military troops are marching into blue cities (with falling crime rates and African American mayors) purportedly to combat “rising crime” and protect ICE agents, HHS is demonizing the medical/scientific profession and vaccines that have worked well for years as preventable diseases soar, immigration policies that were to focus on undocumented criminals have been reduced to indiscriminate quota detentions that are playing hob with small businesses and farmers, prices are rising and ordinary federal benefits are falling to cater to huge, deficit busting tax cuts for the rich, our cultural institutions have a rightwing political mandate, America is now perceived as an unfriendly and cruel place to visit as our higher-educational institutions are under attack and our public school performance levels continue to plunge.

It’s not that blue cities don’t want to have an effective working relationship with professional federal policing agencies (like the ATF, FBI, etc.) to fight real crime, from drug trafficking to gang violence, but spurious politically motivated actions that destroy local businesses are nothing on their “to do” list. Taxpayers should not be funding a police state, backed by military, invading cities and towns that do not need that profoundly negative reality. We also do not need federal policies that close hospitals and nursing homes and throw millions of Americans out of medical care. Those tariffs have not brought back reshored manufacturing jobs, and layoffs have reached recent record levels. We are increasingly willing to demonize vulnerable demographics, rig elections through gerrymandering, and, in polls conducted by scholar Matthew MacWilliams, the percentage of Americans who prefer law and order autocracy has risen from an unacceptable 34% in 2016 to an even more unacceptable 38% today.

And those tariffs, intended to cover part of the federal budget shortfall from the tax cut for the rich… well… Even as Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs have been ruled an illegal usurpation of Congress’ Constitutional prerogative to set tariffs and taxes (Article I) – some tariffs generated under specific statutes remain, however – the President has alienated allies and neutral trading partners alike by his bullying tactics to set these tariffs. The tariff ban ruling is on appeal. Still, many of these tariffs have been levied for purely political reasons. Like assessing a 50% tariff on Brazil unless it stopped the prosecution of a corruption trial against former President Jair Bolsonaro, well identified as a Trump-like leader and ally. The tariff increase to 50% against India, punishment for buying Russian oil, instantly backfired as that US ally (and most populous nation on Earth) turned to China (India’s perpetual enemy). India’s PM, Narendra Modi, with exceptionally strong local support, refused to budge on what he felt were US efforts to control India’s internal policies. Modi instead joined a bevy of non-aligned and PRC bloc nations in an early September PRC event. Indeed, China is the big winner from Trump’s bully policies.

“[Celebrating WWII ‘Victory Day’ event, showcasing some of China's newest and most advanced weapons, PRC President Xi Jinping] burnished his credentials as a geopolitical powerbroker at a regional security summit in Tianjin, northern China, that ended on Monday [9/1]. He hosted more than 20 world leaders there, including Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi... ‘We should uphold fairness and justice,’ Xi declared at the gathering of the Shanghai Corporation Organization, seemingly trying to claim moral high ground amid the upheaval and strained relationships caused by Mr. Trump's global trade war and isolationist policies. ‘We must oppose the Cold War mentality, block confrontation and bullying practices.’

“Without mentioning the U.S. or its president by name, Xi told the assembled leaders of non-Western countries: ‘We must continue to take a clear stand against hegemonism and power politics.’” CBS News, September 2nd. Also in attendance was Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President of NATO member Turkey. The message was clear: China was now a stable and reliable partner, with a military second only to the US but growing, a clear alternative to the “unstable, chaotic bully tactics” of the United States. While no Western US allies were in attendance, European nations were already well into trade negotiations with the People’s Republic. China holds itself out as a non-punishing global bully, offering trade advantages compared with the US.

Will placing our military troops in US cities – Chicago is next – become our future? San Francisco-based U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer just found that the Trump administration violated a law known as the Posse Comitatus Act with its June deployment of 4,000 National Guard and 700 active-duty U.S. Marines to Los Angeles. The law sharply limits the use of federal troops for domestic enforcement. The order was stayed until September 12th to allow an appeal.

As the above quote suggests, Americans are also losing hope for their future. “A new Wall Street Journal-NORC poll finds that the share of people who say they have a good chance of improving their standard of living fell to 25%, a record low in surveys dating to 1987. More than three-quarters said they lack confidence that life for the next generation will be better than their own, the poll found… Nearly 70% of people said they believe the American dream—that if you work hard, you will get ahead—no longer holds true or never did, the highest level in nearly 15 years of surveys… The discontent reaches across demographic lines. By large majorities, both women and men held a pessimistic view in the combined questions. So did both younger and older adults, those with and without a college degree and respondents with more than $100,000 in household income, as well as those with less.” Lindsay Ellis and Aaron Zitner writing for the September 1st Wall Street Journal.

Meanwhile, from government influence and massive conflicted self-dealing, the Trump family has almost tripled its net worth since the Donald first became President. The latest grift: “The Trump family’s paper wealth after its flagship crypto venture, World Liberty Financial, opened trading of a new digital currency, WLFI, on Monday [9/1]. The launch is akin to an initial public offering, in which WLFI can now be bought and sold on the open market like a listed company’s shares. World Liberty says founders and team members’ tokens remain ‘locked,’ meaning they still can’t sell them. But the trading launch now puts a real-world valuation on their holdings, which previously were valued based on private sales.” Wall Street Journal, September 2nd.

As Trump bends over backwards to reward his perceived “winners” (read: the mega-rich) and does not give a rat’s derriere for the losers (everyone else, including his MAGA base), Trump is pushing the latter’s piece of the American pie almost entirely off the table. Accurate government statistics and independent financial oversight are Trump’s enemies. If anyone truly thinks pursuing a government-enforced vision of “correct thought” and monied-priorities has made this a better country destined to grow, there’s a bridge in Brooklyn they should think about buying.

I’m Peter Dekom, and this “vision for and of America” isn’t really good for anyone not already a multimillionaire or better… and we should return to being an “America” without blue or red coloration.