"Things Will Be Great Next Year" – Legacy of a Failed Presidency

 

“Things Will Be Great Next Year” – Legacy of a Failed Presidency

A “fatwa” is a formal legal opinion or interpretation issued by an Islamic scholar on a point of Islamic law (Sharia). A determination that a named individual is an “Enemy of God” is a death sentence, a command to the faithful.

Unless you are rich and have a huge stake in a stock market (one that is increasingly sending mixed messages), the United States does not work for you. According to a Fox Poll, 76% of all Americans believe the economy has been headed in the wrong direction. So much damage has been inflicted by the Trump administration that it may take years, if not more than a decade, to undo that damage if ever. If you are young, entering the job market, optimism has left the building. The rich rise above the clutter, because their kids do not need student loans, and they can pass inheritances or simple gifts to their children to buy their first home. Realtor.com (November 21st) estimates that the 26% of Gen Z who believe that they can buy a house are mostly reliant on parental gifts or inheritance… but right now, the average age of those able to purchase that first home is 40.

Simply, we are living in a K-shaped economy (see above chart) where those living with incomes above middle class levels are doing very well (note, this higher class owns most of the stock in publicly traded companies) – the top of the “K” – and the rest of the country are struggling – the bottom of the “K.” Writing for the November 21st, Wall Street Journal, Rachel Louise Ensign and Rachel Wolfe, have penned an article entitled “The middle class is buckling under almost five years of persistent inflation.” Here is some of that article, with a startling reminder of what middle class even means today: “Pew Research Center defines the middle class broadly as having a household income between about $66,666 and $200,000, depending on where they live. Perpetual sticker shock is making many within the group feel worse about both their own finances and the future of the country. They are hunting for bargains and spending more carefully.

“Cost-of-living issues also pushed voters this month toward candidates who promised to address what many now see as an affordability crisis. Similar issues dogged Joe Biden’s re-election campaign last year and have recently weighed on President Trump’s approval ratings… The frugality of the middle-class customer figures as a recurring theme in recent corporate earnings reports. Fast-food restaurant Wingstop said this month that middle-income diners have now joined lower-income ones in dialing back purchases. Target reported slumping sales and said customers are spending cautiously on discretionary items such as home decor and apparel. Walmart, meanwhile, posted strong sales as consumers from all income groups flocked to the retailer’s value.”

From Trump administration operatives, from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and VP JD Vance (who absolutely know better), we are now getting “wait until next year” messages. But everything the Trump administration has imposed economically, from an inane tariff schema to attempts (some successful) to randomly fire federal employees, cruelly deporting valuable immigrants and to approving mega-mergers that instantly reduce competition, have imposed deep destruction to the entire economic fabric of America.

Today CDC is issuing rulings that directly contradict detailed and well-established medical research. It’s bad enough that these failed policies and fabricated information are the norm, but even as fierce Trump ally, Marjoirie Taylor Greene, has discovered, disagreeing with the President means a becoming the target of a death sentence fatwah… Trump’s blind followers constantly issue death threats that require upgraded police protection. It gets worse… and Donald Trump knows exactly what his threats create. Fear enhances his control over others.

On November 20th, Trump wrote on Truth Social that those Democratic members of Congress, each with experience in the military or the intelligence services, who posted a video that military personnel must follow our laws (and particularly the Constitution) and cannot be ordered to do otherwise… should be immediately arrested for sedition, convicted and executed. The underlying assumption, reflecting the same disease that resulted in the ouster of Richard Nixon half a century ago, is that presidential orders must be obeyed without question, that they are “lawful” because the President so ordered them. For a more detailed description of the ugly details, see also my recent An Increasing Tolerance for Corruption, The Double Standard New Normal and If You Can’t Make It Right, Make It Legal; America Enters Its Banana Republic Phase blogs.

But 150 federal courts have already ruled that many of Trump’s executive orders were “unlawful.” Perhaps Trump is understanding his limits? “In an appearance Friday [11/21] morning on Fox News Radio with Brian Kilmeade, Trump responded to a question about his remarks, in part, ‘I'm not threatening death, but I think they're in serious trouble. In the old days, it was death. I'm not threatening them, but I think they're in serious trouble. I would say they're in serious trouble.’" Newsweek, November 21st. The problem is that Trump’s most extreme MAGA minions believe they have their orders. And that is exactly where Trump’s power comes from. Fear!

This summer, a national poll by The Leadership Conference found a level of pessimism that should alarm us all:

• 57% fear the U.S. is on a path toward civil war.

• 60% say race relations are worsening — up sharply from last year.

• 69% of nonwhite voters worry about white supremacy, also up from 2024.

• 88% of American voters continue to agree (66% strongly agree) that our diversity makes us stronger, unchanged from 2023

Given tons of Trump family deals with the Saudis, even forgetting about the disgusting elevated fawning treatment of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during a White House visit, Trump authorized providing the Saudis with access to national security threatening microchips and F-35 fighters… forgetting to mention that the Peoples Republic of China has even better ties with that desert kingdom than do we. I’m sure Xi is smiling. Further, Trump’s Gaza settlement proposal is unraveling as Israel has dug in its heels against a Palestinian state… forever… and is mounting attacks not just in Gaza but in the West Bank… as Hamas continues to refuse to disarm.

Even the UK is not sharing intelligence with us about activities in the Caribbean as they, and most of the rest of the world, are appalled at the Trump fatwah against people there he has labeled “terrorists” without presenting any proof. Without authorization from Congress or the courts, Trump is ordering execution of “narco-terrorist” crews in small boats he has decided need to be exterminated. So much for his foreign policy “successes.”

So MAGA voters seem to be waking up well beyond the Epstein debacle. Trump has ushered in a privileged upper class with ties only to him, his tariffs clearly are making ordinary costs soar, affordability will never be his issues, folks are terrified of AI are watching Trump fight to leave that field unregulated, our military is out fighting “foreign wars,” Congress represents Trump and not MAGA voters and those who dare say otherwise face death threats. At least that’s what MAGA Georgia Republican, Majorie Taylor Greene said on November 21st when she resigned her House seat, effective in early January next year.

I’m Peter Dekom, and outside of braggadocio and fabricated “alternative facts,” will someone tell me a. how Americans are better off in Trump 2.0 from last year, and b. exactly which major Trump foreign and domestic policies are or have been successful?