How Are Any Americans Better Off Since Trump Began His Second Term?

  

How Are Any Americans Better Off Since Trump Began His Second Term?

“I will not bend [on tariffs]. We’ve been ripped off way too long.” DJT

We have already devolved into a plutocracy where labor laws (including worker safety supervision), environmental protections, financial rules aimed at protecting the public from one-sided corporate shenanigans, educational support, civil service laws, specified government services (from keeping national parks open to serving those with disabilities) and laws intended to contain the president from using governmental agencies to implement his personal effort at punishment and retribution. We aren’t even going to be able to get accurate weather reports!

Much of the benefits of the above laws have fallen into major corporations and financial institutions. But even they are shuddering under massive burdens of new tariffs. As reported by the March 12th Newsweek, it is American investors who are taking it on the chin: “While U.S. stocks have dropped amid tariff concerns, European indexes have fared better throughout 2025…” All this coming after “Lazy” Joe Biden led the United States to the greatest post-COVID economic recovery on earth, with infrastructure and jobs aplenty. But Trump loves to blame others for his never-ending litany of missteps and failures.

One of Trump’s major targets is Democrat’s effort to hold our constitutional guardrails in place. And the easiest way to shut down the Constitution is to isolate its rules, defund those aspects of government that are effectively the enforcers of those guardrails and disband federal agencies focused on protecting ordinary citizens. As the March 12th, normally conservative Washington Examiner explains: “The Trump administration is gutting a division at the Department of Justice that oversees prosecutions of public officials accused of corruption.

“Only a small number of employees at the Public Integrity Section, which oversees some of the country’s most high-profile and sensitive prosecutions, will remain as prosecutors are being ordered to take other roles within the department. Cases currently assigned to the unit will be reassigned to U.S. attorneys’ offices across the country… The Public Integrity Section was created in 1976 after the Watergate scandal to oversee criminal prosecutions of federal public corruption cases.

“Throughout the 2024 campaign, then-candidate Donald Trump repeatedly claimed the Justice Department was conducting politically motivated criminal investigations of him. The president called for ending the ‘weaponization’ of the department in an executive order… The Trump administration’s decision to scale back the Public Integrity Section appears to be part of a broader effort to change oversight mechanisms related to government ethics and business practices. Earlier this year, the administration paused enforcement of a decades-old law prohibiting American companies from bribing foreign officials to secure business.” In short, Trump’s efforts here have effectively legalized all sorts of corruption aimed at our elected representatives.

The Trump administration is increasingly operating like a monarchy, as fat cats and bigwigs become supplicants to “his majesty” asking for all kinds of favors and exemptions. Musk got that as well as an illegal use of government property by DJT to market Tesla automobiles. Some have asked for even more bizarre exemption, like this request from the Tech Bros in Silicon Valley; a lobbying group of essentially anarcho-capitalist tech bros wants America to allow them to create special administrative zones in which corporate structures have control and are able to set their own regulations and local laws. Gizmodo suggests that Trump wants to use national park land to build these [“Freedom Cities”], and with everything that’s been in the news lately, that seems credible. Gizmodo, March 11th.

The changes may be less that obvious, but Americans are used to seeing out-of-season fruits and vegetables in their supermarkets. Where do you think they come from? Or there can be massive displacements, like the huge duties imposed on steel and aluminum, where the US is incapable of providing comparable prices from a much more limited production capacity. Forget about the poor bourbon makers in Kentucky and folks who like a decent French wine. And there’s side distractions with major consequences.

For example: Trump covets Greenland for all sorts of reasons, mostly about natural resources vs protecting the emerging Northwest Passage. With fewer than 60 thousand residents: Greenland is rich in fossil fuels and rare earth minerals, uranium and iron. In recent elections, “Greenland's centre-right opposition Democratic party has unexpectedly won the territory's general election… The semi-autonomous island is currently controlled by Denmark, and the vote was dominated by the question of independence, and US President Donald Trump's repeated pledge to take it over, ‘one way or another’.” BBC.com, March 12th. Independence won out. But what if Trump offered each Greenland citizen $1M (tax free) dollars to vote to accept becoming a US territory? Cheap for us at every level but only good for locals for a short time.

As heavily represented by the House short-term budget extension effort, 100% Republican, it contains language that legitimizes much of Trump power to cut agencies and personnel without a congressional vote. Since the approval of this extension required Democratic votes to pass, the MAGA GOP could blame the Dems for a governmental shutdown unless they supported this toxic repeal of the separation of powers. As I have stated before, as the midterms approach without a reversal in the tsunami of negativity against the Trump/Musk agenda, Trump is quite capable of letting (pushing?) Musk leave (to get back to running is failing companies) and finding ways to rig, delay or ignore those midterms where the GOP will struggle to maintain their congressional majority.

I’m Peter Dekom, and the answer to the above title question is “almost no American.”