If this is what ‘Make America Great Again’ looks like, I think I’d prefer just mediocrity without the chaos. Every morning, we all wake up with the same thought, “What self-inflicted crisis will we be dealing with today?” Lately, of course, it has been the trade war that was started by Trump that has eviscerated the global stock markets and magically made millions of dollars disappear from the retirement accounts of ordinary Americans. The average 401K balance for Americans is between $200K and $300K. Since Trump took office, the Dow average is down about 15% and the NASDAQ Composite is down about 22%. Those are huge hits to people’s retirement accounts.
If you are a Trump, Musk, Zuckerberg, Bezos, or any of the other billionaire now populating Trump’s administration, those kinds of stock market declines might be irritating but they are certainly manageable. If you start with $6 billion and you are left with ONLY $4 billion, you still won’t have to worry about paying the rent or buying groceries. But most Americans are not billionaires. Net result – more Americans in poverty or bankrupt.
However, there are other things Trump is doing under the guise of ‘Making America Great Again’ that are completely counter to the benefit of most Americans. He signed an Executive Order on Tuesday to boost coal production even though coal production is a polluting and dying industry. The simple fact is natural gas is cheaper than coal and more environmentally acceptable. However, he has directed Federal agencies to identify coal resources on Federal lands, lift barriers to coal production and prioritize coal leasing on Federal lands. There is no sound rationale for doing this but, just like the trade war, he is doing it anyway. Net result – more Americans dying from pollution or mining related health issues.
The Trump administration is also set to roll back gun control measures including a program to crack down on Federally licensed gun dealers who falsify records and skip customer background checks. The United States already has more guns than people and is the number one nation in the world in per capita gun ownership. We also lead the world in mass shootings and gun violence is the number one killer of children today. How in the hell is this going to ‘Make America Great Again?’ Net result – more Americans dying.
If all that isn’t embarrassing enough, there are reports that Trump is planning a military parade in Washington, DC to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the army on June 14th. By the way, June 14th is also Trump’s birthday! We will look just like North Korea! Expect to see large posters of Trump lining the Washington Mall!!
We also have Elon Musk and his little band of hackers slashing and burning their way through every agency in the Federal government with absolutely no accountability at all, layoffs of thousands of Federal workers, a purge of extremely competent and experienced officers in the military, a gutting of foreign aid around the world, a measles health crisis that should never have happened, and to top it all off, we have a vice president who has the audacity to refer to the Chinese people as ‘peasants.’
Like I said, if this is what “Make America Great Again” looks like, I prefer a mediocre America without all the chaos, drama, hate, racism, misogyny, and lunacy that has infected this country under the Trump administration. At this point in time, I would argue mediocrity trumps greatness! Pun intended.
