For nearly eighty years, America showed up at the world’s table wearing a pressed suit, carrying a checkbook, a map, and most importantly, a reputation. It may have been unreliable at times, sanctimonious often, but broadly committed to the idea that alliances, institutions, and promises mattered. Then Donald Trump lumbered in like the loudest man at a failing casino, mistaking every diplomatic relationship for a financial racket and every ally for a waiter who’d forgotten his extra ketchup. Through the peculiar alchemy of grievance, vanity, and breathtaking incuriosity, he turned trust into a punch line, treaties into props, and American leadership into a late-night cable rant with nuclear codes. The damage is not simply that other countries now doubt Washington DC, it’s that they have learned, rationally, to plan around it. Trust, after all, is slow-cooked and simmered. It takes years of shared sacrifice, compromise, and occasionally swallowing your pride. And, trust was simply burned to charcoal by one Donald Trump who was convinced the smoke meant dinner was ready.
I'm coming to consider Trump as America's id: he's part of what we've been all along. Not infrequently over the decades, the U.S. has "lumbered in like the loudest man at a failing casino, mistaking every diplomatic relationship for a financial racket and every ally for a waiter who’d forgotten his extra ketchup." For starters, think Vietnam, the entire Reagan administration, and the invasion of Iraq. (The recent attack on Iran is like a parody of them all.) The casino might serve as a metaphor for our economic system, more or less capitalism, which needs to be continually restrained by our political system, more or less democracy, lest it undermine the latter and eventually bring it crashing down.
In the past, our better nature, or instincts, or maybe angels have managed to reassert themselves and at least start to repair the damage before the casino loudmouth lumbers back in -- much too soon this time, and with malice aforethought. The crucial lesson is that neither Trump nor Project 2025 came out of nowhere. Big Money has been trying to sandbag "we the people" since at least the late 19th century. They helped crash the world economy in the aftermath of 1929, and then did their damndest to undermine the New Deal and its successors.
Fortunately Trump and his current crew are nowhere near as smart as, e.g., Carnegie and J.D. Rockefeller and the plutocrats of yesteryear -- or as philanthropic either. So "we the people" have yet another chance to wise the hell up and get capital back under democratic control.
If anyone who remembers the U.S. involvement in Latin America, they know that America also showed up with funding and weapons to disrupt any regime change they consumed "communist".
And before that came Vietnam and Indochina, and before that came Iran in 1953 . . . Before the Russian Revolution, "communism" wasn't the big bogeyman: the scary menaces in those decades included socialism, labor unions, and freed Black people.
So true. Lest we forget. I'm a bit stuck on the era of Latin American destabilization in the late 70s and 80s. I was involved in political action groups in that time. A lot were Catholic groups. Though I'm not religious, I believed in the mission.
I followed that too. A woman I knew from feminist publishing circles was one of those captured by Contras in Nicaragua and wrote about the experience: Judith McDaniel. (I interviewed her for _off our backs_.) My mother, who wasn't especially political but was fluent in Spanish, got involved in Nicaragua relief work through her (Episcopal) church. Around that time she went to work as a secretary at Beacon Press -- since I was heavily involved in the women in print movement, we suddenly had *a lot* to talk about!
Have you tried democracy? I've asked this for about 5,000 hours. Before I saw the documentary “Hot Coffee” I didn't know that I had been brainwashed to never sue(aka file a civil court case as a plaintiff against a defendant, especially “The Governemnt”). The incompetence of government customer service convinced me they were too dumb and lazy to fix anything and I didn’t think suing them was possible. I was afraid of the government but I knew I'd eventually have to face my fear as Toastmasters taught me. Due to a confluence of coincidences I found myself at my televised county board meeting lectern collecting plaintiffs for massive wrongful death class action suits against the government. After my speech a stranger stopped me in the hallway and gave me her business card. She was the top County Health official and she wanted to give me what I asked for. Due to the technical nature of my evidence a very thin slice of professionals even understood what I was talking about(she did). I spent those 5,000 hours trying to convince that very thin slice of professionals to duplicate my win. They were either brainwashed as the documentary “Hot Coffee” documents and/or they were brainwashed that licensed anxiety/depression/anger/habit/addiction treatment practitioners could never be doubted or questioned.
Eye health recommends refocusing our eyes while reading for 20 seconds every 20 minutes:"The 20-20-20 rule is a simple and effective habit: every 20 minutes, look at something at least 20 feet away for at least 20 seconds. "
IMHO, "look at something" should be an eye chart which is a scientific metric for refocusing. Why are there no eye charts in libraries? Because when Americans come up with a question about something they never Google:"science of" that something. THE REASON YOUR LIBRARY DOES NOT HAVE A EYE CHART IS BECAUSE NO ONE HAS SUED THEM TO PUT ONE UP. Thus the lack of eye charts in libraries is an indication of fear of government combined with anti-science?
Democracy requires suing and science and both require evidence and asking for evidence causes rage in Americans. To start a fight with an American using only seven letters, just wait till the American makes a most dubious claim and and ask them:"based on?"
“Through the peculiar alchemy of grievance, vanity, and breathtaking incuriosity, he turned trust into a punch line, treaties into props, and American leadership into a late-night cable rant with nuclear codes.
The damage is not simply that other countries now doubt Washington DC, it’s that they have learned, rationally, to plan around it.”
I’m not going to believe that America cannot emerge from this nightmare stronger than ever, but it will take many years to convince the rest the world that Trump was an aberration, if indeed that is the case.
But is Trump an aberration? Or does he merely reflect the ethos of a dying republic? Why have so many Americans continued their support for this Administration?
He's definitely not an aberration, but I don't believe -- or don't *want* to believe -- that he reflects "the ethos of a dying republic." Rather, if he reflects anything, it's the fear and anger of those who want the U.S. to be the United States of White People. Note that the Americans who have supported Trump all along are very much majority white, and those who aren't, notably Hispanics, have been falling away since the onset of Trump II.
Trump represent a minority of the greedy, the racist & under-informed.
Fox ‘news’ (entertainment) & similar sites are destroying American’s sense of reality.
Trump & the American economy will need to CRASH before some people wake up to the reality that the U.S. can’t treat others like dirt & still maintain relationships.
Might doesn’t make right … but Trump & cohorts seduced enough people to try,
It will start quickly if voters turn out every Republican. That will tell the world we are serious about America, our Allies, and keeping our honorable commitments to the world.
I’m with Hammer. It will take many years, and a complete unrolling of all the damage he’s done; courts, and otherwise; and that doesn’t acknowledge that the countries we have assaulted would even listen to us. In short, if it even is possible, it will not be accomplished in short order. Where to start. An election needs to come first.
Of course we can but ONLY if we have both Civilian & Military Tribunals where we prosecute every member of the Trump Regime as they have ALL committed both Crimes Against Humanity & Crimes Against Children
It can be similar to what South Africa did after apartheid finally ended:
We must rejoin the ICC & let them also indict & try them for these crimes
If Democrats retake Congress nothing less than aggressive attempts to impeach & try Trump & all who obeyed him will restore America's reputation & honor
We're doomed to live in this mess until we make the social cost of being a jackass unaffordable. We will remain a laughing stock until we cut out the cancer of ignorance that's eating us from the inside. We are so hellbent on "freedom" that a large portion of us believe we are entitled to our own facts. Our confused electorate will keep voting, proudly ignorant, and we'll remain at absurd levels of dysfunction until we address it. The legal system will not bail us out. We decided long ago that democracy and near-absolute freedom of speech are more important than a harmonious society.
The only obvious corrective measure left is a brutal court of public opinion. We need to ostracize, shun, mock, and ridicule those of us who revel in ignorance. No more being polite, no more sharing a Thanksgiving table with your racist uncle, no more reserving a seat at the table of polite society for the willfully uninformed. We've been given a very good filter for who these people are... they wear red hats and voted for a repugnant con man thrice. That is the silver lining to this hellscape. We know exactly who these people are, they have taken off their masks. So, be rude, be loud about it, and make it clear that willful ignorance is the policy of toddlers.
This is profound. The “cancer of ignorance” and being entitled to your own set of facts. I’ve always thought that the only way out of this mess is education, which will, of course, take years. There is no quick fix.
I look to Germany as an example. It took about 30 years after World War II for its image to be rehabilitated. It may not take us quite that long, but as long as there is the threat of a MAGA Republican being elected President, the world will not be able to trust that America is a reliable ally. Regaining trust will require a repudiation by the Republican Party of MAGA and a few elections to prove it has been completely exterminated.
I'm 70 years old; I do not believe we'll recover (and maybe not even emerge) in my lifetime. This is due in the largest part to the Republican Party (in which I used to be enrolled) and secondarily to the largest media companies. The damage to our credibility is too great and Canada's example is just the start...
At 70, you possibly voted for Reagan (2x), Bush I and Bush II (2x), plus Trump (2x). If you read history of those presidents you will find the present was ordained by the continued wearing away of democracy, the continued bellowing of racism and the undeserving poor, and the promotion of the wealthy 1% over the rest of Americans.
The press has such a huge responsibility for where we are (ok, the Supreme Court too with Citizens United and their vile undermining of the Voter Rights Act and more). What was a responsibility to share the truth has also emerged as profiteering and pandering. Everyday they keep sharing the lunacy of the emperor who wears no clothes... when we know the best way to irritate and make him irrelevant is to stop the minute by minute coverage. (If a Lake is renamed and no one covered it, did its name change?)
Kathi, I agree. But I'll go a step further. I don't think it will happen in the lifetimes of those who are even 10 right now. Maybe in their grandchildren's or great-grandchildren's lifetime.
The world’s faith in the US was lost because we elected Trump twice. One might forgive us for electing him once, but not twice. One term should have been a sufficient lesson. Something is wrong with us.
Prudent countries will look elsewhere for reliable economic partnerships. China stopped buying agricultural product’s from us. Canada is looking to the European Union as a substitute market.
Even if we right the ship in the next four years, our recent history suggests that countries will be wary of relying on us for a very long time.
I agree that "Something is wrong with us" as a country. I can't understand electing someone so evil the first time. To elect him after witnessing his first term suggests that we as a people are not who we thought we were, that "something is [horribly] wrong with us."
Not in our lifetime, for many of us. If we make better choices in November, and in 2028 and beyond, then yes. Both achieving and sustaining will be challenges.
Trust is gained by the spoonful and lost by the bucket. Lots of buckets to refill.
Great article Mr. Beschloss..I do believe we can 'rebuild' our image in the world and regain trust, but we will need to do so by holding those accountable who have committed the crimes and violated so many of the values we hold dear. It will take years and some immense humbling. Thank you.
For decades the US enjoyed an inflated level of respect and honor based more on our financial status and military muscle than on our contributions to the wellbeing of the earth or its creatures. We build on land stolen from Indigenous Peoples, whom we still force into unremitting poverty. And we have never rewarded or even acknowledged that the wealth and much of the (once) cultural richness of this country came from the labor of enslaved Black people and non- European peoples barred from many financially rewarding paths.
As a person who tries, however imperfectly, to follow the Way of Jesus ( a path similar to that of other major wisdom traditions) I am heart-sick at the MAGA and WCN blather about a “Christian” nation. Many of their goals and practices are antithetical to the teaching of Jesus. ( See Matthew:8 for one stunning example.)
There’s an old saying that respect is owed but trust must earned. The US absolutely could earn trust and honor in the world someday but I see little evidence the intention to do so. First, our people must put aside material idolatry, celebrity worship, trivial pastimes, and get their heads up from devices, talk to each other, educate themselves and BE honorable. As an octogenarian, I intend to spend my remaining time supporting and encouraging younger people who could build such a country.
I believe that it will take at least a generation to repair the damage done by this immoral
Regime.
When he dies, (Please God, SOON) the tsunami of revelations about him will drown any MAGAt still clinging to some delusion. I believe 10 years on, it will be hard to find anyone who says they supported this.
Every single day is damaging to the USA. If he tries to cancel the midterms, there will be blood.
Unless 1/3rd of the Nation (otherwise known as MAGA) who brought this white supremacy nightmare to power (though it's been present since the Mayflower), suddenly grow a conscious (or self deport themselves); the rest of the world will look upon us as they now do: the greatest threat to the planet. Then there is no honor among thieves... (the sticky fingered clowns) who run the country. Never mind that they also double as white supremacist sociopaths.
Agreed. Trump is the symptom, these people are the root of the problem. We need to shun these clowns publicly and let them know their 15 minutes is up. Progressives have been too polite and look where it's gotten us. We need to be loud about our intolerance of our most rotten demographic.
Yes! I've been saying the same thing about being "too polite." We're dealing with sociopaths. Where is the sense of urgency on "the Left" to stop what MAGA continues to do to our country?Where is the outrage?
It’s going to take a lot - including some constitutional amendments - to even claim we have done what we can to prevent another administration like this one. Maybe 10-15 years from now. And by then our economy will be far behind others.
I think America can eventually restore its honor, but it won’t be by a new president elected via an old political system. We’re going to have to demonstrate to the world that we’ve updated our Constitution, made new laws to replace the guardrails based only on tradition, and that we’re no longer run by corrupt billionaires. That will not only take time, but may also require a major shake-up event as a catalyst. You may say I’m a dreamer, but we the people aren’t going to put up with this crap forever!
Yes Earl; I have had similar thoughts yours here, especially this statement of yours which to me is one of the major Keys!
“We’re going to have to demonstrate to the world that we’ve updated our Constitution, made new laws to replace the guardrails based only on tradition, and that we’re no longer run by corrupt billionaires.”
You may want to acknowledge that in some areas, gov’t healthcare, you are already a generation behind the rest of the world. Look in the mirror and admit that you are bought and paid for. That’s the cycle that is going to be hard to break. Politicians - bought and paid for. SCOTUS, bought and paid for, media - bought and paid for, citizens, ultimately bought and paid for. How are you going to turn that around? Especially with the dead weight of Maga? You are constantly playing catch up.
I’m presently reading The Art Spy (Michelle Young) about Nazi efforts to steal the cultural patrimony in French museums and private property and the countermeasures to protect the treasures.
There is nothing separating what the Nazis did and what Toddler is doing. The American people must throw off the heinous mantle in a sufficiently resounding way to even begin a process toward recovering this nation’s standing.
(Hit post to quickly, sorry about that) The new president will have to appoint hundreds of panels to address all of the devastation the rogue regime has created and each panel will have to focus on one topic and fix it.
For nearly eighty years, America showed up at the world’s table wearing a pressed suit, carrying a checkbook, a map, and most importantly, a reputation. It may have been unreliable at times, sanctimonious often, but broadly committed to the idea that alliances, institutions, and promises mattered. Then Donald Trump lumbered in like the loudest man at a failing casino, mistaking every diplomatic relationship for a financial racket and every ally for a waiter who’d forgotten his extra ketchup. Through the peculiar alchemy of grievance, vanity, and breathtaking incuriosity, he turned trust into a punch line, treaties into props, and American leadership into a late-night cable rant with nuclear codes. The damage is not simply that other countries now doubt Washington DC, it’s that they have learned, rationally, to plan around it. Trust, after all, is slow-cooked and simmered. It takes years of shared sacrifice, compromise, and occasionally swallowing your pride. And, trust was simply burned to charcoal by one Donald Trump who was convinced the smoke meant dinner was ready.
I'm coming to consider Trump as America's id: he's part of what we've been all along. Not infrequently over the decades, the U.S. has "lumbered in like the loudest man at a failing casino, mistaking every diplomatic relationship for a financial racket and every ally for a waiter who’d forgotten his extra ketchup." For starters, think Vietnam, the entire Reagan administration, and the invasion of Iraq. (The recent attack on Iran is like a parody of them all.) The casino might serve as a metaphor for our economic system, more or less capitalism, which needs to be continually restrained by our political system, more or less democracy, lest it undermine the latter and eventually bring it crashing down.
In the past, our better nature, or instincts, or maybe angels have managed to reassert themselves and at least start to repair the damage before the casino loudmouth lumbers back in -- much too soon this time, and with malice aforethought. The crucial lesson is that neither Trump nor Project 2025 came out of nowhere. Big Money has been trying to sandbag "we the people" since at least the late 19th century. They helped crash the world economy in the aftermath of 1929, and then did their damndest to undermine the New Deal and its successors.
Fortunately Trump and his current crew are nowhere near as smart as, e.g., Carnegie and J.D. Rockefeller and the plutocrats of yesteryear -- or as philanthropic either. So "we the people" have yet another chance to wise the hell up and get capital back under democratic control.
If anyone who remembers the U.S. involvement in Latin America, they know that America also showed up with funding and weapons to disrupt any regime change they consumed "communist".
And before that came Vietnam and Indochina, and before that came Iran in 1953 . . . Before the Russian Revolution, "communism" wasn't the big bogeyman: the scary menaces in those decades included socialism, labor unions, and freed Black people.
So true. Lest we forget. I'm a bit stuck on the era of Latin American destabilization in the late 70s and 80s. I was involved in political action groups in that time. A lot were Catholic groups. Though I'm not religious, I believed in the mission.
I followed that too. A woman I knew from feminist publishing circles was one of those captured by Contras in Nicaragua and wrote about the experience: Judith McDaniel. (I interviewed her for _off our backs_.) My mother, who wasn't especially political but was fluent in Spanish, got involved in Nicaragua relief work through her (Episcopal) church. Around that time she went to work as a secretary at Beacon Press -- since I was heavily involved in the women in print movement, we suddenly had *a lot* to talk about!
Wow! what a statement and so true. i hope his allies
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Have you tried democracy? I've asked this for about 5,000 hours. Before I saw the documentary “Hot Coffee” I didn't know that I had been brainwashed to never sue(aka file a civil court case as a plaintiff against a defendant, especially “The Governemnt”). The incompetence of government customer service convinced me they were too dumb and lazy to fix anything and I didn’t think suing them was possible. I was afraid of the government but I knew I'd eventually have to face my fear as Toastmasters taught me. Due to a confluence of coincidences I found myself at my televised county board meeting lectern collecting plaintiffs for massive wrongful death class action suits against the government. After my speech a stranger stopped me in the hallway and gave me her business card. She was the top County Health official and she wanted to give me what I asked for. Due to the technical nature of my evidence a very thin slice of professionals even understood what I was talking about(she did). I spent those 5,000 hours trying to convince that very thin slice of professionals to duplicate my win. They were either brainwashed as the documentary “Hot Coffee” documents and/or they were brainwashed that licensed anxiety/depression/anger/habit/addiction treatment practitioners could never be doubted or questioned.
Eye health recommends refocusing our eyes while reading for 20 seconds every 20 minutes:"The 20-20-20 rule is a simple and effective habit: every 20 minutes, look at something at least 20 feet away for at least 20 seconds. "
IMHO, "look at something" should be an eye chart which is a scientific metric for refocusing. Why are there no eye charts in libraries? Because when Americans come up with a question about something they never Google:"science of" that something. THE REASON YOUR LIBRARY DOES NOT HAVE A EYE CHART IS BECAUSE NO ONE HAS SUED THEM TO PUT ONE UP. Thus the lack of eye charts in libraries is an indication of fear of government combined with anti-science?
Democracy requires suing and science and both require evidence and asking for evidence causes rage in Americans. To start a fight with an American using only seven letters, just wait till the American makes a most dubious claim and and ask them:"based on?"
Yes Marat: sadly accurate set of comments:
Excerpt:
“Through the peculiar alchemy of grievance, vanity, and breathtaking incuriosity, he turned trust into a punch line, treaties into props, and American leadership into a late-night cable rant with nuclear codes.
The damage is not simply that other countries now doubt Washington DC, it’s that they have learned, rationally, to plan around it.”
…trust into a punchline”
All so true
Wow. Just wow. You nailed it...sadly.
I’m not going to believe that America cannot emerge from this nightmare stronger than ever, but it will take many years to convince the rest the world that Trump was an aberration, if indeed that is the case.
But is Trump an aberration? Or does he merely reflect the ethos of a dying republic? Why have so many Americans continued their support for this Administration?
He's definitely not an aberration, but I don't believe -- or don't *want* to believe -- that he reflects "the ethos of a dying republic." Rather, if he reflects anything, it's the fear and anger of those who want the U.S. to be the United States of White People. Note that the Americans who have supported Trump all along are very much majority white, and those who aren't, notably Hispanics, have been falling away since the onset of Trump II.
Trump represent a minority of the greedy, the racist & under-informed.
Fox ‘news’ (entertainment) & similar sites are destroying American’s sense of reality.
Trump & the American economy will need to CRASH before some people wake up to the reality that the U.S. can’t treat others like dirt & still maintain relationships.
Might doesn’t make right … but Trump & cohorts seduced enough people to try,
— just so clumsily that they’re unbelievable.
True and we cannot forget the insanely religious. And is “Faux” news
Yes, it makes me wonder..at least once a day!
It will start quickly if voters turn out every Republican. That will tell the world we are serious about America, our Allies, and keeping our honorable commitments to the world.
I’m with Hammer. It will take many years, and a complete unrolling of all the damage he’s done; courts, and otherwise; and that doesn’t acknowledge that the countries we have assaulted would even listen to us. In short, if it even is possible, it will not be accomplished in short order. Where to start. An election needs to come first.
It isn’t the case Mike and I think you know that. How long have you guys been in the regime change business?
Of course we can but ONLY if we have both Civilian & Military Tribunals where we prosecute every member of the Trump Regime as they have ALL committed both Crimes Against Humanity & Crimes Against Children
It can be similar to what South Africa did after apartheid finally ended:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_and_Reconciliation_Commission_(South_Africa)
We must rejoin the ICC & let them also indict & try them for these crimes
If Democrats retake Congress nothing less than aggressive attempts to impeach & try Trump & all who obeyed him will restore America's reputation & honor
Hear hear!
We're doomed to live in this mess until we make the social cost of being a jackass unaffordable. We will remain a laughing stock until we cut out the cancer of ignorance that's eating us from the inside. We are so hellbent on "freedom" that a large portion of us believe we are entitled to our own facts. Our confused electorate will keep voting, proudly ignorant, and we'll remain at absurd levels of dysfunction until we address it. The legal system will not bail us out. We decided long ago that democracy and near-absolute freedom of speech are more important than a harmonious society.
The only obvious corrective measure left is a brutal court of public opinion. We need to ostracize, shun, mock, and ridicule those of us who revel in ignorance. No more being polite, no more sharing a Thanksgiving table with your racist uncle, no more reserving a seat at the table of polite society for the willfully uninformed. We've been given a very good filter for who these people are... they wear red hats and voted for a repugnant con man thrice. That is the silver lining to this hellscape. We know exactly who these people are, they have taken off their masks. So, be rude, be loud about it, and make it clear that willful ignorance is the policy of toddlers.
This is profound. The “cancer of ignorance” and being entitled to your own set of facts. I’ve always thought that the only way out of this mess is education, which will, of course, take years. There is no quick fix.
👏👏👏🤟
I look to Germany as an example. It took about 30 years after World War II for its image to be rehabilitated. It may not take us quite that long, but as long as there is the threat of a MAGA Republican being elected President, the world will not be able to trust that America is a reliable ally. Regaining trust will require a repudiation by the Republican Party of MAGA and a few elections to prove it has been completely exterminated.
Well said Joe!
I'm 70 years old; I do not believe we'll recover (and maybe not even emerge) in my lifetime. This is due in the largest part to the Republican Party (in which I used to be enrolled) and secondarily to the largest media companies. The damage to our credibility is too great and Canada's example is just the start...
At 70, you possibly voted for Reagan (2x), Bush I and Bush II (2x), plus Trump (2x). If you read history of those presidents you will find the present was ordained by the continued wearing away of democracy, the continued bellowing of racism and the undeserving poor, and the promotion of the wealthy 1% over the rest of Americans.
The press has such a huge responsibility for where we are (ok, the Supreme Court too with Citizens United and their vile undermining of the Voter Rights Act and more). What was a responsibility to share the truth has also emerged as profiteering and pandering. Everyday they keep sharing the lunacy of the emperor who wears no clothes... when we know the best way to irritate and make him irrelevant is to stop the minute by minute coverage. (If a Lake is renamed and no one covered it, did its name change?)
There are just as many 70 year olds that have voted democrat and are much more optimistic. Have to say.
Kathi, I agree. But I'll go a step further. I don't think it will happen in the lifetimes of those who are even 10 right now. Maybe in their grandchildren's or great-grandchildren's lifetime.
The world’s faith in the US was lost because we elected Trump twice. One might forgive us for electing him once, but not twice. One term should have been a sufficient lesson. Something is wrong with us.
Prudent countries will look elsewhere for reliable economic partnerships. China stopped buying agricultural product’s from us. Canada is looking to the European Union as a substitute market.
Even if we right the ship in the next four years, our recent history suggests that countries will be wary of relying on us for a very long time.
I agree that "Something is wrong with us" as a country. I can't understand electing someone so evil the first time. To elect him after witnessing his first term suggests that we as a people are not who we thought we were, that "something is [horribly] wrong with us."
Fool me once shame on me Fool me twice shame on you
Not in our lifetime, for many of us. If we make better choices in November, and in 2028 and beyond, then yes. Both achieving and sustaining will be challenges.
Trust is gained by the spoonful and lost by the bucket. Lots of buckets to refill.
Great article Mr. Beschloss..I do believe we can 'rebuild' our image in the world and regain trust, but we will need to do so by holding those accountable who have committed the crimes and violated so many of the values we hold dear. It will take years and some immense humbling. Thank you.
For decades the US enjoyed an inflated level of respect and honor based more on our financial status and military muscle than on our contributions to the wellbeing of the earth or its creatures. We build on land stolen from Indigenous Peoples, whom we still force into unremitting poverty. And we have never rewarded or even acknowledged that the wealth and much of the (once) cultural richness of this country came from the labor of enslaved Black people and non- European peoples barred from many financially rewarding paths.
As a person who tries, however imperfectly, to follow the Way of Jesus ( a path similar to that of other major wisdom traditions) I am heart-sick at the MAGA and WCN blather about a “Christian” nation. Many of their goals and practices are antithetical to the teaching of Jesus. ( See Matthew:8 for one stunning example.)
There’s an old saying that respect is owed but trust must earned. The US absolutely could earn trust and honor in the world someday but I see little evidence the intention to do so. First, our people must put aside material idolatry, celebrity worship, trivial pastimes, and get their heads up from devices, talk to each other, educate themselves and BE honorable. As an octogenarian, I intend to spend my remaining time supporting and encouraging younger people who could build such a country.
Yes, and most of what the world sees is America at its most vapid. Simply, uncivilized
I believe that it will take at least a generation to repair the damage done by this immoral
Regime.
When he dies, (Please God, SOON) the tsunami of revelations about him will drown any MAGAt still clinging to some delusion. I believe 10 years on, it will be hard to find anyone who says they supported this.
Every single day is damaging to the USA. If he tries to cancel the midterms, there will be blood.
Unless 1/3rd of the Nation (otherwise known as MAGA) who brought this white supremacy nightmare to power (though it's been present since the Mayflower), suddenly grow a conscious (or self deport themselves); the rest of the world will look upon us as they now do: the greatest threat to the planet. Then there is no honor among thieves... (the sticky fingered clowns) who run the country. Never mind that they also double as white supremacist sociopaths.
Agreed. Trump is the symptom, these people are the root of the problem. We need to shun these clowns publicly and let them know their 15 minutes is up. Progressives have been too polite and look where it's gotten us. We need to be loud about our intolerance of our most rotten demographic.
Yes! I've been saying the same thing about being "too polite." We're dealing with sociopaths. Where is the sense of urgency on "the Left" to stop what MAGA continues to do to our country?Where is the outrage?
Absolutely. What would it take? Murdering people in the streets
It’s going to take a lot - including some constitutional amendments - to even claim we have done what we can to prevent another administration like this one. Maybe 10-15 years from now. And by then our economy will be far behind others.
I think America can eventually restore its honor, but it won’t be by a new president elected via an old political system. We’re going to have to demonstrate to the world that we’ve updated our Constitution, made new laws to replace the guardrails based only on tradition, and that we’re no longer run by corrupt billionaires. That will not only take time, but may also require a major shake-up event as a catalyst. You may say I’m a dreamer, but we the people aren’t going to put up with this crap forever!
Yes Earl; I have had similar thoughts yours here, especially this statement of yours which to me is one of the major Keys!
“We’re going to have to demonstrate to the world that we’ve updated our Constitution, made new laws to replace the guardrails based only on tradition, and that we’re no longer run by corrupt billionaires.”
You may want to acknowledge that in some areas, gov’t healthcare, you are already a generation behind the rest of the world. Look in the mirror and admit that you are bought and paid for. That’s the cycle that is going to be hard to break. Politicians - bought and paid for. SCOTUS, bought and paid for, media - bought and paid for, citizens, ultimately bought and paid for. How are you going to turn that around? Especially with the dead weight of Maga? You are constantly playing catch up.
Absolutely, I agree with you, Earl.
I’m presently reading The Art Spy (Michelle Young) about Nazi efforts to steal the cultural patrimony in French museums and private property and the countermeasures to protect the treasures.
There is nothing separating what the Nazis did and what Toddler is doing. The American people must throw off the heinous mantle in a sufficiently resounding way to even begin a process toward recovering this nation’s standing.
(Hit post to quickly, sorry about that) The new president will have to appoint hundreds of panels to address all of the devastation the rogue regime has created and each panel will have to focus on one topic and fix it.