I was born in 1955 in the Midwest. I grew up in what was a totally different time in America, one where kids played outside all day without excessive parental concern, in a typical suburban neighborhood, right on the edge of Illinois farmland. TV was just becoming available, yes we had a black and white TV at our first house as a kid that I watched cartoons on every Saturday morning. Gas was 19 cents/gallon in Arkansas where we used to go to a simple resort in the Ozarks, near Lake Norfolk and the White River. I understand how people might long for this, it was a simpler time, without the pervasive issues of drug fueled crime, climate change and social media that have so dramatically changed our lives, but it’s not like it was an idyllic existence either. Women mostly stayed at home vs. working, civil rights didn’t exist (my high school had severe race riots the year before I started there), America was just turning the page on McCarthyism and the “Red Scare” and working conditions in many industries like the coal mines my family came from were horrendous. Technology as we know it today was non-existent, because the space program, which spurred the development of same had yet to take shape. Yet for some reason Donald Trump and the Republican Party want to take us back to that time as evidenced by their all out assault on almost everything that has changed since then.
What is America today in July 2025? Before I answer that, understand that I grew up in mostly Republican midwestern family. My mother was diehard Republican, my father was as well except for probably the last 10 years or so of his life. I always considered myself as a strong conservative, especially on the financial side, my social beliefs evolved through the 60’s and 70’s and I would certainly admit to becoming considerably more socially progressive as I grew up and experienced different environments in high school and college, exposure to different races, cultures and thinking that broadened my view of the world. I primarily voted Republican, until I moved to South Carolina for college and then Tennessee and North Carolina for my only two jobs post graduation. Once I became aware of the extensive hate rhetoric even then from such stellar role models like Strom Thurmond and Jesse Helms, my view of the world changed again. I worked 39 years for the same company, something no one does anymore, which allowed me to travel to a number of foreign lands, spending extensive time in England, China and Argentina. What I see in America today saddens me to no end because in my opinion, we have lost our collective minds, and become a cold heartless country completely obsessed with money and the all important pursuit of me.
We have a President (and a Congress because they are missing in action whenever it comes to challenging the spray tan king) that want to roll back almost every improvement in American lives that has happened in the last fifty years, driven primarily by a desire to rekindle, maintain, expand, whatever it is white privilege. The President tries to intimidate educational institutions, media companies, law firms, corporate America, sports teams and even foreign countries into accepting his warped rich white never held accountable for anything elitist background view of the world. DEI, critical race theory, immigrants, LGBTQ people, minorities, labor unions are all demonized as the scourges of “Real America”. As if most Americans were handed $400 million by their father, went to the Wharton School of Business (live that one down UPenn), stiffed every working person that ever did construction or service for him, ran multiple companies into the ground declaring bankruptcy at least four times, was convicted of felony tax fraud, had Jeffrey Epstein as a “best buddy” and cheated on every woman he was ever married to. Yes sounds just like you and me. A real “man of the people”.
Let’s look at where he has taken us just in the six months or so of his second term.
First, in true “let’s look out for the working class” fashion, he approved the single largest transfer of wealth from the bottom half of the country (actually more like the bottom 90%) to the top 1% and to a lesser degree top 10% of the income bracket. Steal from the poor, the sick, the veterans, the old and the generally less fortunate and feed the rich. Robin Hood in reverse. Social Security and Medicare are now forecast to run out of total funding in seven years, forcing a 24% cut in benefits at that time, so of course it makes sense to cut taxes to reward the rich, while letting the deficit spiral upwards. As an extra added jab in the ribs, somewhere between 10-15 million Americans are predicted to lose health insurance as a result of the “Big, Beautiful Bill” cutting Medicaid spending, reducing ObamaCare subsidies, reducing Medicare revenues and closing rural hospitals. Rural America in particular- you are screwed.
Despite increasingly severe weather that is resulting in 100 year and 1000 year storms on an every week basis, massive flooding events, extensive droughts, uncontrolled wildfires, tornados in unexpected places and supercharged hurricanes, all with staggering losses of life and property damage, the Trump administration is declaring greenhouse gases aren’t dangerous to humans. Scientific evidence is overwhelming to the contrary, but don’t bother me with facts. Science is out, conspiracy wacko crap is in and reality doesn’t matter. What does matter is what the great and powerful Broz (spray tan man) says reality is. Oh and just for good measure let’s eliminate FEMA because we don’t want to spend money on climate emergencies we don’t have.
Science has been scattered to the wind, just look at putting RFK, Jr in as the head of Health and Human Services. Vaccines are bad, measles are good. Many of the wing nuts bashing vaccines wouldn’t be alive today if their parents hadn’t gotten them vaccinated as kids but that doesn’t matter. What matters in America is what stupid conspiracy theory you read on social media this week. Forget facts, if you read it on the internet it must be true right?
Renewable energy like solar and wind is now clearly the cheapest source of new power generation in America. You know who believes that? Texas, Iowa, North Carolina, all places where renewable energy has become an increasing percentage of the grid. Sure, it has limitations in storage, but technology can solve those if given a chance, just like it lowered the generation costs. The answer by Trump? Kill off EV’v (the future of the worldwide auto industry), eliminate solar/wind incentives (but for god’s sake keep oil subsidies) and talk stupid shit like burn coal. Oh and drill baby drill. Everywhere that was protected needs to be drilled in even though the drill count is falling all over the country because oil prices are low. And let’s ship all our extra natural gas overseas, or use it to run useless data centers consuming resources, stressing the grid all so we can replace people with AI. Brilliant!
As we allow people to run around wearing masks arresting people for racial, national origin or other profiling reasons, many without any charges as we fuel the transition to a police state. Don’t spend law enforcement resources protecting schools, helping climate event response or stopping gang violence. Chase illegal aliens around, build detention centers (camps) and deport people without due process or regard as to where they land. Total cruelty is now the immigration approach in America, pretty damn strange when you understand America was settled by immigrants, they are needed for many industries as a source of low cost flexible labor, they are also needed to supplement technical fields and a majority of them are likely working contributing to social security and medicare for the rest of us. Oh yeah makes perfect sense. Do we really need to spend $150 Billion on immigration while spending less than that if anything on ObamaCare premiums? No we need a comprehensive immigration policy but that would require actual work vs. simple hate which all you will get from Hitler wannabe Stephen Miller.
Inflation hasn’t taken off, but it’s not going down. The impacts will continue to hit in 3-4Q25 from the asinine tariff policy, directly increasing prices for cars, appliances, electronics, pharmaceuticals, building supplies and food. Low oil prices and the favorable gasoline/diesel pricing has been holding back inflation for the present. Hold on because it’s going to be a bumpy ride. Tariffs on average will be 4-5 times the previous average at a minimum and that’s pretty much best case right now. I particularly like putting tariffs on things we don’t even make or grow like coffee and bananas. All in a desperate bid to close the growing deficit gap caused by the recent legislation, not for any specific elucidated industrial policy. That premise along with reshoring manufacturing is blown completely to hell by lack of capable/trained labor and mechanics, an uncertain capital environment even with the new write-off provision, the oppressive auto and metals industry tariffs, long lead time for cGMP/FDA facilities for drugs, destruction of the renewable energy industry, grid capacity, data center infatuation and my favorite AI/automation which reduces or eliminates many of those jobs anyways. Housing and food costs are completely out of control, being joined increasingly by insurance.
The “war on woke”. As the Trump administration erases minority and female contributions in the military (disgraceful treatment of groups that have helped us win every war), oppresses voting rights whenever possible, fires veterans right and left from government service, inserts religious doctrine into state affairs constantly under the illusion of “freedom”, restricts protest of any and all policies especially foreign policy, continues tacit support for genocide in Gaza (now via starvation) and withdraws from every world organization there is what do we have to show for it? Less freedom. Book burning or bans so we encourage isolation and ignorance. Sections of the population unable to participate in our democracy. Discussions of bathrooms instead of public health. A more divided America.
A country entirely dominated by rich people setting tax policy and internet trolls, conspiracy theorists, podcasters and influencers controlling the country’s mindset. Misinformation reigns driven by Trump himself as the liar-in-chief, along with his fawning sycophants among the cabinet and staff. Everything he doesn’t like is fake news, a witch hunt or a radical leftist plot by those evil Democrats. The man is a pathological liar even about things that can be disproven to his face, like Jerome Powell did the other day.
Feel better yet? Everyone in the world either hates, despises or doesn’t want to be seen in public with us, and we continue to withdraw from active membership in the world. America First is really America Alone. We don’t need no friends! MAGA! Oh and pedophiles may or may not be good depending on whatever deal Trump makes with Ghislane Maxwell. This is now America.