Most Americans don’t have an inkling of how bad the damage is that Donald Trump is inflicting on the country right now.
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If you are foolish enough to believe Donald Trump, then things are going great. We are at the “dawn of the golden age of America” and “the greatest and most successful era in the history of our country.”
As per usual when it comes to things Trump says, the reality is quite different.
To understand what’s really going on, it’s helpful to think of the United States as a car. To middle-class Americans reading this article in the future, “cars” are things regular people like you could afford in the early 2020s before the Trump tariffs… But we are getting ahead of ourselves.
Obviously, there are different kinds of cars. If Trump had to compare the US under his leadership to one of them, it might be a Ferrari or a Rolls Royce. Or perhaps one of the fancy Teslas his buddy Elon sells (obviously not one of the flammable ones, or the truck that looks like somebody sat on an aluminum box).
Of course, it could also be a Formula 1 car, or one from the Daytona 500.
The point is that it would be awesome!
And that’s how Trump sees himself, the leadership he provides, and the United States as long as he runs it.
It’s all just a finely tuned, well-oiled machine and the pinnacle of engineering — and certainly better than whatever horse and buggy George Washington rode in on.
In reality, Trump was handed a recently overhauled sedan that might have seen better times but was in perfectly fine working order. Once he took possession of the car, however, things changed quickly.
After firing the immigrants who kept it running, he appointed a new head mechanic who immediately proceeded to slash one of the tires, drain the oil, and kick out a tail light.
Now, just a couple of miles out of town, the “Check Engine” light is blinking, the muffler is rattling, the engine is smoking, and Trump is headed straight for a ditch as he tries to run over people he doesn’t like.
He then gave the best remaining parts to some rich people and got behind the wheel.
Now, just a couple of miles out of town, the “Check Engine” light is blinking, the muffler is rattling, the engine is smoking, and Trump is headed straight for a ditch as he tries to run over people he doesn’t like.
Yes, that may sound a bit extreme, but there are warning signs flashing all over the place right now — both for the president and the country.
Let’s start with the economy, i.e., the engine that keeps the country running.
That engine is sputtering right now and could blow up at any time.
Right before Trump’s inauguration, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) declared that the US economy was robust and far outperformed its peers.
Back then, i.e., six weeks ago, the IMF predicted a growth of 2.7 percent in 2025 but also warned that Trump’s promised policies, specifically tariffs, mass deportations, and excessive deregulation, could all have a negative effect.
Well, they weren’t wrong.
While we are not yet at the end of the first quarter of this year, there are some indicators where things are headed. Take the “GDPNow” model of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Using available data, it is an estimate of how much the gross domestic product (GDP) will grow in any given quarter.
Or not grow.
Back in January, that model estimated a GDP growth of 2.9 percent for the first quarter — an increase that primarily reflects the economy that Trump inherited.
Then there’s the “economic uncertainty index” of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. The markets hate uncertainty — and, right now, there’s a lot to hate because the country is run by a lunatic and his only slightly less insane sidekick.
Fast forward six weeks, and the Atlanta Fed now estimates that the GDP will decrease 2.4 percent.
If that were to come to pass, we could be looking at a recession by early summer.
The main driver of negative growth in that model is Trump’s on again, off again trade war with… well, everybody.
Earlier this week, we wrote that the president’s behavior with regard to tariffs is downright bipolar. He loves to punish those he thinks did him wrong or took advantage of him, in this case Canada and Mexico, but he also wants to be viewed as successful.
And a Dow Jones that is down from Inauguration Day does not exactly spell “golden age” and “unprecedented prosperity.”
Neither do high grocery prices, by the way, and Trump is doing nothing to address those.
In the coming weeks, you will want to be on the lookout for terms like “lowest since” or “highest since.” If you hear those words a lot, then Americans are in for some real problems. And you don’t even have to bother with reading those tea leaves if there is a lot of talk of a trade war, because that’ll do it all by itself.
Then there’s the “economic uncertainty index” of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. The markets hate uncertainty — and, right now, there’s a lot to hate because the country is run by a lunatic and his only slightly less insane sidekick.
Right now, according to that index, the economic uncertainty in the US is higher than at any point in the past 40 years.
So, how much trouble is the economy in?
We don’t know yet because there is still a lack of data. But we do know that consumer spending is down, which is a huge problem; inflation may be going back up; and a government shutdown is looming.
In the coming weeks, you will want to be on the lookout for terms like “lowest since” or “highest since.” If you hear those words a lot, then Americans are in for some real problems. And you don’t even have to bother with reading those tea leaves if there is a lot of talk of a trade war, because that’ll do it all by itself.
And that brings us to the damage Trump is doing internationally.
It is enormous.
While the economy (if left alone by sociopathic leaders) will ultimately fix itself, America’s standing on the global stage will not.
In less than two months, Trump has isolated the United States in a way that is unprecedented.
He admires authoritarians (and does their bidding) while constantly picking fights with friends and allies.
Of course, it might be more accurate to say “former” friends and allies because America’s standing in Europe and Canada has deteriorated to a degree that the US is now viewed, at best, as an unreliable partner and, more likely, as an adversary.
That’s certainly how the people in these countries feel.
Trump’s first election could have been dismissed as an aberration. That is no longer possible. And people across the globe are starting to understand that.
For example, Vice President JD Vance managed to turn all of Britain against him when he seemed to dismiss the UK as “some random country” with no warfighting experience. He seemed to have forgotten that British troops fought and bled side-by-side with Americans in Afghanistan and Iraq.
A new poll shows that large majorities in the big European countries view Trump as a threat. Nearly 80 percent of people in Great Britain feel that way, followed by 74 percent of Germans. An increasing number of Canadians are feeling the same way, which means that America’s closest friends now think the US is a danger.
That’s crazy!
Of course, it’s tough to blame them.
After all, Trump has suggested that he wants to annex two separate NATO countries while questioning the very existence of the alliance.
Others in the new administration are not doing anything to improve international relations.
For example, Vice President JD Vance managed to turn all of Britain against him when he seemed to dismiss the UK as “some random country” with no warfighting experience. He seemed to have forgotten that British troops fought and bled side-by-side with Americans in Afghanistan and Iraq.
However, Trump is not just taking a wrecking ball to the relationships with Western countries; he’s also wasting decades of goodwill the US has accumulated through foreign aid. China will gladly fill that void.
Speaking of voids, the US is also at risk of losing its leadership position in many scientific fields if the federal dollars spent on research are “saved.”
And that’s just one downside of the Trump administration’s war on the federal government.
While the primary casualties in the short term will be current civil servants, virtually all Americans will suffer in one way or another in the near future because they will be less safe and no longer have access to vital services.
It is impossible to assess the scope of the damage Trump and Musk are doing right now… or how long it will take to repair it. The short-sightedness of these “policies” is baffling, and Americans are going to pay a heavy price for them, both figuratively and literally.
