Welcome to the Age of Agita. We fear China and want cheap stuff. We distrust Putin and want him to do a peace deal. We dislike European trade barriers and want NATO to hold. We hate antisemitism and want our kids to get a Harvard MBA. We want Laken Riley back and “due process” for deported illegal aliens. We dislike the President, but need his policies.
No question, Donald Trump offends the college-educated mind (we just don’t talk like that), and it’s hard living under “Art of the Deal” leadership. Allies, businesses and markets should know where the US is headed (did Mr. Trump just state the first – or final – position?), but while the President’s fleeting notions are unsettling, the counter-narratives are even worse.
Suffice it to note that, if there is an arc of credibility in Washington, it does not bend toward Democrats and RINOs on the outside looking in at Mike Johnson, John Thune and Donald Trump. Dire allegations and predictions from John Brennan, Liz Cheney, Robert Reich and Chuck Schumer are just mind clutter (they have no clue what our allies, enemies or markets will do).
Unfounded Allegations and Predictions
Our two-party system needs a credible opposition to check the party in power, but Democrats have done our democracy no favors by demonizing the GOP and its policies with now-debunked schemes (Russiagate) and claims (too many to cite). If the last eight years have taught us anything, it is that the “truth” is not an allegation, and “reality” is not a prediction. Three lessons come to mind.
One. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) told Roll Call that “Trump will lead US into nuclear war.” Bob Corker (R-TN) told Time that “Trump will lead the US into World War III.” Wrong! Trump 1.0 ended Obama’s war with ISIS, tried to befriend China, North Korea, and Russia, and started no new wars.
Two. Clinton told PBS, “Trump would send the US economy into recession.” The NY Times’ Paul Krugman wrote that “Trump will bring on a global recession.” Nope! Trump 1.0 reduced unemployment from 5.3% to 3.7%, increased US GDP from $18.8 trillion to $23.6 trillion, and invited total US stock-market value to rise from $27.3 trillion to $40.7 trillion. And global GDP rose from $76.6 trillion to $85.5 trillion (despite COVID).
Three. Joe Biden said, “Republican voter ID requirements repress voting.” MSNBC’s Joy Reid said, “Georgia Republicans will make it torture for Blacks to vote.” Oops! In 2021, 69% of Blacks (Rasmussen poll) and 62% of Democrats (Monmouth poll) supported voter ID laws. In 2024, Black voting increased 6% in Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana, despite those states’ voter-ID laws (source: Brennan Center for Justice).
The cumulative effect of the false claims and fear-mongering were great GOP campaign ads and anti-woke opening monologues by Democrat Bill Maher. This could not have happened at a worse time. Team Trump is pushing the boundaries of executive power, and Democrats have sunk to their lowest-ever voter approval (the only check upon the President are four Supreme Court centrists).
America Is Too Divided for Its Own Good
In our democratic republic, what is “just” and “necessary” is decided by the electorate, so it is wrong to discount the arc of Trump’s electoral and popular votes that rose from 304 and 62.9 million in 2016 to 312 and 77.3 million in 2024. And those voters don’t want their government mired in lawsuits over Kilmar Garcia’s deportation to El Salvador.
Fact: 81% of Americans want criminal illegal aliens deported (source: Harvard/Harris poll). Fact: Mr. Garcia entered the US illegally and was ordered deported. Fact: his lawyer’s “good father and husband” spin was dispelled by law-enforcement documents. Fact: experience taught Team Trump to mistrust Democrats, liberal judges, and woke-liberal lawyers.
Still, governing with a “we can always say we’re sorry later” attitude has kindled a constitutional crisis that has the Supreme Court working overtime, and diverted the attention of congressional Democrats away from China, Iran, and Russia. You might not like the ACLU, Judge Boasberg or Senator Van Hollen (D-MD), but they are not going away. Such is the bane of our advanced civilization.
To wit, majorities elected Obama and Biden, whose district judges care more about redundant government employees than reducing America’s $36.7 trillion government debt. And 61% of Maryland’s electorate voted for Van Hollen, who cares more about Mr. Garcia than a Maryland woman murdered by an illegal alien.
Voters thought a Republican President and Congress ensured the return of “common sense” to Washington. Not even close, and that’s why this is the Age Of Agita (heartburn).