It is a dark twist on an old good news, bad news joke.
At a moment when the United States faces an unprecedented poly-crisis simultaneously threatening to destroy our system of government, our economy, our international standing and our fundamental freedoms, the Democratic Partyâs leadership is missing in action.
The âgoodâ news, however, is that our other national party, the MAGA GOP, and its leaders are as incompetent as they are malevolentâstarting at the very top.
And so while journalists scramble to figure out which five-alarm fire to cover on any given day, they are missing one of the most important stories of the second Trump Administration: It is failing.
Consider the core promises that President Trump made while on the campaign trail. He said he would undo the inflation caused by âBidenomics,â and on day one initiate an economic boom. He said he would balance the budget. He said he would root out waste, fraud, abuse and corruption. He said he would âmake America healthy again.â He said he would end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours, and restore Americaâs standing in the world.
It is early days. But it is clear that Trump has not just failed to achieve those things. He has failed spectacularly.
Inflation is rising. The economy is slowing. Wall Street is panicking. The wild, reckless cuts produced by Elon Musk and his DOGE army are hugely damaging to the people of the United States, but they will hardly make a dent on the budget deficit. Furthermore, the administrationâs core economic policiesârenewing tax cuts and aggressive protectionismâ are a dead solid lock to not only increase the deficit but to do so gigantically, pushing up prices for consumers and ultimately killing American competitiveness in the global market.
That said, Trump is very unlikely to be able to pass the budget he wants, even through the reconciliation process, because his margins in the House are so thin and the core initiatives his team are promoting to materially reduce spending (such as cutting entitlements) are so politically toxic. Much of the cutting DOGE is doing is illegal, and it is hugely unpopularâwith the public and even within the Republican Party in D.C. Representatives, even those from the reddest districts, canât go home because the anger their constituents feel at being hurt so directly is so intense.
Rather than reducing corruption, Trump has made illegally cashing in on positions of power his administrationâs signature dish, the specialty of the chief chef in the White House. (And served with a Diet Coke, naturally.)
Rather than making America healthy, new epidemics are popping up. HHS czar RFK Jr. is offering snake oil cures that make the problems worse; DOGE cuts are impacting vital medical research funds, staffing at our most important health agencies, health delivery and support agenciesâand more damage is certain to come.
Even as he displayed mafia don tactics trying to push Ukraine into a settlement, Trump rolled over like a puppy poodle on his back for Vladimir Putin, who has at every turn made it clear that he is in charge, and that he will set the terms for ending this war. That end will not come soon.
And why stop there? Trump has undone 80 years of U.S. foreign policy more broadly. Our global standing has never been lower. The world is profoundly dangerous now. He has not only attacked our alliances, he has even threatened our allies directly. The United States is now part of a right-wing, anti-democratic coalition that includes not only Putin but despots and wannabe tyrants across the globe.
Sure, Chuck Schumer, has, in the words of one senior Congressional Democrat with whom I was just speaking, âpassed his sell-by date.â His desire to compromise and his wait-and-see attitude is simply out of touch with the times we live in. Other leading Dems, whether Gavin Newsom or the mealy-mouthed centrists, seem eager to meet MAGA halfway. But tell me, how do you compromise on tyranny? How do you compromise on shredding the Constitution? Save only the nouns and prepositions?
But even so, the country has a chance. Even if Congress is largely supine, even if the Supreme Court ultimately empowers Trump further and even if the mainstream media is being bought out by Trump patsies in efforts to normalize the grotesque and perilous reality in which we now live, there is hope.
Trump is doing so much damage that even the Americans disconnected from politics on whom his entire candidacy depended are now feeling the pain. And that suffering, discomfort and the anger associated with is only going to get worse.
Because you see, there are not three branches in our government as most of us were taught in school. There are four. The founders of these United States did not overthrow a British king just to make our president our sovereign. Washington famously rejected a monarchâs title. Rather, our Constitution confers the power of the sovereign to the American peopleââwe the people.â
The Man Who Would Be King doesnât understand this. Or maybe he was counting on the inertia of apathetic, misinformed and under-informed Americans to turn a blind eye to his coronation? Lord knows, they sure didnât take Trumpâs record into consideration during the last election.
But Trump and Musk and JD Vance and their gang are doing such a terrible jobâand doing it in such a broadly destructive wayâthat literally no American who is not living in a billionaireâs bubble will not be hurt by their actions, will not have their lives made demonstrably worse. And that should roust our true sovereign from his (and her) sleep. That sovereign is us. No one is coming to save us. Weâre going to have to do it ourselves. When we act together, we cannot be stopped.
