In America We Trust?
As the 100-day benchmark of President Trump’s second term approaches, millions of Americans and citizens around the world are reeling from the daily, if not hourly, shock and awe of a retaliatory-ego-driven reelected official and newly minted Administration. Since the January 20th inauguration day, the Trump Administration playbook has been focused on creating an atmosphere of chaotic change, resulting in confusion, consternation, and uncertainty across global financial markets and among America’s closest global allies.
At face value, the Trump Administration’s focus to tackle 21st Century policy concerns such as immigration, fair trade, national security, economic development, healthcare, education, tax reform, government efficiency, energy, domestic manufacturing and job creation, infrastructure modernization and technological innovation is reasonable and par for the course. Most American’s recognize and understand the pervasive social, economic, and environmental challenges that continue to place limits on their prosperity, and the necessity for the U.S. adapt to a changing world. However, the demagogue demeanor by which the President and the Administration have behaved has only manifested more divisiveness and distrust across their political base and among the nation’s most revered geopolitical allies and supporters. America is now witnessing a disintegration of one of its most valued currencies, global respect and trust.
One might argue that what the Trump Administration is doing is necessary ‘tough love’ that America and the world need to realign resources, remove dated bureaucracy, challenge entrenched institutional norms, or collapse international collaborations that no longer serve America’s strategic interests or align with American values. Few would disagree with President Lincoln’s famous statement, “a government of all the people, by all the people, for all the people,” requires a periodic pragmatic assessment and prioritization of revenues, resource allocation, and strategic relationships. It is very difficult to place blind trust into the Trump Administration. The unfolding that Americans and the world over has witnessed over the past 100 days is not a ‘tough love’ tactic. It is an outright dissolution of American values, tact, grace, and dignity. To be clear, most Americans vehemently disagree with the Administration’s tone and temperament.
America, We are a Bit More Sophisticated than Reality-TV, But You'd Never Know It...
To say that the Trump Administration is purposely using obfuscation in a calculated, well-orchestrated, and measured way to achieve its ends would be disingenuous. It is clear, from any observer, not to mention government and industry insiders, that the Trump Administration is imploding from within. The U.S., once praised as a foundation of principled leadership, diplomatic finesse is not priority, let alone a skill set of the current Administration. As cringe worthy, outdated, and simpleton it is in its orientation, “good television” sums up the rigor and strategic intent behind the Trump Administration’s approach to governance and leadership.
Consternation arises among citizens during any pendulum shift of political power. Yet, during the first 100 days of President Trump’s second term the fear and anxiety needle gauge has moved more erratically than most previous Presidential transitions, creating an outright visceral reaction among U.S. citizens. The world is not just watching but scowling at the pompous display of executive overreach. The Trump Administration highlight reel reads like a dystopian novel. Here is a recap of the Administration’s self-purported ‘good television moments’ of the last few weeks:
The autocratic-like rhetoric regarding the annexation of Canada and Greenland, and desire for control over the Panama Canal.
The copious barrage of “in your face” Executive Orders.
The mass layoffs of thousands of government employees.
The lack of dignity, grace, and diplomatic sophistication regarding Ukraine.
The dismantling of federal agencies.
The egregious abuse of power as demonstrated in the blatant financial favoritism for Elon Musk and affiliated companies.
The unclear, inconsistent, and illogical rhetoric regarding tariffs leading to confusion among America’s allies, and sharp declines in financial markets.
The offensive, insensitive, and irresponsible provocation for the U.S. to take over Gaza.
The negligent dismantling of the U.S. national intelligence and security apparatus.
The internal and orchestrated hijacking of U.S. databases and systems by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
The Signal messaging app and international security debacle.
The demanding and deafening tone of an autocratic dictator seeking absolute power.
Following inauguration day, President Trump and his Administration immediately sought to continue to “fight, fight, fight,” and launched a full-court press and assault on anything and everything that stood in their way: former Presidents, the free press, other heads of State, sitting politicians, or anyone that disagrees with their agenda. Amid the buffoonery and obsession of their distasteful approach to governing, perhaps the one constant of President Trump is his steadfast pursuit to protect and preserve his image by placing blame, distorting truth, and using all tactics to shift public perception toward his agenda. Alas, nothing of consequence seems to stick to the Teflon Don of American politics. But the tides are shifting.
While a few Trump-era loyalists support the Administration’s manic display of change by chaos, most economic pragmatists, elected officials, and political scholars agree that the speed of change the Administration is thrusting upon society is too swift and severe leading to unsustainable and potentially irreparable consequences. In fact, according to the March 2025 “The State of the Union” Marist Poll[i], the majority of American’s feel that the Stat of the Union is not strong, and that President Trump is moving too quickly.
“Moving fast and breaking things” does not actually work well in business, government, or civil society – despite the flawed logic shared by any recent “in the moment” corporate executive that may have said so. Working toward American values for peace, prosperity, and freedom is an endless process and sometimes thankless journey. For those that are provided with the privilege to lead, shaping America takes time and requires principled leadership. Our leaders need to care more about the people they serve than they do about their vanity, the fragility of their ego, or whether their ratings are up.
The Pending Short Sale of America: A Risk Based Scenario We Should All Fear and Work to Prevent
The Trump Administration’s choice to bully their way into relevance is unfortunate. The maddening rush to rearrange the furniture on the deck of the Titanic screams of an Administration that is incompetent and unhinged. But the longer this level of chaos goes unchecked, the greater the likelihood that catastrophic consequences will occur. The greatest threat to the U.S. at this moment in time is not foreign adversaries. Rather, it is those that are actively working to dismantle our government from within.
We need to be pragmatic, deliberate, and diplomatic in these uncertain times. We must ask ourselves, should there be a risk-based event (i.e., terrorist attack on U.S. soil, global conflict, financial market meltdown, economic war, mass power and transportation disruption, prolonged food shortage, regional or global health pandemic, or a mix of any of these risks or others), is the U.S. better prepared today than it was three or four months ago? Should a significant risk event occur, the U.S. is not any more prepared or resilient at this moment. The means to act decisively in a moment of crisis is not predicated on the sole existence of concentrated power. Arguably, the U.S. is facing a constitutional crisis of executive power and overreach. Once a few weeks into his second term, President Trump appears to be spending time exploring how he can have a third term as U.S. President.
Make no mistake, the Trump Administration’s pursuit of shock and awe, their onslaught of Executive Orders, their outlandish push for more power, their undoing of the federal government complex, their retaliation against those that disagree with their agenda – all of these are tactics in their deliberate playbook to force a short sale of America. Their strategy is simple, America and its assets (our assets) represent the financial security that is being borrowed (if not commandeered) by the Administration. The actions by the Administration in their first 100 days speak to a forced downgrade of the country’s value (financially, geopolitically, culturally, historically).
The Trump Administration is calculated and callous in their pursuit of power and absolute control. As America’s stock tanks, the Administration and its affiliates will buy up as much as possible for substantially less, only to turn a profit. In the process, most Americans will lose, and billionaires from distant lands will win.
America is Not for Sale
The geopolitical landscape is always in flux. This is not a time to disengage or cower. Rather, this is the time to speak up, while you still can, for human rights, freedom and democracy, and for oversight and accountability on executive power. Our freedom and the democratic pursuit of prosperity has never been a guarantee. They are something that we must fight for. In this moment of America’s evolution, we need to question whether we have full agency over our future prosperity, or whether it has already begun to be dictated to us by those in power. This is not a time to blindly abdicate your power in the hopes that this Administration competently knows what it is doing and "has your back."
Greed, fear, ego, power, manipulation, and corruption. These are the tools and fuel of dictators and their regimes. In this moment, and hopefully not a fleeting one, America’s history and our future remain fluid and in the responsibility of a democratic government. Enough time has passed, streaming the daily dose of Trump-TV. It’s time for all directors, producers, actors and stagehands to rise and retake ownership of this poorly scripted, terribly cast, and failing reality show. America, and the future freedom and prosperity of Americans, is not for sale.
[i] Source: Marist Poll. The State of the Union. March 3, 2025. https://maristpoll.marist.edu/polls/the-state-of-the-union-march-2025/