Americans, including Trump, need to step away from social media feeds that are full of conspiracies and mis and dis information, full of anger and hate. We need to value the people we disagree with no matter how much we disagree with them. Walk a mile in their shoes. Understand where they are coming from and what motivates them. But appreciate them. They are human beings too. We are all Americans.
This is Trump’s moment of truth. He could become the uniter America desperately needs.
THE ASSASSINATION OF CHARLIE KIRK COULD BE A TURNING POINT FOR AMERICA AND TRUMP
Charlie Kirk, right wing influencer, had a lot of strongly held ideas. Kirk was an outspoken supporter of gun rights, vehemently opposed abortion, was critical of transgender rights and promoted false claims about Covid-19. He wasn’t shy when it came to expressing his views. He especially inspired some young men who normally didn’t bother to vote to get out and vote for Trump in 2024. Their votes were one of the biggest reasons Trump won the presidency again. These were young men who were feeling forgotten in an America that seemed to value every subset of humanity other than their own.
Kirk was at his first stop in this season’s “Prove Me Wrong” traveling tour from campus to campus when he was assassinated. Kirk was also being challenged on his campus tour by some feisty progressive influencers who had launched what they called their “Unfuck America” tour. They followed Kirk from campus to campus to engage in vigorous debate with him and register voters.
One of these influencers happened to be asking Kirk a question when Kirk was shot. He later said “Charlie clearly believed in strong debate and argumentation with people who disagreed with him.” Zee Cohen-Sanchez, who founded the “Unfuck America” tour said: “Despite their political disagreements, she and Kirk agreed on one thing: “We need to have open discussions and open debate.”
In America these days many people hold strong and seemingly diametrically opposed views on issues that might appear to be hopelessly inconsistent and unreconcilable. But that is what a real democracy is about. At its best, it is a way to find compromise and common ground. It is a chance to debate strongly but still value the opposition. It is a way to get to yes by working at it. We need to reclaim this way of thinking and running our country.
When Trump went to the US Open to see Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz in the men’s final, he was both booed and also cheered by some people in the crowd. Trump’s decision to attend caused long delays for the public to get into the stadium and be seated. Many missed the first hour of play. Some commentators suggested that the boos Trump got were the result of the delay he caused. But that’s probably not the real reason. Americans either love Trump or hate Trump.
Trump has earned these strong opinions people have about him. He doesn’t just speak his mind, he denigrates and belittles people who do not agree with him. He calls people names in public, branding them, names like Little Marco or Shifty Schiff. He’s like a mean girl. Now that he cannot be held criminally accountable thanks to the immunity decision of the Supreme Court, he has been abusing power: using the DOJ and other levers of government to go after his “enemies” with lawsuits both civil and criminal, encouraging others in his cabinet to do that too, summarily firing people in government without cause- just because he says so. Trump is trying to set himself up as a king not a president and the Republican-led congress and the Supreme Court are helping him. This has upset millions of Americans who have taken to the streets in protest.
Trump has been a deeply deeply divisive president.
RADICAL CHANGE GETS PEOPLE UPSET
Part of the reason Trump has been divisive is that he and his MAGA congress have radically altered our government, our educational system, attacked universities and law firms, severely damaged trust with our allies, undermined the independence of the Fed, crippled FEMA, damaged our health care system, brought us closer to stagflation because of his chaotic tariff policies, NOT made our economy better yet, and lost millions of jobs in the last 8 months since they were elected. Trump ignores the law when it suits him and imposes strict legal penalties against his perceived enemies to punish them. He seems to be trying to install a police state across America before the 2026 midterm elections and rigging future elections so the Republicans will win no matter what; cheating to win because winning and power is everything.
Some of the effects of the reconciliation bill passed by Congressional Republicans might not be directly felt by Americans until after the mid-terms (a cagey move by the Republicans to try to get voters to continue electing them to congress despite this unpopular bill), but many people are starting to get it that this administration is at war with half of the country. Fellow Americans are being treated like enemies.
The reconciliation bill is already closing many many rural hospitals. More is at risk: Medicaid, Medicare, veterans benefits, eventually our social security, and our freedoms. Americans want to be able to get vaccines and have trusted the CDC. RFK Jr is undermining the CDC and with it, the health of every one of us.
This was not what most Americans thought they were voting for when they elected Trump. Americans aren’t stupid. They can see that their welfare is being compromised by Trump and the Republicans so that the rich can get richer.
YET, EVEN WEALTHY AMERICANS GIVE TRUMP LOW MARKS
Although Trump’s approval with his base continues to stay high (at about the same level throughout his term so far), he has lost ground with the very people his policies help the most: wealthy Americans. Newsweek reports:
President Donald Trump‘s approval rating among the richest Americans has fallen to its lowest point of his second term.
According to polling by The Economist/YouGov, Trump’s net approval rating among Americans with a yearly income of more than $100,000 was at -16 percentage points, down from -10 recorded in July. The previous nadir of -14 had been measured in April following the announcement of Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs.
Trump came into office with a strong net approval rating among this demographic— at + 6 with 49 percent approving of his job performance and 43 percent disapproving. Some high-profile billionaires like hedge fund managers Bill Ackman and Dan Loeb have since spoken out against Trump because of his tariffs policy.
If Trump loses the support of this demographic, it might affect the GOP’s chances of electoral success in the November 2026 midterm elections.
TRUMP’S APPROVAL UNDERWATER SINCE MARCH 12
Newsweek and CNN also reported that Trump has been underwater in the polls almost since mid March.
Speaking on CNN on Monday, [Harry] Enten said: “I do see something of a pattern. Sometimes we lose the forest for the trees but I want to look at the forest and it is one ugly duckling forest that we are looking at for Donald Trump.”
He added that an aggregate of polls showed that Trump’s approval rating has been negative every day since March 12.
“We’re talking about 181 days in a row in which Donald Trump has been underwater, swimming with the fishes,” he said. This length of time is “the vast majority of his second presidency,” he added.
On specific issues like crime, immigration, the economy, foreign policy and trade, Enten said that “Donald Trump is underwater on all of them.”
TRUMP’S ECONOMY IS NOT WHAT HE PROMISED
On Fox News and other conservative platforms the hosts have been ecstatic about the so called “golden age” that Trump is going to herald in for America. But as the New York Times has reported, the Trump economy is doing badly.
When the federal government last month reported a sharp decline in the nation’s hiring, President Trump dismissed the numbers, claiming without evidence that they were “rigged,” and then ousted the official responsible for producing them.
The release of a second consecutive poor jobs report on Friday confirmed the reality that Mr. Trump has been trying to avoid. The labor market is stalling — and the nation is facing real strains — under the weight of his economic agenda.
Eight months into his second term, the sum of Mr. Trump’s high tariffs and mass deportations appear to have created noticeable pressure on employers. The economy added only 22,000 jobs in August, according to the latest readout from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The unemployment rate rose slightly, to 4.3 percent, a nearly four-year high. And the revised data showed that employment fell by 13,000 in June, the first net loss of jobs since the end of 2020, when the pandemic was raging.
Analysts offered a variety of explanations for the slowdown. The president’s tariffs on nearly all imports have driven up costs for companies and prices for consumers. Mr. Trump’s immigration crackdown has made it harder for many businesses to find workers, while simultaneously reducing the need for them because they now have fewer customers. The federal government has cut jobs directly and canceled grants and contracts that have bled into the private sector. The uncertainty surrounding Mr. Trump’s ever-shifting policies has made corporate executives more cautious about hiring and investing.
When things don’t go his way, Trump viciously attacks his detractors. His divisiveness is hurting America and powering up hate and anger which has resulted in the kind of political violence we have not seen in our country since the 1960s when JFK, Martin Luther King, and RFK were assassinated.
Unless we can listen to others who disagree with us, our country is headed for a very dark place.
Trump, as president, is the person with the greatest power to change that trajectory.
CAN TRUMP LEARN?
So far Trump has not learned that being divisive is not a good thing for him. Because he refuses or cannot listen to people who are critical of him and lashes out at anyone who disagrees with him, he lives in a bubble surrounded by sycophants who only tell him he is right.
This is true of most autocrats. They don’t learn from mistakes or concede when they are wrong. This failure is what eventually leads to regime collapse.
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- Repressing opponents: To secure his power, the autocrat purges anyone who opposes or questions him. Loyalists are rewarded, while dissidents are imprisoned or exiled.
- Empowering yes-men: The purge creates a system where subordinates realize that flattery and agreement are the safest paths to promotion and survival. The most loyal, rather than the most competent, are elevated to positions of power.
- Flawed information: The autocrat becomes insulated in an echo chamber, receiving only the information he wants to hear. Critical intelligence and negative feedback are filtered out by fearful and self-serving officials.
- Loss of reality: With his ego constantly stroked, the autocrat overestimates his own abilities and his regime’s capabilities. He loses touch with the true state of his military, economy, or popular support.
- Disastrous decisions: Based on this flawed information, the autocrat makes reckless and poorly conceived policy decisions with catastrophic results.
- Increased paranoia: The failure of these policies makes the autocrat more paranoid and repressive, tightening his inner circle even further. This accelerates the cycle, as the pool of competent advisors shrinks and incompetence grows.
- Regime collapse: The autocrat’s repeated blunders and increasingly repressive actions alienate the elite and exhaust the state’s resources. In a moment of crisis, the regime proves too brittle to withstand internal or external pressure, leading to its collapse through a coup or mass revolt.
HOW REAL FIGHTERS AND WINNERS BEHAVE
Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz fought hard against each other in their tennis match. Each one wanted to win and played his best game. When the match was over there were two winners because they were able to hug at the end of the match and see the other man as a valuable friend and competitor. The women did the same after their finals match.
After the 2025 men’s final, Jannik Sinner conceded to Carlos Alcaraz, stating, “You were better than me. I tried my best today. I couldn’t do more“. In the women’s final, Aryna Sabalenka offered encouragement to her opponent, Amanda Anisimova, saying, “Congrats, Amanda, on reaching back-to-back Slam finals. I know how much it hurts, losing in the final. But trust me, the moment you’re going to win the first one.. and you are going to win it. You play incredible tennis”.
It was beautiful and uplifting to hear these real winners graciously concede the match that he or she had lost fair and square and commend their rivals. We need more more of this in America. Real winners know how to play hard and concede when they lose, learn what they could do better, and value their opponent because that person makes them play at an even higher level and get stronger. Real winners can argue and debate hard and still care about and value the other guy. They can stand up for different ideas, value the opposition and hug at the end of a tough debate. To be able to do this is essential for a thriving democracy.
If Trump, who wants more than anything to be a winner, could only learn that being a winner means respecting and valuing the opposition, listening, learning, and shaking hands afterwards, he could become the uniter America desperately needs instead of a divider. That would be incredibly helpful for our country.
