Mirko Casale: Trump’s agony (without government, but with debt)
Written by Mirko Casal*Translation: Jair de Souza**
Trump is facing the worst moments of his presidency, or rather, his presidencies, as the expression also applies to his previous term. This is because he has not yet spent one year in charge of the White House in his second term.
Among his current concerns are the longest government shutdown in history, an unstoppable rise in public debt, electoral setbacks everywhere, and a sharp decline in the polls. Panorama suggests that Trumpism 2.0, far from resolving the systemic crisis in the United States, is accelerating it.
There you go!
It seems that someone has placed a curse on Trump, who is experiencing one crisis after another.
First of all, the president surpassed one of his personal records, which he set during his previous term, with the longest government shutdown in history. A real administrative quarantine, although it may sound good to Trump libertarians, has been a major headache for the US president.
The inability of Republicans and Democrats to approve a new budget at the end of September extended into November, and this had a direct impact on the lives of millions of Americans.
About 750,000 federal employees were placed on unpaid leave, and since this is the “land of opportunity,” some of them had their salaries suspended, but not their jobs. In other words, given the government shutdown, workers deemed essential must continue to work, but for free.
Museums, national parks, social food programs and day care centers have closed their doors. But for example, air traffic control, which is considered essential, has been particularly affected, as security officers and air traffic controllers are not keen on working for free, and many of them do not show up for work or arrive late and uncommitted, causing significant flight delays.
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During the shutdown, lines of Americans were seen waiting for their turn to receive food from various social programs, programs that were also affected by the government shutdown. It is a vicious circle that paints a surprisingly fragile picture of a country that is not subject to sanctions or blockades from anyone, and prides itself on being the leading global economy.
Although the impact of this strike still needs to be evaluated, if we make a simple comparison with the strike seven years ago, we are talking about an amount that may reach $13 billion in losses.
And not because the United States is in a position to absorb many losses. As much as Donald Trump says that thanks to tariffs on imported products the country has become significantly richer, these tariffs are not paid by other countries, but by Americans themselves.
On the other hand, the US public debt, which is equivalent to about 120% of its gross domestic product, exceeded $38 trillion, which is the highest in history. Even more seriously: Despite all the announced cuts and austerity, during his time in the White House, not only has the debt declined compared to the Joe Biden administration, it is increasing at a faster rate.
If the country enters into debt with the Democrats at a rate of approximately $6 billion per day, on average, then the value with the Republicans is close to seven billion dollars per day.
Given this overall picture, we should not be too surprised by the series of electoral setbacks that the Republican Party has suffered in recent weeks. In many cities and states, elections were held for mayor or governor.
The Democratic Party won all of those that were celebrated. Among them were New Jersey, Virginia, Cincinnati, Detroit, Pittsburgh and Atlanta. Also in voting for electoral reform in California and judicial reform in Pennsylvania, the opposition to Trump prevailed.
Certainly, the victory that the media talked about the most was Zahran Mamdani’s victory in New York. The youngest person to hold the position in more than a century, and the first convert to the Islamic faith to do so. He has largely imposed himself on another former Republican and Democratic candidate.
Mamdani, who was more left-leaning than any average American politician, which is not saying much, arrived at the City Council with more than 50% of the vote, with a well-known social democratic proposal, wrapped in “wokism“, which in Europe, no reasonable person would call left-wing extremism, but in some sectors, inside and outside the United States, is feared or applauded, as if it were a Manhattan version of storming the Winter Palace.
On the other hand, electoral participation did not even reach 40%, a number that might be used in other, less glamorous cases than the one witnessed in New York, to delegitimize the result. But in a city where the number of registered voters rarely exceeds 30%, the victory is also heralded as a priceless, historic paradigm shift in global democracy.
But, in addition to the tendency of many people to be frightened or excited, as the case may be, by a proposal that is much more inside the American system than outside it, the reality is that the victory of the Democratic candidate is another bad news for Trump, who has campaigned against him with his usual aggressive and contemptuous tone.
The sum of setbacks weighing heavily on her! Because although it seems that there is still a lot to be done, the midterm elections will be held in a year, which may change the composition of the Senate and the House of Representatives, and thus the ability or inability of the president, depending on your point of view, to govern the country.
Current opinion polls are another reason for Trump’s concern. According to one of the most consulted political researchers in the United States, his current disfavor is around -18%, the worst start to a presidential term in years, worse than Biden’s, worse than Obama and worse than Trump’s index in 2017. Only 39% of his fellow citizens approve of his administration, compared to 58% who disapprove. Moreover, his government was rejected in 49 out of 50 states.
So, you see, and as many analysts and this program have pointed out for some time, the systemic crisis in the United States is irreversible. A collapse that did not begin with Trump, although the president is pushing it forward, likely against his will.
Instead of trying to prevent the expected collapse, the only thing Democrats and Republicans seem able to do is fight over who will manage it.
*Mirco Casale Screenwriter, presenter and director of Ahí les va! (There it is!) which RT has been broadcasting to Spanish-speaking countries for five years.
**Ger de SouzaTranslation and translation into Portuguese.
This article does not necessarily represent an opinion Fiumundo.
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