"With the federal government shut down for more than two weeks, the nation more polarized than at any time since the civil war, political violence growing and the job market slowing, it doesn't feel remotely like a golden age, unless one focuses on Trump's Louis XIV-like effort to gild as many things as possible in the Oval Office. Decoration spree aside, it in no way feels like a golden age."
"Nor does the US seem like the shining city upon a hill when Ice agents slam a 79-year-old US citizen to the ground in Los Angeles. Nor when Trump's Department of Homeland Security posts thuggish videos of stormtrooper-like Ice agents videos that seem more like Germany in the 1930s than any golden vision of the US as it approaches its 250th birthday."
"Only a huckster would boast of a golden age when his public approval ratings are deep underwater. According to a CBS/YouGov poll in early October, 58% of the US public disapproves of Trump's performance, while 42% approve. Another poll found that 62% of Americans believe the country is heading in the wrong direction. As part of his golden vision, Trump promised good times for working-class Americans, but 74% of the US public says the economy is in poor or fair condition"
A self-proclaimed "golden age" contrasts with a prolonged federal shutdown, heightened polarization, increasing political violence, and a slowing job market. Deployments and threats against cities, including talk of troops and national guard use, escalate tensions with state and local leaders. ICE operations have accidentally teargassed officers, detained growing numbers of US citizens, and physically assaulted an elderly resident, while DHS released militaristic videos that evoke 1930s Germany. Public sentiment is largely negative: major polls show a substantial plurality or majority disapproving of leadership, believing the country is on the wrong track, and rating the economy poorly, with broad opposition to tariff policies.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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