Words & Phrases We Could Do Without

The "Golden Age"?! More like Fool’s Gold

Donald Trump began his inaugural address by declaring that “the Golden Age of America has only just begun.” One hundred days later, “golden” in no way applies to the state of the country, the economy in particular.

“Chaotic,” “recession,” “headwinds,” and “stagflation” are far more apt and common characterizations of the Trump economy. And those terms may describe the best case scenario. As the New York Times reported:

“What now looms large are uncomfortable questions about what happens if the international community starts to lose faith in the dollar and other U.S. assets, something that economists warn would be costly for Americans.”

Worse than a recession, we could be heading toward a permanent downgrade in U.S. economic fortunes if the world’s investors dump dollars and U.S. debt. The Atlantic’s Annie Lowrey explains: “Stocks, bonds, and the dollar are declining in tandem. The United States’ hegemony over the financial markets is at stake.”

With the loss of confidence in American stability (that Trump has provoked) comes a declining dollar, higher interest rates, weaker growth, reduced earnings, more expensive imports, and a lower standard of living for Americans. Bloomberg warns: “With the US’s economic prospects waning, free movement of capital is becoming an Achilles’ heel as investors of all stripes start to flee US assets.” On top of that, the U.S. becomes “weaker in international negotiations, and less capable of sanctioning terrorists and drug cartels.”

Make America Weak Again.

However, it very well might be the start of a Golden Age…for China. I trust Beijing is watching with fascination as the U.S. tosses allies like Ukraine into the clutches of aggressive dictators (watch out, Taiwan!), dismantles USAID (which had, for decades, created good will and bolstered the fight against international terror), turns the U.S. into a fickle trading power, attempts to shut down Voice of America, and undermines the argument that rules-based democracy is a superior system.

As Gabrielle Manca interrogates and explains:

Is the U.S., under Trump, unintentionally doing the ideological work of Beijing? By hollowing out institutions like USAID and undermining the legitimacy of alliances, Trump is weakening the very system that has for many years supported U.S. influence in the world and set the West apart from authoritarian challengers. He is, in effect, validating the Chinese argument that liberalism is in decline, that democracy is inefficient, and that power is the only real currency of global politics.

In his arrogant, uninformed, and belligerent refusal to recognize economic reality, Trump does China’s work for it.

“Trump’s disengagement unintentionally empowers Beijing, enabling it to expand further its influence within existing institutions while simultaneously promoting its alternative vision of multilateralism amid an increasingly vulnerable international system.”

Certainly, Trump has ushered in a Golden Age for Vladimir Putin. “If President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia drafted a shopping list of what he wanted from Washington, it would be hard to beat what he was offered in the first 100 days of President Trump’s new term,” the New York Times argued. Trump seems bent on handing Ukraine over to its Russian aggressors, giving up on the principle of Europe “whole and free,” spouting Russian lies and propaganda, and dismantling pro-democracy news information. Even right-wing outlets recognize Trump is putty in the hands of a dictator who neither respects nor fears him. When Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) warns that you are a “patsy” for Putin, it might be time to recognize that your foreign policy is a laughingstock.

Then again, maybe Trump is referring to the Golden Age of corruption.

“The Trump administration is retreating from some types of white-collar law enforcement, including cases involving foreign bribery, public corruption, money laundering, and crypto markets,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “In some cases, the administration is effectively redefining what business conduct constitutes a crime.”

Couple that with rollback of enforcement under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, now limited only “to instances of alleged conduct similar to more traditional espionage by foreign government actors,” shuttering our operation to seize Russian oligarchs’ assets, and pausing enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. We have not in our lifetimes seen such a vast expansion of the “swamp.”

It certainly has begun to look like the Golden Age for Trump personally. The State Democracy Defenders Fund’s report on crypto-currency reveals that by vastly increasing his crypto holdings while pushing forward policies to enhance his wealth (e.g., promoting growth of digital currencies, stifling criminal enforcement against digital asset schemes, eyeing a sovereign wealth fund that could purchase his crypto currency [!]), Trump has opened the door to massive corruption, conflicts of interest, dangerous speculation, and economic instability.

What is clear is that this is decidedly not the Golden Age for universities, scientific and medical research, farmers, European security, non-whites, veterans, women, children, or the planet. Thankfully, we are seeing a bright surge for public protests, the ACLU, independent media, courageous dissenters, articulate historians, and collective action.

When Trump said we were entering the “Golden Age,” most of his supporters likely did not think he was talking about a Golden Age just for China, Russia, billionaires, scam artists, measles, and himself. So, since “Golden Age” is now a punch line, it is time to drop the silly phrase. At least during this regime.

Instead, let’s describe accurately Trump 2.0 and the MAGA Republican Party that enables him: chaotic, cruel, dysfunctional, myopic, incompetent, and tyrannical.