Opinion: Trump’s America is a failed state

Far from making America great, despicable Don Trump has transformed America into what is arguably a “failed state.”

In fact, Trump and his Republican facilitators have decimated America in three-and-a-half short years after President Barack Obama set America right again after eight years of Republican rule. With the GOP’s valuable assistance, Trump tanked the economy and single-handedly created animosity among America’s most dependable allies and trading partners. He is also unilaterally responsible for the deaths of nearly 100,000 American citizens because his focus is solely on all things Trump.

Last week there were several articles rhetorically asking if Wisconsin was a failed state after Republicans and the courts put voters in harm’s way by giving residents a choice to be exposed to the novel coronavirus or forget participating in the democratic process. An article in “The Guardian” summarized the definition of a failed state thus:

“A failed state is one that can no longer claim legitimacy or perform a government’s core function of protecting the people’s basic security.”

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The actual definition the author summarized from “Britannica” is more detailed for sure, but it accurately defines America today after three-and-a-half years of Trump and Republican rule. It reads:

“”A failed state is composed of feeble and flawed institutions. Often, the executive barely functions, while the legislature, judiciary, bureaucracy, and armed forces have lost their capacity and professional independence. A failed state suffers from crumbling infrastructures, faltering utility supplies and educational and health facilities, and deteriorating basic human-development indicators, such as infant mortality and literacy rates. Failed states create an environment of flourishing corruption and negative growth rates, where honest economic activity cannot flourish.”

First, among the world’s richest nations, American infants are three times more likely to die than 19 similar OECD countries. Whether it is extreme poverty in the richest nation on Earth, or an atrocious lack of basic healthcare; there is little to refute the facts that America is failing to protect its people while the rich get richer at the expense of the rest of the population. The maternal death rate in America is still rising and is the only country among OECD nations with that horrific distinction.

Regarding deteriorating basic human development indicators such as literacy rates, just the fact that far too many Americans (75 percent) are unable to name the three branches of government, or comprehend that the Sun does not orbit the Earth is very revealing. According to a National Science Foundation survey, one in four Americans were unaware that the Earth revolves around the Sun. It is noteworthy that that level of ignorance is not down to the public school system; it is down to a gross lack of interest in, or outright rejection of, basic science facts and education in general.

It is no stretch to claim the Executive branch of government under Trump is a dismal failure and indeed, can hardly be considered a functioning entity.

Related to the failed Executive branch is the Federal legislature that is being hogtied by the Department of Justice, Republican-controlled Senate,  and Federal judiciary – especially the uber-conservative and theocratic-minded Supreme Court.

Despite the so-called “checks and balances” giving the House of Representatives oversight authority to check the Executive branch’s abuse of power and corruption, Republicans in the Senate, Trump’s personal hit-man running the Justice Department, and a conservative High Court majority have prevented the House from exercising its Constitutional duty.

Another sign that America is a failed state is the lack of independence given the courts, the legislature, and the judiciary due to Trump’s corrupt Department of Justice. Trump himself has created the armed forces lack of independence by overruling the military’s justice system at the behest of dirty Don’s evangelical and faux-patriot movement.

America’s infrastructure has been failing for some time now and it is down to Republicans who claim there are never funds available to rebuild thousands of bridges, schools, hospitals, and research facilities.

Some Americans may recall that after Republicans caused the Great Recession of 2007-2008, President Obama and Democrats were barely able to claw $787 billion to invest in the economy and rebuild what that paltry sum allowed. Republicans railed against that investment because President Obama is Black and a Democrat. All the while, Republicans under Trump have opened up the treasury to corporations and the wealthy even as they plan to eradicate social programs because of “the deficit;” the one they created with trillions in tax cuts for the rich and their dirty corporations.

In what is a monumental failure, America under Trump and Republican rule cannot, and will not, lift a finger to protect the American people; not their health, not their jobs, not their general welfare, not their Constitutional equal rights, or their ability to provide a safe environment for their families. In fact, Republicans and Trump have been, and still are, Hell bent on eliminating access to basic healthcare. No American needs reminding that there are now nearly 100,000 American lives lost due to a failed administration that is solely interested in sustaining Trump’s environment of corruption and creating scenarios where honest economic activity cannot flourish.

America will likely continue to exist as a sovereign state regardless it is rapidly becoming a theocratic dictatorship drowning in corruption and criminality. However, by all accounts and basic definition, it is a failed sovereign state where the rule of law has ceased to exist and the concept of the state protecting its citizens is no longer possible. Trump is the source of America’s demise on the world stage as well as domestically, but without the staunch support of Republicans at all levels of government Trump’s success at destroying America could never have happened.

Sadly, with Republican assistance, it is likely that America will never be able to provide for the people’s general welfare because Trump has created a federal judiciary in his and Republicans’ image; an that screams corruption and antipathy towards the people it once existed to serve.

Rmuse

Audio engineer and instructor for SAE. Writes op/ed commentary supporting Secular Humanist causes, and exposing suppression of women, the poor, and minorities. An advocate for freedom of religion and particularly, freedom of NO religion.

Born in the South, raised in the Mid-West and California for a well-rounded view of America; it doesn’t look good.

Former minister, lifelong musician, Mahayana Zen-Buddhist.