This is where everyone gets to, and should, ask themselves, “Are you better off now than you were 100 days ago?”
The turn on the perennial question pitched when presidential races ripen is meaningful now as the nation approaches its time-honored tradition of measuring a new commander in chief after their first 100 days in office.
All this week, Trump officials said the administration will be rolling out events underscoring an alleged catalog of achievements Trump has checked off from what was most likely the longest list of campaign promises ever.
Like a growing number of Americans, we anticipate a week of hype, exaggerations and what has become a regular geyser of misinformation, disinformation and outright lies from Trump and most officials in the White House.
As a nation, the Sentinel can say with certainty that, no, America is not better off. It is far less than it was 100 days ago — and sinking fast.
The strong and stable economy that Trump started with on Jan. 20 is seriously weakened, a victim of Trump’s obsession with tariffs, and his lack of both the experience and the acumen to successfully undertake such extremely complex changes.
All of that is made ever more dangerous by Trump’s arrogance, believing that what he’s doing actually makes sense.
It does not. Every credible economic expert on record so far has made clear that Trump’s petulant and arbitrary trade-war scheme will likely do two destructive things: First, Trumponomics will slow the economy, most likely to the point of recession. And his dangerous scheme will cost Americans jobs and reward them higher prices for nearly everything.
What makes Trump 2.0 so treacherous, for not just the nation, but the world, is that Republicans, previously the party of economic belt-and-suspenders conservatism and pragmatism, have become so deeply frightened of the wrath of Trump and of his sycophant fans and followers.
Few Republicans in Congress have had the temerity to publicly push back on Trump’s economic brinkmanship, and even when they do, it’s delivered with diplomatic acquiescence.
No, if you buy groceries, you’re no better off than you were 100 days ago. Despite promises of turning around prices, the cost of eggs, insurance, healthcare and essential items have steadily risen, according to a variety of economic and retail dashboards.
If you are deeply worried about the fate of Israelis and Palestinians in a war that has become a global horror, or if you worry about the corrupt Russian dictator, Vladimir Putin, destroying peace in Europe, the last 100 days brought nothing but bluster, embarrassment and deeper concern.
If you work for the military, you’re being threatened by Trump’s pick of a Fox News propaganda host, elevated to the level of Secretary of Defense. In just 100 days, Sec. Pete Hegseth has destroyed what was left of his reputation by first leaking military secrets to a magazine editor, then his wife and family, and consistently, and angrily, trying to defend the absolutely fireable offenses as business as usual. If you work in the military or depend on them for defense, you’re far worse off than you were 100 days ago.
The same goes if you work in a field of science or higher education, or both. Academics and scientists have taken a double whammy from Trump and his White House staff. First, Trump enlisted billionaire Elon Musk to streamline the behemoth federal government, in a move to make it more efficient and to make Americans “rich.” The only movement of wealth is toward the armies of lawyers on both sides, overwhelming the courts with one lurid layoff scheme after the next.
Musk has been called out repeatedly for being factually wrong on multiple accounts regarding his claims of uncovering massive fraud and waste. The nation hasn’t even gotten to the point yet of discovering the unintended, or purposeful, consequences of cuts made by a man suffering from endless cases of conflict of interest.
There have been waves of arbitrary cuts putting the nation’s health and human warning systems at risk. There have been equal waves of cuts and dismissals into the very core of the nation’s preeminent science marrow by one of the nation’s most infamous and dangerous medical quacks and science hucksters, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Elevated by Trump to be secretary of health, he has recently dragged out one of his favorite unscientific obsessions: autism. For years, Kennedy not only made his reputation as being a flagrant anti-vaxxer, riding the debunked and dangerous vaccine-autism hoax, but he made money off of his lies by representing Americans trying to sue vaccine companies linked to his vaccine hoaxes.
All this has been compounded by Trump’s anti-intellectualism and irresistible bent for revenge against universities and organizations that provide the nation, and the world, with honesty, reality and vetted facts. Those are the three things that make up Trump’s virtual kryptonite.
Universities across the nation now worry about losing billions of dollars in research monies and grants that lead to the medical cures and treatments we’ve all become accustomed to, and appreciative of.
No, if you are an educator, a scientist or a researcher, or an American that depends on or looks forward to their work, you are far worse off than you were 100 days ago.
If you are a legal, documented immigrant, hard working and deeply appreciative of the opportunity to make a life for yourself in the United States with perseverance and persistence, you are far worse off than you were 100 days ago. Trump has ignored the rule of law on multiple occasions, violating one of the most critical parts of the American government foundation: due process.
Not only has the Trump administration admittedly, and wrongly, deported people or arrested people totally within the law, but they have refused to correct their mistakes.
Since the nation was begun, immigration has been its strength. Immigrants not yet granted citizenship are far worse off than they were 100 days ago, and so is all America, losing out on friends, family, opportunities and the richness multiple cultures bring to our communities.
If you are overwhelmed, uninterested or confused by Trump claims, perpetuated by Fox News and similar news propaganda, and then Trump’s claims being countered by vetted and transparent reports from traditional media, you are far worse off than you were 100 days ago. Since sworn into office, Trump has become brazen in dispensing a virtual mythology by himself and his appointees that is regularly, and effectively, proven inaccurate or a lie. Trump’s war on facts makes many Americans turn away from what is regularly becoming critical and unnerving actions by Trump and his administration.
This week, Trump directed his compliant Justice Department to investigate Act Blue, the chief fundraising arm of the Democratic Party. The scheme is a naked attack on his political enemy, a chilling move even in a banana republic. In the United States, the stunt smacks of abuse of power and disdain for democracy.
On Monday, Trump ruled by fiat that police departments across the nation convicted of regularly abusing people of color, and under federal consent decrees to cease, will be not only released from mandated police reforms, but encouraged to do what they please.
Martin Luther King Jr. famously made clear how dangerous Trump is not just his democracy and his political enemies, but his allies and everyone in America: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
After just 100 days, we, as a nation, and as a community, are economically poorer, academically poorer, culturally poorer, less free and deeply worried about the next 100 days and beyond.
So now, I can safely say that the Sentinel Blog is not happy with our new president’s first 100 days. Lot’s more to come, only 1,361 more days if my math is accurate. Hope you don’t let your stress and hate overcome your ability to exist. Personally, I feel fine with little stress and see great things coming!
Then you’re in for some interesting times. Bad times, but interesting ones.
Anyone who would be looking forward to more of this frenetic jostling of the economy, research, small business, immigration, gov’t services, the judicial system, public health, and general well-being is nuts or has taken a huge swig of Kool-Aid! If you voted for this type of action, you voted for a dictatorship. I, for one, don’t want any more billionaires trying to run my life. I sure don’t need any more lies from them. The reason they are billionaires is that they are interested more in their wealth than the well-being of the millions of workers who provided their fortunes. It’s time for working people to speak up for themselves and stop listening to the likes of Trump and Musk laughing about who does a better job of firing people!
Well, Kane, you’ve proven one more time that they don’t teach about Capitalism nor economics in Iowa. Nor does it appear that your governmental background has allowed you to understand what has made the US society work for over 250 years.
Quick refresher for you Kane. It takes special entrepreneurs, billionaires as you call them, to make jobs for the masses who don’t have the talent, education or time to make those same jobs.
If you want a society that the workers or governmental workers control, do a bit of historical research how that has worked out for that society. Start by reading, Animal Farm by George Orwell then study Russia in the 20th Century.
And think twice before you call someone “nuts” as your comments might prove that you might be the wrong and crazy one.
But Kane, it’s nice to know that you have thoughts and comments on almost every news article and editorial that the Sentinel Blog posts. I don’t really look forward to them but I do expect them. Your downside is that Dave Perry explains your ludicrous thoughts better than you do.
How nice of you to lower yourself to remind us all how lucky we are.
Me, I don’t see luck in having a convicted thief and felon in the White House, who has never read the Constitution and certainly has no intention of following it.
But I suppose we can all look forward to our benign “masters” looking out for us. If they are as greedy as usual, they will cheerfully sell us the rope with which to hang them. And then we can put people in office who HAVE read the Constitution, and wish to govern accordingly.
As an aside, you might want to read the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence yourself. It’ll really shake you up.
The President speaks truth and delivering promises from his campaign 👏
I”m not sure how any commenter can be just fine with our government destroying government agencies that protect citizens, with confused leadership proposing health treatments that ignore and reject medical knowledge acquired over many hundreds of years, with kidnaping and deporting legal residents without any hearing to determine if they have violated anything at all, with defense leaders who blatantly ignore national security protocols repeatedly, all while spewing a constant miasma of lies.
Do not be surprised if Trump cancels 2028 election with his executive order. Trump has made more illegal Executive Orders then any president. This has kept the courts busy with lawsuits which he ignores. Sec. Pete Hegseth has made two big mistakes with allowing people in on talks that included discussions of military operations. I worked for the DOD Finance And Accounting Center in Denver, I know how families of military members have to deal with the military going overseas and fighting wars. They do not need to have the military operations told to people who are not cleared. President Trump took home a lot of Top Secret files in his first presidency. With Trump destroying federal agencies that help working class people, with research that even billionaires may need someday. Trump forgets that his grandfather was an illegal when he come over during WWI. Vicki H.
Maybe someday the Sentinel will represent Republicans too. I know it would be a stretch but who knows.