More people are dying of drug overdoses in America per year than ever died of Aids at the height of the epidemic. It is a public health crisis that, not coincidentally, has struck hardest in the largely white, rural parts of America that voted for Trump. The opioid epidemic is perhaps the most damning indicator that something is seriously wrong in America. The shock and trepidation caused by the Trump era has prompted a sombre re-examination of America’s recent history, from the rise in far-right extremism that went largely unnoticed during Obama’s time in office, to the shifts in the American economy that have stalled social mobility and decimated job opportunities in large parts of the country’s interior. Trump’s former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, is convinced that America is facing an existential crisis that can only be averted through a populist revolt and the destruction of the state. For the more cerebral members of the Trump administration, political pessimism is an ideological choice. His political stance seems instinctive: he is a man who smiles rarely and never laughs, who seems primarily driven by greed, personal ambition and resentment. That’s why he stoked fears of a migrant “invasion” during the 2018 midterms and instigated the longest government shutdown in US history over his demand for a $5.7bn border wall, a trumped-up solution to a trumped-up crisis. Trump does not know how to harness emotions such as hope or optimism. “At the bedrock of our politics will be total allegiance to the United States of America,” he said, sounding more like a headmaster delivering a punishment than a new leader seeking to inspire the nation. His inauguration speech, with its ominous description of “American carnage”, was much darker than those of his predecessors and though ostensibly his message is one of national renewal his tone was grim, and at times menacing. In his final address to the nation, ten days before Trump assumed office, he said that he was leaving “this stage tonight even more optimistic about this country than I was when we started”. Barack Obama, whose political manifesto was titled The Audacity of Hope, is the archetypal optimist. When George W Bush announced his candidacy, he declared, that: “I’ve learned that people want to follow an optimist… They respond to someone who sees better times, and I see better times.” Bush was so dangerously inclined towards optimism that some of his staff reportedly learned not to express hesitation or doubt in front of him. At turn of the millennium, Bill Clinton boasted in his state of the union address that “never before has our nation enjoyed, at once, so much prosperity and social progress with so little internal crisis and so few external threats”. Science and Technical Research and DevelopmentĪmerican presidents are usually optimists.Infrastructure Management - Transport, Utilities.Information Services, Statistics, Records, Archives. ![]()
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