By Robert Dean
Guest Columnist
Contrary to what you may believe, this column isn’t dedicated to hating Donald Trump. I do not like giving him the space on the page or in my brain. The problem is, his administration does stuff every week that warrants critical observation and the calling of truth to power. And yet again, we’re here.
Before someone sends an email saying that I’m not in touch with the working class or whatever, the current approval ratings are dismal, hovering below 39%, depending on who your propaganda source may be.
Folks were fooled once with the whole ear thing. We got the photo that gets slapped on cheap, made-in-China t-shirts and flags, and they use it as a rallying cry. Folks fell for it; but you don’t hear much about Thomas Crooks, the shooter, do you? Sure, they got him at the scene, but once they put a bullet in the kid’s head, we don’t have exactly a trove of information to parse.
And now we’ve got another “attempt,” and people believe this? Let me tell you, back in the day, I worked at the Chicago Board of Trade, a fresh-faced kid out of journalism school – I was working on the trading pit floor. This was 2003, and George W. Bush came to visit. And let me tell you, there was so much security, it took us an hour to get through the wands, the x-ray machines, and the windows were taken out for sniper perches. It was intense. And now, the Secret Service has dropped the ball three times?
You can’t help but think about it: a wildly unpopular war, tariffs that have done nothing but hurt the consumer, gas prices still high, the Epstein file nightmare (still an albatross around his neck), and now, his eyesore of a ballroom gets the push because these other Washington institutions are now unsafe?
And that’s the beat folks keep looking past. This isn’t about liking or hating one guy. It’s about a system that feels like it’s shattering in real time. When nearly two-thirds of Americans say they’re living paycheck to paycheck, when consumer prices are still up close to 20% over the last few years, and when even basic trust in government hovers around 20%, you’re not dealing with a fringe problem—you’re dealing with a baseline screwed-up condition.
I work constantly. Day job. Night job. Freelance. This computer never stops going. And you know what? I’m one missed paycheck from everything collapsing. I want you to know if you’re reading this, and you’re there too, you’re not alone in that predicament.
That pressure doesn’t go away. It warps how people see everything. Whether it’s real or not, it makes every headline feel like a setup, every crisis feel staged, every explanation feel incomplete. Not because everyone’s lost their minds, but because the ground underneath them feels like quicksand. And yet, here comes this thing to make us look away from our bank accounts, that the brass is unsafe? Hey MAGA, “do your own research” as you like to say. But the ballroom will get pushed through and you’ll still be shopping at the Dollar Store for Friday night’s dinner.
He makes it easy to write about him.
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