It’s no secret many Americans are scared of the current state of the country. From federal takeovers in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. to President Donald Trump’s promise to go after critics of conservative Charlie Kirk after his assassination, it’s clear that unprecedented times aren’t just on the way… They’re already here. The easiest way to tell is simply by looking at how news outlets like the New York Times view our daunting reality.
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A quick visit to the Times’ front page will leave you shocked. Headlines with words like “warning,” “scary,” “no hope” and “darkens” paint a very vivid picture of how many feel about the nation’s future. If this is how the media is reporting on current events, then perhaps we should all be scared…
Charlie Kirk’s Murder as a Warning
It’s been a full week since Kirk’s brutal murder. According to writers at the New York Times, this marks a new type of America– one where violence is being politicized, which will threaten the fabric of our democracy. Opinion columnist Ross Douthat said this is the first time he’s had this many concerns. “I have never seen it quite so anxious and adrift – so fearful of the future, so uncertain about its own goals, so existentially anxious and bunkered down,” he wrote in the article, “Why the Kirk Assassination Is a Warning to the Left.”
He noted stark differences between America in 2020 and America right now. Most notably, Black Lives Matter protests joined the country together and led to notable– though temporary– change after George Floyd’s death. Now, we’ve never been farther apart. In fact, he argued the country’s “revolutionary zeal” has “been dissolving ever since” 2021. And if we don’t move fast enough, it’ll be gone forever.
In another article titled “America Darkens,” opinion writer Frank Bruni said after Kirk’s murder, more political thinkers on both sides of the aisle should be afraid. “It’s insane that I should now feel as concerned for my safety in America as I did when I’d travel to places like Pakistan or Lebanon, or when I worked in Israel during the second intifada,” he said. Shockingly, the public execution of one conservative isn’t the only sign that Americans should be concerned.
Learning From the U.K. Before It’s Too Late
New York Times writer Ben Rhodes noted in “Britain Offers a Warning of What America Could Become” the irony of Trump’s recent visit to the U.K. According to him, both the U.S. and our British ally are “suffering through crises of identity.” The U.K. is still reeling from their decision to cut economic ties with the rest of Europe in the infamous Brexit vote of 2016. Rhodes said that same year, America elected Trump and completely changed history.
In the history books, we all studied the great rise of American democracy against the tyranny of Great Britain, the country’s power as a world leader and what it took to get there. According to many NYT writers, this legacy now hangs in the balance.
“Within a matter of months, both nations turned against their own stories,” he said. With Trump’s second term kicking in, Rhodes argued America has now co-signed authoritarianism, which our founding fathers probably would’ve condemned. This is yet another sign of the impending doom the country faces. Trump’s first months back in office have fundamentally altered government agencies, citizens’ trust for the executive branch, the integrity of the Supreme Court and that’s not even the end of the list…
The Truth About Trump’s Economy
Another opinion writer, Oren Cass, warned that the American economy has also taken a hit after Trump. “We are in a very uncertain period because policy changes are reshaping incentives and behaviors in the economy in ways that will have one set of short-term effects but a potentially very different set of long-term effects,” he said. It’s too soon to tell exactly how Trump’s plans will impact the economy, but as of right now, experts say they’re not hopeful.
Even with the Times raising alarm on key issues impacting everyday life , it’s impossible to know exactly the price we’ll have to pay in the end. For now, one thing is for sure, if you haven’t been paying attention, then it’s time to buckle up… big time.
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