Trump does not make us feel great about our country - By Jennifer Rubin

[DonViejo]

By Jennifer Rubin September 7 at 9:15 AM

President Trump ran on the promise that he’d Make America Great Again, restoring strength and pride in the country. So far he’s failed miserably, an NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll shows:

Asked to rate the national character of America on a scale of one to 10, just 14 percent of those polled offered a “strong” rating of eight or higher, while 34 percent suggested a “weak” rating of four or lower. That’s a noteworthy slide in less than two decades; in 1998, 23 percent of Americans gave the country’s character a strong rating, while just 20 percent characterized it as weak.

A president so lacking in basic decency, empathy, honesty and dedication to the task of governance seems to give Americans the sense that the country, not just Trump, has suffered a loss in character. (One might say empirically that voting for someone of such low character reflects, well, a loss of standards and decline in public virtues.) Trump’s conviction that wealth is the measure of a person (a Cabinet of millionaires and billionaires naturally flows from that) and his overt racism do represent a historic decline in the stature of the office he holds. You see, he has attacked not only democratic institutions and norms, but also a code of conduct to which presidents used to aspire (even if some fell short).

In addition, the poll reaffirms that we are divided — and know we are divided. “Overall, an overwhelming majority of Americans say the country is either mainly divided (59 percent) or totally divided (21 percent),” the poll found. “The sentiment that the country is deeply split runs high regardless of party, with 86 percent of Democrats, 76 percent of independents and 75 percent of Republicans agreeing.”

At least we agree on that. Once again, we can see the impact an extraordinarily divisive president who narrow-casts to his base and fuels white grievance. Beyond Trump, however, people see income inequality as sharpening the divisions in the country:

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2017/09/07/trump-does-not-make-us-feel-great-about-our-country/?utm_term=.da13470b6c82

[GusBob]

1. Rich folks and bigots in charge

The only people who are going to feel good about that are other rich folks and bigots

[FreepFryer]

2. Re the overt, proud racism of Trump presidency - saw that coming when he invoked Jackson. (n/t)