America is in decline, a downward trajectory that may now have reached its tipping point and no longer reversible.  Perhaps it was inevitable; after all, once invincible empires like the Greeks and Romans ultimately met their demise due to arrogance, corruption and greed. But I would argue those times were different as their downfall did not reverberate across the globe as it does now due to technology, social media and an interconnected world.  Nowadays, as they say in the financial markets, when America sneezes, the world catches a cold. America casts a wide net all over the globe, not just economically but with our cultural, social and political movements. But, increasingly, it feels like we are witnessing the death of Democracy and America’s unique position as the global superpower, a slow gradual churning death by a thousand cuts.

Of course, the great American experiment has always been less than perfect.  We have stumbled and fumbled on issues of race, religion and orientation.  But even in our worst moments, the overall arc was progress, pushing the ball forward even if it was often a three steps forward, two steps back approach.  The world looked up to us as a beacon of hope and the idealic symbol of democracy by displaying transparency, open media and being an honest broker with our foreign policy. Of course, there are many exceptions but we always seemed to right the ship at some point.

Even with all our growing pains, whether it be racial equality, gender rights or immigration, there was still a level of civility, a shared respect for our common humanity.  Issues would escalate, tempers would flare, opposing sides would become very contentious, setbacks would occur.  But I would argue there was still a modicum of respect, a degree of decency, a dignity to our public discourse despite our differences. We still believed in our role in this complex world, to take the high ground, to rise above and demonstrate leadership in a chaotic world.

But we are in a new era; a slippery slope where we now just spew pure vitriol. Our social fabric has come apart at the seams, our institutions are under attack. America is crumbling like a house of cards, both domestically and our leadership role internationally.  Ironically, the latter is of our own undoing, unilaterally pulling away from our allies in Europe, our diplomacy in the Middle East, our trade with our border partners Canada and Mexico and our relations with Asia.  China and Russia are more than happy to step into this leadership vacuum and are doing so at an alarming pace. Our EU allies like Germany and France have all but given up on us to dictate policy and lead by example. We have retreated and isolated, no longer the world leader.  There is a New World Order where America is no longer the Superpower of the world and, ironically, it is of our own making rather than the emergence of competitors.

But it is the shift on the domestic front that is even more alarming. Internally, within our own borders, is the alarming polarization that is dividing and tearing us apart at the seams.  It has been gradual, with each day incrementally worse than the day before, a death by a thousand cuts. We descend and devolve and are now angry, anxious, intolerant, fearful and beyond fatigued with ourselves!

Protocol is always established by its leader; leadership sets the tone and creates a trickle top down effect; the fish rots from the head. A new manager at a restaurant will inject his or her new style and this permeates down to the entire staff and overall ambience of the establishment.  The same applies in Corporate America when a new CEO takes office and infuses his/her brand. And now, 500+ days in, our incumbent president has created his own scorched earth brand upon us. Scorched earth indeed. The death is from the depravity, the lack of morals and values, the constant attack on the media, the assault on our intelligence agencies and the disgraceful lies he spews every day shamelessly. The death by a thousand cuts is the slow degradation of both our democracy and our value system.

We should have seen this coming. When Trump denigrated his own Republican opponents like low energy Jeb and little Marco and then shifted to Crooked Hillary, a pattern emerged where he could make insidious remarks that he considered beyond reproach. Perhaps because this was so shocking and out of the norm, we scoffed at it and considered it entertainment value.  No one seeking the political office would make such a mockery of everyone that came across his path, it was far too unbecoming of a man seeking that stature, surely he would pivot should he ever hold the most powerful position on the planet.

But the pivot never came. The scorched earth rhetoric continues to escalate and get more inflammatory as everyone and everything is fair game to the King of Tweets. A daily death by a thousand cuts. He attacks S***Hole countries, Muslims and Mexicans, the NFL, the FBI, Mueller, every politician including several in his own party, fake news and on and on. He has had to claim he is a stable mental genius and claim he is not a racist the way Nixon falsely claimed he is not a crook.  He is systematically dismantling our institutions, any person or entity that does not bow down and kiss the ring gets his wrath. He will literally throw a hand grenade into any situation just to create chaos and discord. Divide and conquer. How can we sit still and focus on the outrageous thing he just said when he just moved on to the next, even more outrageous, appalling thing.  Equally polarizing, when he’s not bashing every minority and cultural symbol, he takes the extreme position of supporting racists, pedophiles, Putin, Russians, Israelis and every angry white man. But every dictator needs a propaganda machine to support his megalomaniac rhetoric and his media platform {rhymes with Vox Blues} enables, empowers and escalates his vitriolic behavior while advancing their own biased agenda. Our new normal is a daily, often hourly, barrage of insults and outrageous statements that tear down our societal values and institutions that we hold so dear.

Scorched earth rhetoric has consequences, it is like embers flying in a California wildfire that sets everything ablaze. It rips through the very social fabric that binds us together. Every day slips us down one more notch, tearing the fabric of our democracy and this great nation. But the irony is The Divider will ultimately be The Uniter, uniting the people in their abhorrence for hatred, bigotry, misogyny and racism. Trumpism is not a majority movement. This too shall pass.  The pendulum always swings too far in either extreme before returning to the center.  It may feel like we are dying on the vine, one precious norm at a time, sliding into the abyss, but the tree will rid itself of its toxic poison. The process will be painful, with many casualties and long lasting reverberations, but America will one day restore its dignity, civility and humanity.  The death by a thousand cuts may very well coincide with the ultimate death by his first thousand days as there will one day be a stop to the carnage. We are better, and should demand far better, than this current leadership and its depravity.