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Newsweek
18 hours ago
- Business
- Newsweek
Consumer Trauma and the Ongoing Psychological Toll of Trumponomics on Americans
In his first inaugural address in 1933, former President Franklin D. Roosevelt laid out a political axiom that would come to shrewdly diagnose America's thorny brand of insularity. "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself," Roosevelt told an audience from the Capitol steps, as the nation stood with the Great Depression newly against its back—and little did they know—a second world war shortly ahead. In recent times, the saying has become little more than lazy exposition in Hollywood hero monologues rather than a nugget of wisdom that American politicians and voters genuinely honor. And what doesn't often get recited along with Roosevelt's signature proclamation are the immediate words that followed, where the revered president signaled out the "nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance." President Donald Trump departs after delivering the commencement address at the 2025 U.S. Military Academy Graduation Ceremony at West Point, N.Y., on May 24, 2025. President Donald Trump departs after delivering the commencement address at the 2025 U.S. Military Academy Graduation Ceremony at West Point, N.Y., on May 24, 2025. SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images Just several months into his second term, President Donald Trump has shown that he's going to have a volatile hold on Americans' spending decisions over the next four years, and with it a shrewd grip on their mental health. As an epidemiologist who studies and designs interventions for mental health, I frequently see how concern over things like wages, taxes, and inflation emerge as major risk factors for depression. When this strain over finances becomes recurrent, it can become something even more complex and dangerous: trauma. Saying that the present economic uncertainty could be traumatizing to Americans may seem like hyperbole. But consider how economists have long been fusing clinical terms into their terminology, like "consumer anxiety," to acutely describe the impact of financial markets on everyday people. The deep economic uncertainty that we're experiencing due to Trumponomics though is making consumer anxiety a deeply insufficient metric. With the U.S. Court of International Trade currently blocking the sweeping tariffs Trump announced in April, and deep uncertainty about what lies ahead, we're now at a point where we have to consider how quickly our nation's consumer anxiety is turning into consumer trauma. The Trump administration's intentions to create dense, contagious pockets of trauma throughout America were clear early on. In 2023, the current director of the Office of Management and Budget Russell Vought discussed wanting federal employees to be "traumatically affected" as part of a grand Trumpian vision to shrink the federal workforce. How would they go on to attempt that? By castigating federal employees' work and nudging them to resign via quixotic demands and hostile buyout offers. Trauma occurs when we find ourselves exposed to something distressing and seemingly unpredictable (or uncontrollable), like a car accident or physical assault. When we experience a trauma, the part of our brain that's responsible for detecting personal threats, the amygdala, becomes hypersensitive. This means we become extra alert and responsive to things we perceive to be a potential threat. And we're then pushed to either fight, succumb, or retreat if that threat materializes. On the other end, when we want to avoid traumatizing others, we're generally expected to offer safety, grace, and reassurance. Rather than that, Trump's initial response to Americans' concerns over his tariffs has come in the form of taunts—character insults and gaslighting that have included telling us on TruthSocial, "Don't be Weak! Don't be Stupid!"—and then several days later, to "BE COOL." But most American consumers believe they'll be the ones absorbing Trump's tariffs. While Trump's negotiations have thus far consisted of a number of empty threats, last-second retreats, and fairly brief periods of implementation—which seems innocuous enough—it's precisely this kind of unevenness that characterizes traumatization. The power of trauma lies in its ability to diminish our sense of current safety and future stability. Analysts have dubbed Trump's bartering approach "TACO"—Trump Always Chickens Out. But his approach more acutely reflects the parable of the boy who cried wolf. Except in this strange universe, the boy retains his control and safety from beginning to end while everybody else is imperiled. According to a Quinnipiac poll conducted in April, 72 percent of voters indicated that they believe tariffs will hurt the U.S. economy. Americans' fears over the consequences of tariffs, however, have yet to tame President Trump's unpredictable tendencies. His staccato approach to economic policy of promises to start, rescind, or pause tariffs—and other potentially economically distressing decisions—ensures we all stay on high alert. As people await Trump's response to the recent federal ruling, they're undoubtedly asking themselves: "Will the tariffs be re-introduced? How do I adjust?" Already, many Americans have plans on precautionary saving and stockpiling goods, trauma-aligned behaviors, in response to increasing costs. Seventy-five percent of people in an April Harris poll said the current economy has negatively affected their decision to buy a home, and 65 percent in the same poll said it has negatively impacted their decision to have a child. And we can't forget the interpersonal impacts. Trauma makes us less trusting and less connected with one another and the world. People who have experienced trauma express lower levels of relationship satisfaction, decreased motivation, and an overall lower quality of life. We shouldn't take this lightly. Unlike bad economic policy, which can generally be revived through good economic policy, a deep fraying of Americans' trust and connection to the country and its economic systems may not be something the nation can so easily recover from. Jerel Ezell is a political epidemiologist and visiting scholar at the University of Chicago Medicine. He studies the cultural aspects of policy and health. The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
This spring's commencements reflect Donald Trump's upending of norms
You've heard of Generation X, Gen Y and Gen Z. The current crop of graduates in America could well be dubbed 'Gen T' because they've spent much of their lives under the shadow of Donald Trump. For the last three presidential cycles, he has been the often caustic commander in chief or the campaigner denying his election loss, and there's no doubt he will leave a mark on a generation of young adults who have watched him smash norms, stoke division, seek retribution and ignore the Constitution and the rule of law. We witnessed the president's disregard for norms Saturday during his commencement address to the graduating class at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point while wearing a red Make America Great Again ball cap and delivering a speech that was more appropriate for a partisan political rally. But let's be clear, Trump's MAGA hat was maybe the least offensive thing about his maundering one-hour speech at the formal and typically somber West Point commencement. In a bizarre campaign-style avalanche of words that was disrespectful to the cadets and their families, he rambled about trophy wives and yachts and expressed a distasteful zeal for butchering one's enemies while addressing the men and women poised to become the next generation of leaders in the world's mightiest military. It wasn't that he didn't understand the assignment. He delivered the West Point commencement address in 2020 in a brisk 25-minute speech that focused on duty and even national unity, talking about the 'long gray line' of the institution's history. His world outlook and his leadership style have changed and along with it the futures of the graduates at West Point and everywhere else, regardless of their political leanings. Perhaps no group of 'Gen T' graduates knows that better than those at Harvard, who'll be participating in commencement Thursday as the president escalates his feud with America's oldest and most storied university. The Trump administration has frozen billions of dollars in federal research grants for Harvard, attempted to ban the university from enrolling international students and threatened to revoke its tax-exempt status, and it has directed federal agencies to cut any remaining ties to the school. The administration accuses Harvard of tolerating an antisemitic atmosphere on campus, and some conservatives have more broadly described Harvard as an incubator for aggressive liberal ideology. Harvard, for its part, is fighting back in court. The president has floated the idea of redirecting Harvard's federal funding toward trade and technical schools, which may play well with working-class voters, but Trump's team has said little about what it would do to fill the gap in health, technology, scientific or geophysical research that takes place at universities like Harvard. Railing against academic elites is red meat, but cancer research benefits people in red states as well as blue states. Not only that, but people who work in factories building ships and cars or who farm soybeans in the middle of the country are often using technologies that emerged from research labs at elite universities. This year's graduates form the most diverse cohort this country has ever produced. But they are walking into a world where the very word 'diversity' has been demonized and weaponized to cauterize the civil rights and human rights gains that should have been their true inheritance. The young people who remember the racial reckoning that followed the murder of George Floyd are graduating at a moment when the Trump administration has swiftly dismantled diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives under the claim that DEI discriminates against white people. A claim codified under executive order with absolutely no proof. 'They came through K through 12 where they learned these lessons about how you treat other people and to be accepting and how we were supposed to treat people that were different from us,' said Tressie McMillan Cottom, a professor at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and a New York Times columnist, 'only to arrive in college and find out that not only was that not the reality, but the very things they have been taught to value now makes them targets in their own country, either because they are those people, they embody those identities and those lived experiences or because they sympathize or empathize with those people.' McMillan Cottom, who spoke to me as I guest-hosted MSNBC's 'Last Word' last Friday, continued: 'So there's a sense of loss of trust, not just between generations, but I think between young people and what they think is possible for them in the United States of America. And frankly, that is heartbreaking.' McMillan Cottom notes that 'internet culture' set the stage by helping to destabilize 'the norms of what was acceptable discourse' and then Trump-style politics helped show them 'if you can get away with it, then it is normal, which ... is an absolute horrible way for social cohesion to work.' This season's graduates are marching into adulthood on new terrain and on their own terms. But on the way there, they did what young people generally do — look to adults for guidance about guardrails and decorum. And what did they see? Adults cheered a man making fun of disabled people and looked the other way when he talked about grabbing women by their private parts. In November, they saw a majority of those who voted accept and elevate a man who was twice impeached and convicted of 34 felony counts. And, since then, they've seen too many adults remain silent as an administration smashes constitutional guarantees of due process and lectures about the need for merit-based ideologies while appointing a litany of Cabinet officials who are manifestly underqualified but unquestionably loyal. Trump made significant inroads with young voters in the last election, especially college-age men. There has been a lot of analysis concerning why younger voters gravitated in his direction, but not enough about the impact his leadership will have on young people's psyches or their prospects in life. For not only are the graduates marching across stages this spring walking into a world where the norms have been upended, but they're strutting into an uncertain job market and a tumultuous economy. They and their aging baby boomer and Gen X parents are less likely than generations past, for example, to have solid health care or benefit from researched-based medical advancements. It has become clear that the real goal of this administration's chain saw approach to federal programs is not to cut waste, fraud and abuse but to provide more tax cuts for ultrawealthy Americans, an approach that will do nothing little to gild the futures of everyday American kids. Here's wishing all who are graduating, from universities, trade schools, military academies, community colleges and high schools, the best of luck. Given all the changes Trump is enacting, the path may be steeper for some than it otherwise would be. But sometimes it's easier to find one's footing when charging uphill. I hope this class discovers their best selves and creates a brand of leadership that combines courage and grit with compassion and curiosity. And I pray the adults that are presently in charge find a way to provide the opportunities in life that they all deserve. This column includes an adapted excerpt from the May 23 episode of 'The Last Word.' This article was originally published on
San Francisco Chronicle
3 days ago
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
Trump's West Point speech brought partisanship to the home of the US military − 3 essential reads
(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.) Jeff Inglis, The Conversation (THE CONVERSATION) President Donald Trump's speech at the graduation of the class of 2025 from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point included segments that were clearly scripted and portions that were obviously not. During the unscripted portions, Trump, who wore a bright red 'Make America Great Again' campaign hat during his entire appearance on May 24, 2025, delivered remarks that hit many of his frequent partisan political talking points. That included attacking presidential predecessors Barack Obama and Joe Biden, describing immigrants to the U.S. as 'criminals' and trumpeting other policy accomplishments in his first and second terms. That level of partisanship in a military setting – on the campus of the nation's first military academy, and before an audience of cadets and their families, many of whom are veterans – is unusual in the United States. The Conversation U.S. has published several articles discussing the importance to democracy of keeping the military and partisan politics separate. Here are three highlights from that coverage. 1. Cadets focus on the Constitution During the West Point ceremony, the graduates themselves took an oath to 'support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.' And all of them had studied the significance of that oath, including in classes like those taught by Joseph G. Amoroso and Lee Robinson, active-duty Army officers who graduated from West Point and later served as professors there. As Amoroso and Robinson wrote, those classes teach cadets that, like all military personnel, they serve the Constitution and the American people, not a particular person or political party: ' (O)ur oath forms the basis of a nonpartisan ethic. In the U.S., unlike in many other countries, the oath implies military leaders should be trusted for their expertise and judgment, not for their loyalty to an individual or political party. We emphasize to cadets the rules and professional expectations associated with this profound responsibility.' 2. A tradition of nonpartisanship Retired U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Samuel C. Mahaney, who teaches history, national security and constitutional law at Missouri University of Science and Technology, observed: ' (S)ince the days of George Washington, the military has been dedicated to serving the nation, not a specific person or political agenda. … (N)onpartisanship is central to the military's primary mission of defending the country.' Mahaney wrote that if Trump's actions during his second term meant a change from the centuries of precedent, 'military personnel at all levels would face a crucial question: Would they stand up for the military's independent role in maintaining the integrity and stability of American democracy or follow the president's orders – even if those orders crossed a line that made them illegal or unconstitutional?' 3. Dating back to the founding of the nation Marcus Hedahl and Bradley Jay Strawser, professors of philosophy who teach military ethics at the U.S. Naval Academy and the Naval Postgraduate School, respectively, explain the reason for this long-standing focus on keeping politicians and politics separate from military action. ' To minimize the chance of the kind of military occupation they suffered during the Revolutionary War, the country's founders wrote the Constitution requiring that the president, an elected civilian, would be the commander in chief of the military. In the wake of World War II, Congress went even further, restructuring the military and requiring that the secretary of defense be a civilian as well.' As they observed, '… the framers always intended it to be the people's military – not the president's.'
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Trump's West Point speech brought partisanship to the home of the US military − 3 essential reads
President Donald Trump's speech at the graduation of the class of 2025 from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point included segments that were clearly scripted and portions that were obviously not. During the unscripted portions, Trump, who wore a bright red 'Make America Great Again' campaign hat during his entire appearance on May 24, 2025, delivered remarks that hit many of his frequent partisan political talking points. That included attacking presidential predecessors Barack Obama and Joe Biden, describing immigrants to the U.S. as 'criminals' and trumpeting other policy accomplishments in his first and second terms. That level of partisanship in a military setting – on the campus of the nation's first military academy, and before an audience of cadets and their families, many of whom are veterans – is unusual in the United States. The Conversation U.S. has published several articles discussing the importance to democracy of keeping the military and partisan politics separate. Here are three highlights from that coverage. During the West Point ceremony, the graduates themselves took an oath to 'support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.' And all of them had studied the significance of that oath, including in classes like those taught by Joseph G. Amoroso and Lee Robinson, active-duty Army officers who graduated from West Point and later served as professors there. As Amoroso and Robinson wrote, those classes teach cadets that, like all military personnel, they serve the Constitution and the American people, not a particular person or political party: '(O)ur oath forms the basis of a nonpartisan ethic. In the U.S., unlike in many other countries, the oath implies military leaders should be trusted for their expertise and judgment, not for their loyalty to an individual or political party. We emphasize to cadets the rules and professional expectations associated with this profound responsibility.' Read more: Retired U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Samuel C. Mahaney, who teaches history, national security and constitutional law at Missouri University of Science and Technology, observed: '(S)ince the days of George Washington, the military has been dedicated to serving the nation, not a specific person or political agenda. … (N)onpartisanship is central to the military's primary mission of defending the country.' Mahaney wrote that if Trump's actions during his second term meant a change from the centuries of precedent, 'military personnel at all levels would face a crucial question: Would they stand up for the military's independent role in maintaining the integrity and stability of American democracy or follow the president's orders – even if those orders crossed a line that made them illegal or unconstitutional?' Read more: Marcus Hedahl and Bradley Jay Strawser, professors of philosophy who teach military ethics at the U.S. Naval Academy and the Naval Postgraduate School, respectively, explain the reason for this long-standing focus on keeping politicians and politics separate from military action. 'To minimize the chance of the kind of military occupation they suffered during the Revolutionary War, the country's founders wrote the Constitution requiring that the president, an elected civilian, would be the commander in chief of the military. In the wake of World War II, Congress went even further, restructuring the military and requiring that the secretary of defense be a civilian as well.' As they observed, '… the framers always intended it to be the people's military – not the president's.' Read more: This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation's archives.
Boston Globe
4 days ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Trump praises military service, and his return to office, in Memorial Day remarks
He also used the occasion, traditionally a solemn day of tributes, to indirectly criticize his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, for his border policies while valorizing his own return to office. Advertisement 'We're doing so very well right now, considering the circumstances,' Trump said. 'And we'll do record-setting better with time. We will do better than we've ever done as a nation, better than ever before. I promise you that.' Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Trump delivered the speech after taking part in the presidential tradition of laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns to honor America's war dead. He was joined by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Vice President JD Vance, both of whom served in the military. Trump, who has had a complex and sometimes hostile relationship with the military, has sought to recast himself as its biggest booster in his second term. During his first presidential campaign, he attacked a Gold Star family who criticized him during the 2016 Democratic National Convention. During his first term, he disparaged veterans and military service members -- questioning what they got out of putting their lives on the line, and calling those who died in wars 'suckers' and 'losers.' He even suggested that Gold Star families had spread COVID-19 inside the White House. Advertisement In his speech Monday, Trump praised fallen soldiers who 'picked up the mantle of duty and service, knowing that to live for others meant always that they might die for others.' He also detailed the service and deaths of soldiers, and spoke directly to some of their children. 'For the families of the fallen, you feel the absence of your heroes every day in the familiar laugh no longer heard, the empty space at Sunday dinner, or the want of a hug or a pat on the back that will never come again,' Trump said. 'Every Gold Star family fights a battle long after the victory is won,' he said, 'and today, we lift you up and we hold you high.' It was a starkly different tone than he used on social media before the remarks. On Truth Social, he posted a message that did not mention veterans but wished a 'HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY TO ALL, INCLUDING THE SCUM THAT SPENT THE LAST FOUR YEARS TRYING TO DESTROY OUR COUNTRY THROUGH WARPED RADICAL LEFT MINDS.' Trump also railed against what he called 'USA HATING JUDGES.' In his remarks, he largely stuck to his efforts in recent weeks to connect his return to office to a restoration of the nation's military might. In a politically charged commencement speech at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point on Saturday, Trump told cadets that they were entering 'the greatest and most powerful army the world has ever known.' He added: 'And I know, because I rebuilt that army, and I rebuilt the military.' Advertisement Earlier this month, he announced that he would rename May 8, which is widely celebrated in Europe as 'Victory in Europe' or 'V-E Day,' as 'Victory Day for World War II,' so that the United States could celebrate its achievements in that conflict. He also said he would rename Veterans Day, celebrated on Nov. 11, as 'Victory Day for World War I,' drawing pushback from veterans groups because it would champion conquest over sacrifice, and leave most living veterans without a holiday commemorating their service. Next month, he is set to host a military parade in Washington, billed as the 'Army's birthday celebration,' to commemorate the Army's 250th anniversary. The event, on June 14, also falls on Trump's 79th birthday. During his remarks Monday, after musing about returning to office for a second term in time to host soccer's World Cup and the Summer Olympics -- a quirk of timing he attributed to divine intervention -- Trump highlighted the upcoming anniversary celebration, which he said 'blows everything away.' Trump said that in some ways he was glad that he didn't have a consecutive second term in the White House because he would have otherwise missed hosting all three events. 'Can you imagine?' he said. 'I missed that four years, and now look what I have. I have everything. Amazing the way things work out.' This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
