Our American National debt was 19.98 trillion at the end of the Obama administration. Obama had inherited the 2008 recession and invested significantly in an economic recovery. As a result, he had increased the national debt by 9.3 trillion over his two 4-year terms. Currently, Trump’s expenditures are averaging 7-8 billion per day for his nearly 6 years in office and is expected to bring the National debt to more than 40 trillion by year end 2026 and, at the current rate of expenditures, is projected to reach 45.40 trillion by the end of his term in 2028,. In other words, since Obama’s Presidency, the National debt will have increased by more than 25 trillion dollars. (Reference chart below.)

The Federal Reserve held its benchmark rate at 3.50%–3.75% in its July 28-29, 2025, meeting, keeping the cost of financing the debt elevated. But in the recent FOMC on September15-16, 2026, the Fed predictably raised interest rates.¹ Its new target range is 3.75%–4.00% as inflation continues to be the sticking point. The Fed’s preferred gauge was the June PCE price-index which was released on July 30. It showed prices went up 3.7% from a year earlier.

What the average American experiences at the store and the gas pump not only reflects the costs of Donald Trump’s war against Iran, but his lavish expenditures, like his palatial ballroom, a golden statue of himself, his attempted blue color conversion of the meditation pool, his proposed iconic arch, patterned after the French Arc de Triumph (but of course, bigger), and the proliferation of his image or name on nearly every landmark in our Nation’s capital. Even the White House reflects his personal iconography: gold fixtures and placards pasted on the walls, while pictures of more recent Presidents are removed to the basement, leaving only his image and presence to dominate the oval office.  Since Donald Trump lives and rules like the kings of lore, he surrounds himself with momenta of his power and wealth—to include his monuments, by which he can impress the multitude and perhaps even posterity. His lifestyle and his Presidency reflect power, wealth, and extravagance. But what may it portend for our future? Does his Presidency augment a trend that can be tracked from the Obama Presidency until now? And what does that trend bode for America’s future?

• The national debt has risen from $10.7T in 2008 to $39.07T in 2026, a nearly fourfold increase.
• GDP has grown from $14.6T in 2008 to $32.47T in 2026, a little more than doubling.
• Debt-to-GDP ratio has also increased from roughly 73% in 2008 to about 120%+ by 2026, reflecting America’s debt growth outpacing economic expansion.

What is becoming inevitable is a national debt likely exceeding 45 trillion dollars and America’s GDP no longer capable of keeping pace but falling behind by as much as 20%. America is not just another debtor nation, but a nation spiraling into insolvency.

And that potential result is not the only thing foreseeable. Donald Trump, our current President, has accomplished something completely unimaginable after World War II. He has transformed America into a weakened and unenviable pariah state on the world stage, rather than the reputed model of democracy—the land of the free and home of the brave. For no longer is Trump’s America a beacon of freedom and a protector of democracies. Instead, he threatens both potential adversaries and democratic allies alike. Note the war he illegally started with Iran, his arrests of Venezuela’s ruling family, his economic war with Canada–our closest ally, his threats to invade Iceland and the Panama Canal, and his indiscriminate use of tariffs that alienate all of America’s trading partners, while raising the costs of living for every American.

He has even alienated our NATO and European Union partners whom America abetted and supported after World War II.  And that support was perhaps America’s greatest contribution to peace and a new world order after a devastating war. But now Trump belittles the European Union as an albatross weighing on America’s self-interest and limiting its destiny as a great power. He demands reimbursement for America’s protection and compensation for American weapons stockpiled throughout Europe for its defense and use in Ukraine’s war against a Russian invasion. His speeches before the United Nations have been embarrassing because they were disrespectful of that body and its mission on the world stage. Further, Trump’s recent speech displayed his angst about not being treated as the world leader. He is ignorant of the UN’s charter and of America’s role in supporting its creation after World War II. For he is incapable of defining the difference between leadership and dictatorship—which makes his Presidency of the most populated democracy in history an oxymoronic irony we Americans must either suffer or end before it consumes our democracy and former status as “leader of the free world.”

But this overwhelming angst drives him to squelch all who can or might oppose him. On the home front, he uses what power he has over the Justice Department or Department of Homeland Security to squelch all who oppose him or whom he can blame for all that threatens Americans. He is like the child who kicks his Teddy bear for his own failing to make his bed. But, as President, his frustration or inadequacy cannot be squelched by kicking a surrogate for his own inability or failure. For example, he has committed American troops to attack Iran without a viable goal or a winnable plan of attack. While he claims his war with Iran will assure it will never have a nuclear weapon, the opposite is more likely. Trump’s unilateral cancellation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)² practically guarantees Iran will never sign such an agreement again. After cancelling that agreement and its oversight regiment that had guaranteed a non-nuclear Iran, he bombed it mercilessly, killing non-combatants along with their military. As a result, Iran can no longer view America as a nation with which it can reach a peaceful agreement. Instead, Iran will not likely agree to unannounced onsite inspections and 24/7 video monitoring. Why would Iran ever renew a nuclear agreement with America and its allies after Trump’s America has shown itself such an untrustworthy negotiator? And Trump’s unprovoked bombing of Iran by land and sea may result in two very unwelcome reactions: first, Iran may never release control of the Straits of Hormuz and, second, it may well reprise its nuclear program without the constraints formally imposed by the JCPOA. Hormuz becomes its leverage against any foreign opposition, while development of a nuclear bomb and a long-range delivery capability may now seem a necessary defense against any future rogue American President. Kicking the Teddy bear in this case does not restore the JCPOA. Instead, Iran kicks back and may even exact a toll that America will have to pay—along with other nations who will forever blame an American President for kicking this bear.

Donald Trump has sullied our brand of democracy and the image of a nation that had previously fought dictators to free people and enshrine the American umbrella of peace and harmony between nations. Now he attacks Iran, removes food aid to starving families in Africa—resulting in the deaths of over 6 million, threatens Panama, Venezuela, New Zealand, and even Canada, our closest ally and trading partner for decades. He has made America a pariah on the world stage, punishing both friends and foes alike with his tariffs. While he exclaims the brilliance of his tariff policy, our trading partners lose market share, and Americans pay more for imports. Meanwhile he raises monuments to his ego, renames landmarks shared with other countries-like the Gulf of Mexico (ibidem, America) and Lake Ontario (ibidem, America), and remodels the White House by demolishing the East Wing and building a “royal” ballroom which will glitter under golden chandeliers. Donald Trump is an out-of-control recking ball that destroys everything in his path to create his personal illusion of wealth and power, but at the expense of America’s image as a successful democracy where “all men are created equal.” Instead, no one is equal to Trump in the America he wants to “make great again.”

The America ruled by Trump is no longer a model for a prosperous modern democracy. For it will soon lose its status as a financial behemoth, burdened by a national debt exceeding 40 trillion dollars and a likely weakening of the dollar as the favored international medium of exchange. Meanwhile, its contribution to the United Nations and other international organizations will become suspect as false representations of a craven attempt to gain power and influence. Now in his second term Trump has become more unrestrained and seemingly impowered by Project 2025. He has not only started a war without the authority to do so–or any viable plan to win or even end it–but he also has taken on the task of destroying or subjugating the governmental institutions created by Congress in order to serve his interest rather than that of the American people. After firing hundreds of thousands of public employees, he has somehow managed to squander any public institutional savings while increasing the national debt. His tariffs are another one of his pyrrhic victories for it raises costs for all Americans and encourages countries to exclude the American market for their goods. What he has made foreseeable is the demise of America’s economic, strategic, and democratic leadership amongst the family of nations.

Why should we Americans be surprised by Trump’s impact on the world stage. We all knew that he had led his private company into six bankruptcies, while earning 32 convictions for fraud. There is nothing in his personal life that would describe him as a “man of the people.” He uses every power in his arsenal to crush anyone who opposes him or stands in the way of his efforts to obtain more power or increase his wealth—even if illegally obtained. He loathes people who will not bend a knee to him, especially women whom he seems to universally detest, unless they serve his personal whims and needs. His treatment of women has been well documented in the press, in the courts, and in the diatribe that so readily spills out of his mouth. He offends more than half of the American population both in word and deed. How do the female world leaders deal with this American President? Well, just ask the Italian Prime Minister. She seems to have taken the measure of this President and now shuns him in diplomatic meetings.

His tariffs raise the costs for all imports. His decimation of the institutions that serve all Americans has weakened or abolished programs that provided medication for seniors, food for children, healthcare for millions, and even the nation’s security from foreign intervention into our way of life. No longer does the world view America as the pillar of democracy and a stalwart champion of the human rights epitomized in our Declaration of Independence and the American Constitution. Instead, one may well ask whether Trump’s America still mirrors its founding ideals. Can America still hold up the beacon of democracy and of international accords that serve constructive relations between countries? That question has always confronted American citizens for only they can “make America great again”—not any one man and certainly not a deranged President.  We Americans have always been and are now the cure for what ails our country. We have recovered from many setbacks in our history, as documented in “American Exceptonalism Revisited,” which closed with the statement that “Only we can make that American dream a reality.” Once again, we must recover the spirit of our founders and the courage of their successors who fought to protect and extend the ideals and values of a democracy. What they foresaw in the founding of our American democracy was never inevitable. But its demise at the hands of a narcissistic sociopath is also not inevitable—unless we allow it to be so. _____________________________________________________________________________________________

1. In fact, the Federal Reserve did raise interest rates on September 15^th, as predicted at the time this blog was being written. It raised its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to a target range of 3.75%–4.00%, marking the first hike since July 2023 amid persistent inflation.
2. That agreement, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was reached on 14 July 2015 between Iran and a host of international negotiating partners — China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States plus the European Union. It was formally adopted on 18 October 2015.