Trump’s America keeps getting worse
<p>In October 1980, then-candidate Ronald Reagan asked voters a very important question: “Are you better off than you were four years ago?”</p><p>It was during the only televised debate he had against incumbent President Jimmy Carter, whose presidency had been marred by one crisis after another, from record-high inflation and rising unemployment, to soaring gas prices and the Iran hostage crisis.</p><p>Reagan knew the answer to his question was a resounding “no,” and asking it helped propel him to a landslide victory. It also became a regularly invoked rhetorical feature of presidential campaigns going forward.</p><div class="RichTextSidebarModule Enhancement" data-module data-align-center><a class="AnchorLink" id="module-380000" name="module-380000"></a> <div class="RichTextSidebarModule-title">Columnists bug</div> <div class="RichTextModule-items RichTextBody"><h2>Columnists</h2><br><i>In-depth political coverage, sports analysis, entertainment reviews and cultural commentary.</i><br></div> </div><p>No one knows the cautionary tale of Carter’s presidency more than our current president, who has repeatedly used it as a stand-in for presidential failure and American weakness.
Reported by 1 outlet — Chicago Sun-Times. See all sources ↓
<p>In October 1980, then-candidate Ronald Reagan asked voters a very important question: “Are you better off than you were four years ago?”</p><p>It was during the only televised debate he had against incumbent President Jimmy Carter, whose presidency had been marred by one crisis after another, from record-high inflation and rising unemployment, to soaring gas prices and the Iran hostage crisis.</p><p>Reagan knew the answer to his question was a resounding “no,” and asking it helped propel him to a landslide victory. It also became a regularly invoked rhetorical feature of presidential campaigns going forward.</p><div class="RichTextSidebarModule Enhancement" data-module data-align-center><a class="AnchorLink" id="module-380000" name="module-380000"></a> <div class="RichTextSidebarModule-title">Columnists bug</div> <div class="RichTextModule-items RichTextBody"><h2>Columnists</h2><br><i>In-depth political coverage, sports analysis, entertainment reviews and cultural commentary.</i><br></div> </div><p>No one knows the cautionary tale of Carter’s presidency more than our current president, who has repeatedly used it as a stand-in for presidential failure and American weakness. Although Carter’s legacy greatly improved in the years since leaving office, he ended his only term with a bleak 34% approval rating.</p><p>Donald Trump's approval rating currently sits at an abysmal 32%, <a class="Link" href="https://www.app.com/story/news/2026/08/13/trump-approval-rating-aug-13-2026/91283891007/" target="_blank" >according to Quinnipiac’s latest polling</a>, and likely for many of the same reasons Carter finished where he did, ironically — high inflation, rising gas prices and a foreign policy crisis in Iran.</p><p>So, <a class="Link" href="https://today.marquette.edu/2026/08/new-marquette-law-school-poll-national-survey-finds-inflation-and-cost-of-living-the-most-important-issue-economy-next-most-important/" target="_blank" >the question</a> of whether voters are better off than they were two years ago isn’t hard to answer for most — in January of this year just 28% said they were better off than they were a year ago, and in July that number had dropped to 19%.</p><p>And it’s no wonder — when you move beyond the economic numbers, which are bad enough, the picture of Trump’s America gets worse with every peek behind the MAGA curtain.</p><p>In fact, it can feel at times like America has become a Third World country.</p><p>Case in point, the U.S. is in the midst of a measles outbreak, with more cases than it’s seen in more than three decades, thanks to the administration’s vaccine misinformation.
Read the full report at Chicago Sun-Times ↗
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- What's the story?
- <p>In October 1980, then-candidate Ronald Reagan asked voters a very important question: “Are you better off than you were four years ago?”</p><p>It was during the only televised debate he had against incumbent President Jimmy Carter, whose presidency had been marred by one crisis after another, from record-high inflation and rising unemployment, to soaring gas prices and the Iran hostage crisis.</p><p>Reagan knew the answer to his question was a resounding “no,” and asking it helped propel him to a landslide victory. It also became a regularly invoked rhetorical feature of presidential campaigns going forward.</p><div class="RichTextSidebarModule Enhancement" data-module data-align-center><a class="AnchorLink" id="module-380000" name="module-380000"></a> <div class="RichTextSidebarModule-title">Columnists bug</div> <div class="RichTextModule-items RichTextBody"><h2>Columnists</h2><br><i>In-depth political coverage, sports analysis, entertainment reviews and cultural commentary.</i><br></div> </div><p>No one knows the cautionary tale of Carter’s presidency more than our current president, who has repeatedly used it as a stand-in for presidential failure and American weakness.
- How widely is it covered?
- 1 outlet, average source rating 6.0/10.
- When was it last updated?
- 1m ago.
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Trump’s America keeps getting worse
Sources1TypeCoverageChicago Sun-Times