By Arthur E. Sowers

Arthur E. Sowers is a resident of Harbeson.

Will Donald Trump rename this country at some moment before the next election? All it would take is an executive order. And he’s already had practice by naming the Gulf of America. Just think, technically and legally, under the new name, all the applicability of our Constitution under the old name could be zeroed out! All of your civil rights could go “poof.” Such a Trump executive order could be written, so he could do a “manual override” on any and all the laws, and nobody could stop him. He could make any declaration he wanted on voting and elections. Democracy could go “poof,” like turning off a light switch. Let’s see some more about how “Make America Great Again” is doing.

An article with the title, “Trump Anxiety Disorder is real, says this shrink,” is dated March 20 and is on the rather large Australian Financial Review website for business and commerce. The author of the article is an Australian psychologist. He talks about businesspeople far from the U.S. who are more worried about Donald Trump than any other leader in the world. Here is an article from Ottawa, Canada: “Do you have ‘Trump anxiety’? You’re not alone.” And here is one from a U.S. source: “Therapists Coin New Term: Trump Anxiety Disorder.” This anxiety is, according to internet searches and articles, spreading all over the world.

Increased anxiety is not good for mental health. Worst-case historical facts include widespread bad effects from the pandemic. Also, when the Soviet Union collapsed in the mid-1990s, unemployment, mental illness and crime went way up until the economies of Russia and the former republics became stabilized but not before 10-15 years passed. In our own Great Depression (1930s), the usual history barely touches upon the psychological long-term effects (e.g., suicide, family breakdowns, poverty, etc.) on impacted people. But it did happen here. Here is one internet article on this subject: “Psychological Impact of the Great Depression.” In a pre-World War II Nazi Germany, the intensity and expansion of radical fascist policy after Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933 (but before the 1936-39 military hostilities) produced a pervasive atmosphere of fear, anxiety, repression, persecutions, surveillance, suppression of dissent and threats of all kinds (compare these with statements and actions from Trump). Media censorship became extensive. See the article, “Censorship in Nazi Germany.” Psychiatrists and psychologists did exist back then (as revealed to me by two deep artificial intelligence sessions). There were many records where it was clear that professionals were recognizing and publishing about the expansion of various anxieties, as Nazi ideology and actions took over in 1930s Germany.

The Black Death caused a different kind of stress as it came through Europe during the 14th century and killed about one-third of the people. The social impact — which also can be found by an internet search — included widespread despair, depression, family breakdowns, fear, suicides, economic collapse and general disorder. And people did not understand at all what caused the plague. For the future of the U.S., I would fear more for Trumpers’ mental health than for anti-Trumpers’ mental health because Trumpers will be experiencing a greater psychological conflict between the reality of a poor socioeconomic outcome from Trump’s MAGA project and the giddy expectations of Trump’s “golden age,” pie-in-the-sky promise. Anti-Trumpers, on the other hand, see more clearly what is actually coming.

Separate from the social-psychological issue is the business-corporate news perspective. To that end, I found this article: “10 Reasons Why Trump Is Bad for Business.”

Trump created such bad feelings around the world with his new “bossy and bully” unilateral tariff policies that numerous boycotts are now in operation to “not buy American.” There are many Wikipedia articles on this, but here is one example: “2025 United States boycott.” And this is all consistent with the increased anxiety described at the opening of this essay.

According to a July 24 Gallup poll titled “Independents Drive Trump’s Approval to 37% Second-Term Low,” America is not becoming great. In that poll, Trump’s approval ratings were steady for Republicans (90%) but went down very rapidly for independents (47% to 29%), all U.S. adults (47% to 37%) and Democrats (7% to 2%). Earlier polls showed declining approval of Trump, too. And here is an article showing that some Trumpers realize that they made a mistake: “1 in 4 Trump Voters Disappointed or Regret Voting for Him; ‘I’m Scared.’”

Let’s figure out what’s going on. Most, if not all, people in the U.S. should have heard of Abraham Lincoln. He was clearly one of our greatest presidents. They say that — back in his time — 90% of Republicans and 90% of Democrats liked him. He was remembered for four good things. He unified this country. He was honest. He was polite. And he freed the slaves. Today, we have Donald J. Trump, and he has nothing like any of those four good things. Moreover, historians rank Trump at the bottom of the “greatness” list and Joe Biden at 14th from the top. It’s all in this article: “Historians rank Trump as worst president.”

I think the stress level, not only in this country but all over the world, will continue to go up, and our socioeconomic cohesiveness will go down. There may even be another war.

Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.