This Decline Looks Like

A billionaire’s wedding, a golden toilet presidency, and a Congress gutting aid for the poor, America’s moral collapse under spectacle and greed.

While Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez danced in foam at a $50 million wedding in Venice, Leonardo DiCaprio ducked under his hat, and Vogue accidentally exposed the discomfort of seamstresses pressed into service for a billionaire’s spectacle, America’s government moved to punish the poor so the rich could get richer.

Trump was in Florida, staging a grotesque spectacle of his own at his newest migrant detention center, which he proudly dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.” He told the press he liked the nickname because “that’s not a place I want to go hiking anytime soon,” while smirking about how the swamp was “surrounded by miles of treacherous swampland, and the only way out is really deportation.” He joked that “a lot of these people are self-deporting back to where they came from,” and bragged about how the only way out for the people he would cage was “to get eaten by the alligators.”

While thousands of parents worry about feeding their kids, Trump celebrated the cruelty of a system that would turn the Everglades into a backdrop for human misery, praising Florida’s leadership for creating a detention center that, in his words, “could last as long as they want to have it,” hinting it could morph into a permanent prison system to cage not just migrants but “bad people who have been here for a long time.” He sneered, “I’d like to get them the hell out of here, too, you want to know the truth.”

As he toured the facility, he described it as “incredibly built,” noted with glee that it was “cheaper than the hotels Biden gave them,” and chuckled about the symbolism of migrants stuck in the swamp, surrounded by wildlife ready to devour them. He told the crowd, “This was a great site selection despite what you may read in the environmental press,” mocking concerns about building on protected land, and added, “The people complaining about the Everglades, I think they’re just mad we’re deporting people.”

Trump bragged about using FEMA funds intended for disaster relief to build this prison camp, stating: “The money they spent on hotels for illegals, we spent on this, and it was just a fraction.” He gloated about the bill that passed while he was in Florida, which will gut Medicaid and nutrition programs, telling reporters, “The bill is going to be great for Ron. It’s going to be great for Florida too.”

Senator Chris Murphy stood on the Senate floor, “shaking with fury” as this bill passed, calling it “the most monstrous piece of legislation I’ve ever voted on,” warning that “there are going to be thousands of people who die in this country because they lose access to healthcare,” and “moms and dads will literally watch their children go hungry.” Why? Murphy answered: “So they can pad the pockets of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago friends.”

But America did not arrive at this grotesque inequality overnight. This began with Ronald Reagan’s “trickle-down economics,” which replaced a social contract with a casino. Tax cuts for the wealthy, deregulation, union-busting, and the gutting of public services were sold as salvation for the working class. Instead, they hollowed out wages and worker power while billionaires hoarded gains and flaunted excess. Every foam party in Venice, every Medicaid cut layered over a yacht launch, is the compound interest on Reagan’s original sin.

This is America now: a billionaire’s foam party in a sinking city, a golden toilet in the White House, an Everglades prison named after Alcatraz where the president brags about alligators and pythons serving as border patrol, and a Congress gutting food and healthcare for the poor to pay for tax cuts for the rich.

We live in a tragicomedy ruled by Caligula, a kakistocracy that celebrates cruelty, flaunts excess, and disposes of the poor. America pawned its moral compass for gold trim and photo ops, leaving us with a nation that no longer knows what it stands for beyond power and spectacle.

And yet, as Murphy reminded us: “I’m not giving up. I’m going to do everything I can to stop this bill from passing the House.” Because what is at stake is nothing less than the soul of this country, and what it means to be human in a nation run by the worst among us.

While Trump postured in Florida, bragging about caging migrants in the Everglades, another, quieter betrayal was playing out, one that benefits Russia, weakens Ukraine, and lets Iran off the hook.

Just days ago, Trump rushed home from the G7, skipping critical NATO meetings, to take a phone call from Vladimir Putin. Trump later boasted that Putin “offered to mediate” the tensions between the U.S., Israel, and Iran. Instead of rejecting the absurdity of a war criminal mediating anything, Trump bragged about it, calling Putin “tough but fair.”

The U.S. then bombed Iranian nuclear facilities in a showy strike Trump described as “total obliteration,” but satellite images and European intelligence suggest Iran was warned in advance and moved 900 pounds of uranium out of the facility before the strikes, a detail Trump has conveniently ignored. Now, Trump says “China can buy cheap oil from Iran” and has shrugged off maximum pressure sanctions, saying, “They need money to put that country back together.”

Trump trotted out the very fighter pilots who flew those bombing missions, using them as photo props for his campaign. He grinned for cameras, praising the “beautiful precision” of the strikes while ignoring the reality that Iran’s nuclear capabilities remain intact and that these young pilots were reduced to stage dressing for his political spectacle.

Meanwhile, as America used up 20% of its THAAD missile interceptors to protect Israel from Iranian retaliation, Russia seized another lithium-rich region in Ukraine, securing rare earth minerals that were supposed to help fund Ukraine’s defense and economic recovery. Under Trump, Ukraine is left weaker, Russia is stronger, and Iran gets a lifeline from China with Trump’s blessing.

It is impossible to ignore the pattern. Trump has repeatedly undercut Ukraine while cozying up to Putin, dismissing NATO’s importance, and signaling to adversaries that American leadership is for sale if it suits his interests. As Chris Murphy noted, this government is now about “making the lives of the rich and famous a little bit easier,” while Trump himself seems comfortable sacrificing America’s alliances and credibility to benefit autocrats abroad.

In a single week, Trump managed to degrade America’s moral standing, escalate chaos in the Middle East, and allow Russia and China to walk away with the spoils, while he posts triumphant photos on Truth Social and drowns out criticism with cheap slogans.