By Dan Rather
In his bombastic inaugural address, Donald Trump stated the “golden age of America begins right now.” That “every single day” he would “put America first,” promising to “annihilate” the country’s “plentiful” challenges.
But six months into his second term, “golden” is a tough sell for anything Trump and his team have done, especially for a president who changes course more often than he changes his socks. Many would argue the only things he is putting first are his own interests, while closing the doors to America. And rather than annihilating challenges, he is multiplying them.
Our nation, long known for its benevolence, now has a government that prides itself on spite, cutting off food and lifesaving medicine to stunned leaders around the world.
His never-ending supply of anger has spiked the last 10 days as he has been consumed with trying to quell a MAGA revolt, after deciding not to release the Epstein files. And the press is happy to help keep the tale alive, having grabbed onto the story with both hands. It does merit attention if investigations reveal damning new information. Even so, only 36% of Americans say that the Epstein story matters a lot, according to a CBS/YouGov poll. The issue comes in far behind immigration and the economy.
Often not earning the attention they deserve are Trump’s manic postings on social media. Sunday night was notable, even for him.
Trump’s Truth Social feed was filled with more than two dozen nonsensical posts, including an AI-generated video of President Barack Obama being arrested in the Oval Office; a demand that the Washington Commanders change their name back to the Redskins, or he will hold up the team’s new stadium deal; and a captionless video of random clips including a bikini-clad woman wrangling a snake and a red sports car driving under a truck. You can’t make this stuff up.
As the leader of the free world posts fake mug shots of a former president, real and terrible things are happening around the country and the globe that should receive full attention from him, the press, and we the people.
Here are a few such things. Let’s start with Gaza.
Over the weekend, Israeli soldiers opened fire on desperate Palestinians trying to access food aid. More than 40 people were killed in two incidents. Israel says it is trying to control the crowds of starving civilians with non-lethal methods but that its military must sometimes use deadly force.
This weekend’s actions were not the first such. Since a new private, Israel-backed food distribution program started two months ago, hundreds have been killed where they came to get food.
After almost two years of war, the entire population of Gaza is facing extreme food shortages. The World Food Program says that tens of thousands of Palestinians need treatment for malnutrition.
Israel’s war in Gaza has left the territory without an infrastructure or functioning government. All major systems, including health care and water and food distribution, have been destroyed and many aid organizations are barred from assisting. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pushed back on calls to create a transitional or interim government. Trump has stated his support of Netanyahu.
Meanwhile, Russia launched one of its biggest attacks on Ukraine overnight, with 426 armed drones and 24 missile strikes decimating parts of the capital, Kyiv, and other areas of the country. Trump’s 50-day ceasefire ultimatum to Vladimir Putin to stop the fighting has turned into a green light for Russia to massacre as many Ukrainian civilians as possible until then.
On X, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the devastation. “Russian strikes are always an assault on humanity — in Kyiv, a kindergarten caught fire, along with residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure.”
The recent Russian escalation is in response to Trump’s public aboutface on Vladimir Putin and Russia’s continued aggression toward Ukraine, which Putin invaded almost three and a half years ago.
After years of supporting the Russian president and threatening to stop aid to Ukraine, Trump abruptly changed his tune. Or at least part of it. The Trump administration conducted a review “to ensure all foreign military aid aligns with American interests. The president decided to allow allies in Europe to send Ukraine more U.S. made defensive munitions to help stop the killing in this brutal war,” a White House spokesperson said in a statement. Peace talks are allegedly beginning this week, without Trump.
You have to dig deep to find this appalling major story on news websites.
Turning to domestic stories that have been residing on the back burner: One of Trump’s bread-and-butter issues, the economy, has started giving him more of a headache than a helping hand with his base and the general population.
After coming down for several months, inflation is heading up again. Trump believes an interest rate cut will stave off a rise in inflation, so he is putting pressure on Fed Chair Jerome Powell to lower rates. Most economists say this will not help Trump’s cause and will actually trigger a spike in inflation. Powell said no.
Because he often acts like a petulant toddler when he doesn’t get his way, Trump wants to fire Powell, which he cannot do without cause. So he has fabricated a cause, claiming Powell has mismanaged a $2 billion renovation of the Federal Reserve building. No evidence of fraud has been produced.
One of the causes of the inflation rate increase is the Trump tariffs. This week it is the European Union, our biggest trading partner, trying to negotiate a deal with ever-moving goal posts. Will it be a 10% tariff, or the 30% Trump has now threatened? One consequence of this prolonged trade war is that public sentiment toward the E.U. has been bolstered and European alliances strengthened.
Meanwhile the Epstein story is still swirling. The Wall Street Journal’s scoop on Trump’s alleged Epstein birthday note is interesting but doesn’t tell us much that is new, other than some further indications of Trump’s closeness to Epstein.
Good on the Journal for its investigative report, but it has to be taken in context and with perspective. It is important to note that Jeffrey Epstein, a man who sexually abused many — perhaps hundreds — of underaged girls, was investigated by law enforcement and the media for 20 years. No evidence has ever surfaced that he was running a child-sex and blackmail ring, as the conspiracy theorists believe. The probability of finding concrete evidence at this late time seems remote, to say the least.
It is easy to stay swept up in the Epstein tsunami. Trump’s behavior would suggest he is still hiding something. If the story is having an effect on Trump’s political viability, then it is worth reporting on and reading about. But not at the expense of life-and-death stories with global consequences.
Daniel Irvin Rather Jr is an American journalist, commentator, and former national evening news anchor.
