ArcaMax

There are a lot of things Donald Trump does not like. Find a common theme, and one may conclude that Trump doesn't like America. This thought is not original to me. Democratic strategist James Carville offers it as his theory of why Trump wreaks so much damage on this country.

Trump knows what he's doing and apparently takes pleasure in the damage caused. Why he's doing it seems tied to his stated need for "vengeance." Also to the personality disorder known as "malignant narcissism." Let the psychiatrists take it from there.

What I offer is his acts of sabotage in list form.

Start with the economy. Trump's tax-and-spending bill will eventually stall the economy by tacking as much as $6 trillion onto the national debt. He's further promoting financial instability by deregulating crypto, an ideal medium for committing fraud, tax evasion and other criminal activity.

The "big, beautiful" bill ends tax credits for clean energy. What does Trump have against clean energy beyond its competing with the dirty kind (whose interests hand him money)? A switch to renewables would slow the planet warming, which helps set off mass tragedies, such as the flooding in Texas and monster hurricanes.

But green energy can also supply us with abundant and cheaper energy. For example, solar panels in France have recently sent so much energy into its grid that electricity prices have at times gone negative. This year, 93% of added electricity capacity to the U.S. grid will be wind and solar power plus batteries to store it.

The world is going electric. Chinese electric vehicle makers now threaten to eat the lunch of the U.S. auto industry. Trump's bill will soon end the federal tax credit for new U.S.-made electric vehicles.

Enter the trade war, which is raising the price of Mexican and Canadian auto parts for U.S. companies. That makes American vehicles less competitive on world markets.

The trade war is a hurt that keeps on hurting. It is driving up the overall cost of living in the U.S. Inflation, in turn, further raises interest rates, another economic drag.

Trump, meanwhile, has this pathological need to augment the trade war with threats and insults against our closest neighbors and trading partners. That is making the "Made-in-USA" label toxic in much of the world.

His cuts in research funding and mistreatment of even legal immigrants have set off a brain drain. Other countries are taking the top talent that used to flock here. Now even American-born scientists and engineers are going elsewhere to build the technology that will compete with ours.

Most heartbreaking of all is Trump's vandalism of the democratic institutions that have made America a world power. Trump hit bottom in pardoning the thugs he sent to trash the Capitol on Jan. 6, part of his traitorous scheme to overturn the election results. Trump then transformed the rioters who contributed to the deaths of five police officers into "heroes" in the eyes of many followers.

The MAGA cult seemed OK with the above depredations, which brings us to the curious case of Jeffrey Epstein. It took the obvious lie that Epstein's client list doesn't exist for the cult to finally crack.

The perverse part is that MAGA probably would have forgiven him for taking part in the sexual trafficking of underage girls. His sin is depriving them of a conspiracy theory on which they feasted for years.

Trump now talks about firing Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. That would remove another financial guardrail and give Trump new opportunity to vandalize the economy for personal gain.

Trump is turning America into an unstable country. Can we ever get our glory days back?

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Follow Froma Harrop on Twitter @FromaHarrop. She can be reached at fharrop@gmail.com. To find out more about Froma Harrop and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators webpage at www.creators.com.

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