FAS column "Criticism and Crisis" by Carolin Amlinger: Make America Even More Broken So It Can Heal

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung FAS column "Criticism and Crisis" by Carolin Amlinger: Make America Even More Broken So It Can Heal Carolin Amlinger • 42 million • 2 minutes reading time Even before the tariff chaos, dissatisfaction was growing among the American population over Trump's economic agenda, which almost amounts to an act of uncontrolled destructiveness. Only a quarter of Americans still expect their financial situation to improve in the coming years; the vast majority are pessimistic about the future. The USA is a society of pervasive decline, in which the horizon of future progress has darkened. Trump boasted in his inaugural address at the Capitol that under his leadership, the USA would be viewed with envy. Just a few months later, embarrassment prevails even among those who voted for Trump out of frustration with rising prices. This makes it all the more interesting to see who still admires Trump. MAGA supporters continue to support his economic policies at an astronomical rate, as the Financial Times reports. This is despite their lives being flooded by Trump's tide of renewal. They are bizarre specimens of homo oeconomicus, who, in a rationally enlightened way, choose the option with the highest expected utility. MAGA Republicans make irrational decisions that cause them the greatest harm. In post-progressive societies, economic behavior is often characterized by patterns that are more easily described by an "irrational choice theory." This should explain why people sometimes behave contrary to their interests. Contradictory, Consistent Destruction Because behind the irrational economic behavior lie consistent patterns. The actions of MAGA supporters are consistent in that they follow the rules of disruption: The old must perish before the new can emerge. The pattern of creative destruction is contradictory yet consistent: The acute deterioration of the economic situation becomes a sign of imminent improvement. The economic actions of the MAGA Republicans are rational and irrational in equal measure: Healing requires wounding, and redemption only follows the pain. They are thus perhaps the last believers in progress. A progress, however, that can only dimly imagine the future. And builds its gains on losses.