The Fake & Fraudulent Prophets Around the President
September 4, 2026 |
Daniel Henderson
Donald Trump created a political movement based on the promise that he, and only he, could make America great again. It was a lie, and he has not delivered on that promise in any measurable way. It was all a lie.
Of course, the MAGA slogan was never defined clearly. No one knew how Trump wanted to make America great other than by promising to lower the cost of gas and eggs and deport thousands of brown people. There were no coherent policies, goals, or metrics attached to the political hyperbole.
It was all smoke and mirrors and that was by design. Trump doesn’t want you to look at the evidence and statistics and see just how bad it has gotten in the United States these days.
Trump has no intention of really trying to improve life for the American people. His administration functions in the interest of his personal goals: increasing his financial bottom line, retribution against his perceived enemies, plastering his name anywhere he can to secure what he believes is his legacy, and giving gifts and benefits to those who show slavish loyalty and bestow financial benefits on him.
Greatness is not a feeling, slogan, or myth. It is tangible and measurable. So let’s do just that…look at the metrics.
Using internationally comparable indicators on issues such as health, safety, economic security, freedom, and well-being, the data tell us a very sobering story. America is not great.
In fairness, some of these trends have been happening for a long time. But many Trump-era policies have actively degraded these outcomes rather than improved them.
This is not a partisan claim. It is an empirical one.
If “greatness” means longer lives, healthier children, economic security, genuine freedom, and broad well-being, then the United States is not currently great by the standards of other advanced democracies.
Leadership must be judged by outcomes rather than branding.
The real question is not whether America can be great. It is whether we are willing to measure greatness honestly and pursue policies that actually improve people’s lives rather than merely promising to, or just printing MAGA on a red hat.
There are ten metrics we can use to determine the “greatness” of any country. Here is a summary:
The U.S. child mortality rate, especially for infants and young children (under 5), is significantly higher than in most other high-income, developed nations, ranking poorly among peers like OECD countries and seeing “excess deaths” compared to similar nations.
The U.S. ranks near the bottom among OECD countries, approximately 33rd out of 38, with rates significantly higher than those in Canada, Germany, or the Nordic nations. These deaths are linked to inadequate prenatal care, poverty, and fragmented health systems.
Trump has made this situation worse. He proposed and implemented cuts to Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which will reduce coverage for millions of children, limiting access to preventative care and treatment for chronic conditions.
MAGA is a lie.
Life expectancy in the U.S. is also lower than in peer nations and has declined relative to them over time. OECD data show Americans die younger and from more preventable causes than residents of comparable democracies.
Trump’s proposed budget changes and cuts to Medicaid and Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies are projected to leave 10 million Americans without health insurance. Analysis indicates that loss of Medicaid or marketplace coverage, alongside a 10-year delay in nursing home staffing mandates, could lead to over 50,000 preventable deaths annually.
MAGA is a lie.
Further grimly distinguishing the U.S., firearms have become a leading cause of death for American children and adolescents, an outcome virtually unmatched in other wealthy nations.
The number one cause of death for U.S. teens (ages 15-19) is unintentional firearms injuries (accidents), outpacing motor vehicle crashes, which have historically been the leading type.
Trump’s actions in this arena include closing the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, eliminating the Project School Emergency Response to Violence (Project SERV) program, and halting a proposal that would have required gun makers and dealers to sell child safety devices alongside firearms.
MAGA is a lie.
We are paying more for healthcare and getting worse results. The U.S. spends nearly 18% of GDP on health care, far more than any peer nation. Yet Americans uniquely face medical bankruptcy as a routine risk of illness.
Tens of millions carry medical debt, with millions owing over $10,000. Studies consistently show that medical expenses or illness-related income loss account for the majority of U.S. personal bankruptcies, a phenomenon essentially nonexistent in countries with universal systems. 66.5% of personal bankruptcies in the U.S. are tied to medical issues
A system that bankrupts people for getting sick is not a hallmark of national greatness, it is evidence of moral and structural failure.
To make matters worse, the Trump administration has reversed protections for medical debt credit ratings. This reverses a rule that would have barred medical debt from appearing on credit reports. By allowing this debt to remain on credit records, individuals face lower credit scores, higher interest rates, and reduced ability to secure loans, which exacerbates financial instability.
MAGA is a lie.
The U.S. generally ranks near the top for overall poverty within the OECD, with rates sometimes double or more than those of countries like Denmark, Germany, or France. While the U.S. middle class is relatively well-off, a weaker social safety net (fewer benefits, childcare, and healthcare) and greater income inequality contribute to more people falling into poverty than in countries with strong welfare states, such as Scandinavian nations.
From 2019 OECD data:
When analyzing poverty as the number of persons who fall below 50 percent of a country’s median income, we find that the United States has far and away the highest overall poverty rate in this group of 26 developed nations. Furthermore, the distance of the poor from the overall median income is extreme in the U.S. At the same time, the United States is arguably the wealthiest nation in the world.
Trump administration policies exacerbate the impact and make it worse in his second term. Tariffs raise the cost of living, and historic cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will cause over 2.4 million people to lose benefits in a typical month. Additionally, cuts to federal rental assistance are expected to cause hundreds of thousands of people to lose housing support and face the specter of homelessness.
America’s poverty rate is a deliberate design of a failed economic system.
MAGA is a lie.
The U.S. child poverty rate is significantly higher than in most other wealthy nations, often ranking near the top (or bottom, depending on the ranking) among developed countries, with rates around 23% (see chart below) compared to averages in the low teens or single digits in countries like Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.
The United States is second only to Romania for the highest child poverty rate in the developed world. It is an unconscionable position for a nation as wealthy as the United States.
Here again, Trump’s policies harm rather than help. The combination of SNAP cuts and reduced child tax credits is projected to increase child poverty, reversing gains made by the 2021 temporary expansions of the Child Tax Credit. Studies estimate that by 2029, the average income of the poorest fifth of Americans could be 5 percent ($2,500) lower due to these combined policies.
MAGA is a lie.
Inequality is among the highest in the United States of advanced democracies, and child poverty rates exceed those of many peer nations. These disparities correlate strongly with worse health outcomes, lower social mobility, and reduced life expectancy.
It is also important to point out that the United States has the largest number of millionaires of any nation in the world. This is not an accident, but is a deliberate pilfering of wealth from the bottom 99%.
Analyses from non-partisan organizations, including the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT), and various economic research institutions, indicate that policies under the Trump administration (2017–2021) and proposed and updated policies in 2025 generally widened income inequality. These impacts are primarily driven by tax cuts favoring high earners and corporations, deregulation, and reductions in the social safety net.
MAGA is a lie.
Around 40-43% of American adults are technically obese. U.S. rates are significantly higher than those in most European countries. The MAGA slogan should be “Make America Fat Again.”
The administration worked to ease Obama-era regulations regarding nutritional standards for school meals, potentially allowing more sodium, fewer whole grains, and fewer fruits and vegetables.
MAGA is a lie.
The World Happiness Report places the U.S. outside the top tier of nations, ranking it in the mid-20s globally—behind many countries with smaller economies but stronger social supports.
The U.S. happiness index has been declining, hitting a historic low of 24th in the 2025 World Happiness Report (see chart below), falling behind many wealthy democracies and even some North American neighbors like Costa Rica and Mexico, with factors like increased loneliness, political polarization, and rising “eating alone” contributing to the drop, especially among younger Americans, despite higher rankings for older U.S. adults.
MAGA is a lie.
While Americans often assume their country leads the world in freedom, international indices paint a more complicated picture.
U.S. freedom ranking varies by index, but recent reports place it outside the top 10 for overall human freedom (around 15th-17th). In contrast, its economic freedom ranks even lower (around 25th-26th) as “mostly free.”
World Press Freedom Index (Reporters Without Borders) reports the US dropped to a historic low of 57th place in 2025, a significant fall from earlier rankings. The U.S. remains in the “free” or “mostly free” categories but faces challenges to its traditional status as a leading bastion of media liberty.
Freedom, like health, is not guaranteed by rhetoric. It is sustained—or eroded—by policy choices. According to 2025 reports from various democracy-monitoring organizations and studies, policies and actions associated with the Trump administration have contributed to a decline in U.S. freedom rankings by undermining democratic norms, weakening press freedom, and challenging the rule of law.
MAGA IS A LIE!
These outcomes are not merely inherited problems; the evidence shows that Trump-era policies have exacerbated many of them.
We haven’t even touched on inflation and the economy.
Seven in 10 Americans say the cost of living in their area is unaffordable, including nearly half of Republicans and three-quarters of independents, according to the latest poll. Only three in 10 Americans say the cost of living is affordable, falling 25 percentage points since June.
Discontent about the economy overshadows an even bigger issue. MAGA policies are compromising the quality of life in the United States. Our economic well-being is connected to health and safety indicators, and the overall happiness of Americans reflects this general decline in well-being.
Things are not going well in the United States. You have Donald Trump to thank (or blame) for it.
