Maybe you might feel the same way. It’s as if the Trump administration looks at things and asks, ‘ How can I make things worse? Take our problem with Iran. Israel had hammered Hamas, Hezbollah, and most importantly, Iran, to a point where they could offer little resistance from air strikes. The U.S. joined in by bombing and burying Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Mismanagement by the ruling regime led to water shortages and galloping inflation.

The Iranian people had it. All we needed to do was to find a way to create some space in Iran where they could arm, train, and organize. Once established, the regime is on the horns of a dilemma. Put their most loyal troops out where airpower can disseminate them, or hold back, allowing the revolution to grow.

With restive minorities and an army overshadowed by the Revolutionary Guard, coupled with Israeli contacts on the ground in Iran, with some planning, the regime is ripe for overthrow. Done right, we control the timing of the regime’s demise. Involved in an existential civil war, the last thing they’d want to do is use their limited military resources to attack other nations or international shipping.

What we got is a massive bombing attack on Iran’s military and nuclear facilities by a vast armada, Israel’s air force, and other resources, combined with decapitating the regime’s leadership.

Rather than surrendering, Iran struck back at our military installations and our allies’ infrastructure, mainly by massing drones. These were followed by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, destabilizing the world’s economy.

Our response has been a “ceasefire” and a blockade of Iran, further restricting the movement of oil, gas, fertilizer, and other goods, worsening the world’s problems.

The Iranian people, the ones we should be helping, are far worse off. With less of everything, runaway inflation is making people poorer than ever. The regime continues to hang the opposition. We never gave them anything needed to fight back, and they’re paying a steep price that only looks to get worse.

Somehow, we’ve managed to make everything much worse.

The American people elected Donald Trump to another term in hopes of returning to the strong economy of his first term, based on growth-friendly tax policies and reduced regulation. Increasing supply to defeat Biden’s high inflation.

The “Great Big Wonderful Bill” extended his 1st Term pro-capital tax policies, and the administration is actually reducing regulations. Coinciding with an AI boom, we should have an economy well-positioned for good times.

Then came Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs. Rivaling the disastrous Smoot-Hawley Tariff, they affect friends and foes alike, while tearing up international agreements. With supply chains in disarray, business planning became difficult if not impossible.

Touted as the way to fix the trade ripoff of the U.S by other nations, President Trump’s executive tariff orders promised to stop the bleeding. No more taking advantage of us.

But what’s the evidence that the U.S. is a patsy? If the world is taking the U.S. to the cleaners on trade, other nations would register higher GDP per capita growth than the U.S. does. However, it’s the opposite. We lead the developed O.E.C.D. world. Trump says Europe has been ripping us off for years, but we’re doing much better.

Milton Friedman explained all of this by pointing out that if other nations subsidize the shipment of cheap goods to us, it leaves us with more to invest in extra profitable projects. Seeing our greater profit, people in other nations invest in our faster-growing economy with their trade proceeds. This virtuous cycle enriches us at their expense. The fact that the average American lives better than others is proof of this reality.

Instead of helping, the tariffs add to inflation. allienate our trading partners, and disrupt business planning everywhere. With ever-changing tariffs, the future is up in the air. Sadly, they’ve made no difference in the balance of trade with the world.

Add the fact that most of Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs are illegal. This week, refunds plus interest are going out to those who paid those duties. The administration’s attempt to replace them with other tariffs under another law was also just declared illegal. Again, refunds with interest are due.

After all this disruption, confusion, and alienation, we gained nothing. We’re worse off, especially those small businesses dependent on imports. It isn’t a coincidence that the named plaintiffs in the Government’s losing tariff cases were small importers. They don’t have the big bucks to lobby for tariff exemptions like the big guys, maybe after a nice donation to Trump’s ballroom.

Trump also campaigned against the Biden administration’s approach to illegal immigration. Too many for some areas ot easily absorb, we didn’t know who was coming in. Illegals were doing bad things, and we were upset.

The nation supported the administration’s efforts to remove illegals with bad records, but when it extended to law-abiding illegals among us, this rubbed us the wrong way. The U.S. is a nation of immigrants. Even if they were illegal, these were our neighbors or people we interacted with. We should be concerned about their well-being and hope for fair, humane solutions.

The U.S. needs a steady flow of immigrants to meet the population growth demanded by our entitlement programs. Fear has reversed the flow. Good people self-deporting puts us in an untenable situation. Suddenly, the U.S. isn’t as attractive to the foreign-born. By going too far with the round-ups and deportations, we’ve made things worse.

The administration hails the seizure of the Maduros. Venezuela has been a disaster for years under its socialist authoritarian leadership.

That nation joined other socialist failures, like Cuba, and millions fled, many to the U.S. Venezuelans here and everywhere looked forward to a return to freedom.

María Corina Machado, who represents the true election winner, went to the White House to enlist Trump in this endeavor. All she got for surrendering her well-deserved Nobel Peace Prize was the way out the door. Trump has since dealt with the same socialist bunch to resurrect Venezuela’s oil industry and to divvy up the profits. The people still aren’t free, and with the authoritarians backed by Trump still in charge, it doesn’t look like it’s in the future.

By declaring control over the Western Hemisphere, with Venezuela as an example of how this works, the rest of the Americas are turning away from us and even cozying up to China. How does any of this make anything better for anyone?

Even some of Trump’s smaller actions are head-scratchers. Just when Republicans were about to make Zohran Kwame Mamdani the poster-boy for unworkable socialist dominance over the Democratic Party, the President invited him to the White House. Treating him like a lost son, he seemed to bestow his seal of approval on New York City’s new mayor.

As a result of California’s progressive jungle primary system, two Republicans held the top two spots in the polls, even as they faced a much wider array of Democrats. If the situation stayed the same, it would result in an amazing Republican Governorship victory.

Instead of staying out and letting this possible Republican miracle play out, Trump suddenly endorsed one Republican over the other, opening the door for a Democrat to pass the unfavored Republican to gain the second spot. Given the huge Democratic registration edge in California, the Republican is probably toast in the general election.

Why would Trump take unforced actions that can only hurt the party he leads? One thing is sure: he made things worse for Republicans.

How do we explain all of this? Could it be that, like Jekyll and Hyde, there are two Trumps? Trump had to make some bows to Reagan Republicans to win the 2016 election. VP Pence, UN ambassador Nikki Haley, and a Reaganite economic team, combined with his vow to appoint only judges on the Federalist list, to show a traditional Republican Trump.

Earlier, Trump was a progressive Democrat who advocated industrial policies, including high tariffs. His view of leadership is in sharp contrast to Ronald Reagan’s. Could it be that Trump is now showing us the person he’s always been? He seems more comfortable with top-down autocrats. Who is it he always calls his good friends?

Reagan based his policies on classical liberal principles. Freeing people from authoritarians and free-market capitalism was in his blood. He realized America’s need for immigrants.

In a White House populated by sycophants in his second term, there aren’t any Reaganites around or anyone else to challenge the President before he takes action. The strange thing is that Trump’s success came where they aligned with Reagan’s principles. Economy, foreign affairs, immigration, and judge selection were better when he imitated the Gipper. Trump, being Trump, has only made things worse.