photo by: Creators Syndicate

Keith Raffel

An old adage held that “At least Mussolini made the trains run on time.” In other words, everyday convenience partially excused the authoritarian rule imposed by the Italian dictator a century ago.

At the outset of his second term, it appears Trump cannot even make the planes stay in the air. Nine days after the head of the Federal Aviation Agency was pushed to resign, a commercial airliner and a military helicopter collided over Reagan National Airport killing 67 people. Trump critics draw a connection between the two events. Trump himself blames the crash on DEI hiring of air traffic controllers.

Politically speaking, it doesn’t much matter much whether either explanation has any validity. What matters is whether potential passengers will trust the Trump administration to keep the skies safe.

Recent polls show Trump is viewed favorably by about half of all Americans. What will undercut this support is not what columnists write nor what a Supreme Court opinion holds. It’s the reaction of Americans to how the administration touches their everyday life.

Current Trump supporters won’t change their favorable views of him because the Agency for International Development stops aiding the poor, diseased and hungry overseas nor because a bunch of tech bros have taken a peek at their tax returns. They will base their views on — among other things — whether it is safe to fly, whether Social Security payments show up on time, whether groceries cost more, whether the schools and streets are safe, whether they have access to quality health care, whether American military men and women are placed in mortal danger and whether the U.S. Postal Service delivers Amazon packages undamaged and on time.

My bet is the Trump administration will fail in dealing with at least some of these. The president is appointing inexperienced and unproven cabinet members while driving experienced experts out of their jobs.

With an anti-vaxxer like Robert Kennedy, Jr. as head of the Department of Health and Human Services, American children are in peril from outbreaks of measles, mumps and even polio. At the end of January, Medicaid portals were temporarily shut down in all 50 states. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) wrote, “This is a blatant attempt to rip away health insurance from millions of Americans overnight and will get people killed.” The fact that Trump tapped Dr. Mehmet Oz, the failed Senate candidate and promoter of questionable medical cures, as head of the $1.5 trillion Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is a disaster waiting to happen. As American seniors say, “Don’t let the government mess with my Medicare.”

Trump enforcer Elon Musk and his gang of tech bros are messing with the federal disbursement system. If Social Security payments are delayed by a single day, senior citizens are bound to blame Trump and his hapless team.

During the presidential campaign, Trump promised to get the price of groceries down on “Day One.” Instead, egg prices have continued to climb, and the Department of Agriculture projects they will rise an additional 20% this year mainly due to bird flu. Rather than fighting bird flu, the Trump administration has blocked the release of scientific studies on how to deal with it.

Trump ordered the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to open two California dams to demonstrate action in sending water to combat fires in the Los Angeles area. The water, however, will not reach any city and will dry out before it can be used for irrigation on the Central California farms where 40% of the U.S.’s fruits, nuts and other table foods are raised. Peter Gleick, a water scientist and senior fellow at the Pacific Institute, told The L.A. Times that “for a political photo op and a social media post, the Trump administration has thrown away billions of gallons of California water.” That will only raise the produce prices shoppers see at the grocery store.

Who knows what’s going to happen with tariffs? If tariffs on goods imported from Canada and Mexico are indeed imposed after the current 30-day waiting period, consumers will see higher prices on new houses, cars, fruits, vegetables, beer, tequila and oil. If his current tariffs for Chinese imports remain in place, prices on computers, shoes, toys and more will go up, too.

Trump was elected in no small part because of inflation during the first two years of the Biden Administration. If Trump’s policies and appointees make the situation worse, the chances of a Democratic wave in the 2026 midterm elections jump.

In the 1920s, Mussolini said, “The truth is that men are tired of liberty.” As the story goes, Italians gave up liberty back then in return for trains running on schedule. In the 2020s, Americans run the risk of giving up democratic norms for a lot less.

— Keith Raffel is a syndicated columnist with Creators.