Let’s pose David Gergen’s 1980 dictum in reverse: Are you worse off now than you were before Trump returned to power?

Let’s pose presidential advisor David Gergen’s 1980 dictum in reverse: Are you worse off now than you were before Trump returned to power?

David Gergen, a political advisor to presidents in both parties, died July 10.

He famously helped Ronald Reagan decisively defeat Jimmy Carter in the 1980 election by having his candidate say this: “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?”

Worldwide economic misfortune and domestic political setbacks made it easy to attach tough times to Carter and that phrase crystallized it.

Now, we have cause to pose this question in reverse:

“Are you worse off now than you were in January?”

Let’s list some people who have been adversely impacted in the past seven months. These folks’ lives are worse than they were when Joe Biden was still in office:

Undocumented Hispanic residents.

Fully documented legal Hispanic residents.

Immigrants with any criminal history.

Immigrants with no criminal history.

Cancer researchers and future patients.

Other scientific and medical project grantees.

Starving former USAID recipients.

Public TV viewers.

Washington D.C and Capitol Police.

IRS employees.

Millions of other federal civil servants.

Disaster victims and survivors.

Farmer exporters.

Product importers.

Wholesaler tariff payers.

Retail tariff paying customers.

Construction trade employee hirers.

LBGTQ individuals and their families.

Racial minority historical discrimination victims.

Justice department and FBI professionals.

University students and instructors.

Free speech advocates.

National Parks visitors.

Truck drivers.

Ukrainians.

Palestinians.

Unvaccinated children.

Public school students and educators.

Women and minority military officers.

Medicaid qualifiers (soon).

Air traffic controllers.

Wind and solar energy employees.

Red state women with troubled pregnancies.

Journalists.

Consumer protection regulators.

Nonpartisan election officers and volunteers.

Historians and museum curators.

Kennedy Center performers.

Planned Biden infrastructure project beneficiaries.

White House Rose Garden admirers.

Give it some thought — I bet you can add to this list. 

Life is to some degree diminished for all those listed because Donald Trump is president and the Republican Party has sold its soul. 

Forty-one more months to go.

Mike Levsen is a former Aberdeen mayor and frequent contributor to The South Dakota Standard.

Photo: public domain, wikimedia commons

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