Knock the Temple Down

Monday, August 3rd, 2026

Bill Bonner, from Poitou, France

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Trump has accumulated 35% of America’s national debt SINCE 1776... 😲 Let that sink in...

—The Rest is Politics: US

The drama over the weekend came when thousands of Moroccans surged into a Spanish enclave on the African coast. But what sense did it make? They still couldn’t get to Europe. And Ceuta is a tiny Spanish city. There was nothing for them to eat...and nowhere for them to sleep. So, they surged back home. Forbes:

Most Migrants Who Crossed Into Ceuta Have Returned To Morocco—As Death Toll Rises To 34

Why did this happen? Whispered on the internet: it was an Israeli operation...perhaps ‘the dumbest psyop of all time,’ writes Mike Whitney, intended to embarrass the Spanish government.

Immigration control was Donald Trump’s strong suit. The Democrats had bungled it, he thundered. Americans overwhelmingly wanted the borders controlled in a sensible, hospitable way. But POTUS seems to have bungled the immigration issue too. More tomorrow.

So many people criticize Trump’s handling of the economy and foreign affairs, there is no point in us piling on. Besides, we have no criticism to offer. He is the ignorant rascal he always was. But if anyone was suited to do the gods’ work, it was POTUS 47. The gods will tolerate neither a vacuum nor a monopoly. Occasionally, they send forth a man like Donald Trump to fill a hole...or to make one.

Donald Trump is single-handedly doing what the Russians, Iranians, North Koreans, Chinese, Democrats, Communists, Terrorists, Clintons, Bushes (though Bush II made significant strides), Covid — and the whole ‘Axis of Evil’ — couldn’t do. He is letting the air out of the US empire bubble, deflating its near-monopoly on global power.

At the beginning of his first term, in 2017, if he wanted to make America great again, he had to re-instate the policies that made it great in the first place. Free speech, free trade, free people...free from foreign mischief...free from crushing taxes...free from deficits...free from war...free from funny money.

Maybe he knew it was a lost cause. Maybe he intended to knock the temple down. Or, maybe he just charged ahead without giving the matter much thought.

In any case, instead of vetoing excess spending, he put on his DOGE-and-pony show...pretending to cut programs and fire people, but ultimately accomplishing nothing. Tariffs were always a bad idea. Still, a modest, sober tariff program might have raised a little money without doing much harm. Instead, his ‘reciprocal’ tariffs were whimsical, outrageous...on-again, off-again, with little rhyme or reason. Instead of the ‘peace president’ he promised to be, he partnered with the most bloodthirsty warmonger in the world...and attacked Iran, with no plausible gain for the US.

And instead of surrounding himself with able counselors who could help guide him to sensible policies, he brought a confederacy of dunces into the White House, few of whom had any idea what they were doing. And he put a prize blockhead — Pete Hegseth — in the most delicate and important post, in charge of a $1 trillion national war machine.

It all happened so fast...and so unexpectedly. Commentators were stunned into silence. Mouths open in disbelief, they were left on the curb, as the bus moved on. As soon as they had drawn the measure of one woebegone devil...there were two more in the pen, pawing the ground and snorting to be unleashed.

It didn’t seem to make sense. Critics kept referring to Trump as a conservative, but he was acting like a bomb thrower — attacking all the familiar institutions and protocols of American government. He was supposed to be a consummate deal-maker...but he couldn’t seem to make a deal with anyone. No deal to end the Ukraine war. No deal to reduce imports. No deal to cut spending and deficits. No deal with NATO. No deal with Greenland. And no deal with Iran, even after threatening to eliminate its entire civilization if it didn’t at least pretend to come to terms.

Even on small matters, Team Trump proved remarkably inept. You’d think a developer could make a pool repair. But no...the New York Times:

Charges Dropped in Reflecting Pool Case as Prosecutors Say Work Was ‘Botched’

A former Olympian will not face trial after federal prosecutors acknowledged that the Trump administration’s claims of vandalism were false.

By our count, the US was already headed down in 2016. Turning it around — with a national debt of $20 trillion at the time — would have been tough. But Mr. Trump might have been able to do it. With his cult-like following among Republicans, he might have been the only human being who could have given Americans a substantial period of peace and prosperity.

Determined use of the veto power could have cut the deficits. A single call could have stopped the slaughter in Gaza, just as Eisenhower stopped Israel’s attack on Egypt in 1956. And an honest speech could have put a majority of Americans on his side.

Instead...he alienated, insulted and appalled nearly everyone. Europeans. Canadians. Latin Americans. Muslims. Chinese. And US voters too! YouGov:

Americans’ approval of Donald Trump’s job performance continues to decline, according to the July 25 - 27 Economist / YouGov Poll. 34% of U.S. adult citizens strongly or somewhat approve of Trump’s job performance, tied for a record low for either Trump term, while a record 62% disapprove. That’s a net job approval of -28, also a record low.

And now, with $40 trillion in debt, of which the fattest slab was added by Trump himself, the last opportunity to fold up the imperial tent with neither violence nor bankruptcy — that is, by choice rather than by catastrophe — is gone forever.

Regards,

Bill Bonner