Amidst a deep socio-economic crisis and acute political confrontation in the US, President Donald Trump is trying to turn around negative forecasts ahead of the congressional elections through populist measures and aggressive rhetoric, which only deepens the rift in American society and undermines the country’s standing on the world stage.
The publication of information that the US national debt has topped $40 trillion helped spread the claim that the United States is on the eve of an economic crisis the likes of which has not been seen since the Great Depression: household debt is hitting new records every month and has in total surpassed $18 trillion with the main debts being for housing, medical services and education.
Only the wealthiest 20% of Americans manage to grow their incomes, while 80% of the population survives only through endless refinancing and piling up debts (over the past half-century, with minimal wage growth, the cost of housing in America has risen 25-fold, a university education 28-fold, and a single day in hospital 55-fold).
It is noteworthy that even according to a poll conducted by Fox News, a channel loyal to the Republican Party, 71% of voters oppose the war with Iran and believe that no strategy exists for ending it.
On September 16, the House of Representatives voted for the third time to end the war in Iran, approving a war powers resolution that bars President D. Trump from continuing military action without congressional approval.
Democrats Step Up Criticism of Trump
At the same time, American media supporting the Democratic Party have stepped up their attacks on Trump and the Republicans: here, for example, are characteristic article headlines: “Trump has finally lost the thread of his reasoning,” “The Republican Party has gone mad,” “Trump has lost touch with reality,” and the like.
The New York Times wrote on September 8, 2026 that Trump is the most anti-American president: no president has done or continues to do more to destroy the institutions and alliances built after World War II.
The American President Goes on the Offensive
However, D. Trump, known for his unpredictability, unexpectedly held a Republican Party convention in Dallas, Texas, although this is usually done in a presidential election year. This event helped, to a certain extent, to bring about a turning point in American sentiment — the convention turned into a glorification of the American president. Trump announced that if the Republicans retain control of the House of Representatives and the Senate in the elections, he will pay every adult American $5,000, and he also promised to personally campaign for Republican Party candidates.
It might seem that such an outrageous proposal, which runs counter to all the basic tenets of the legal system and, moreover, of morality, should provoke public outrage, yet in fact the American media did not criticize this proposal in any way. How can one not recall the well-known article by the greatest American writer Mark Twain at the beginning of the 20th century about how the millionaire Clark spent colossal money for those times — hundreds of thousands of dollars — to literally buy up the votes of Montana state legislators for his election to the US Senate. This corruption scandal caused a huge outcry and later became one of the reasons for the adoption of the 17th Amendment to the US Constitution, which introduced direct popular election of senators instead of their appointment by local legislatures.
During the Republican Party convention and after it, a video clip circulated widely in which God descends from heaven on June 14, 1946 (Trump’s birthday) and says that on my way to paradise I need a watcher, that is, D. Trump.
At the same time, Republicans stepped up their attacks on the Democrats — Vice President J.D. Vance, speaking at the convention, described the Democratic Party as a “party of hate,” and one of the participants even called for shooting Democrats.
The president’s successful move contributed to his popularity ratings beginning to creep upwards.
Democratic Party leaders have so far failed to put forward a national figure who could enthuse voters — inter-factional confrontation has intensified within the party itself: radical figures with their leftist views and rejection of Israel are coming to the fore (during the primaries they deprived many congressional veterans who had advocated a more traditional US policy of any chance of re-election). The Democrats’ lack of a more positive agenda also tells — their main efforts are concentrated on the promise to impeach D. Trump and to investigate the activities of the American president’s closest associates.
Meanwhile, Trump is trying to keep the initiative in his hands, and the other day he banned correspondents from the television channels CNN and MSNBC and the publication Politico, which criticize him, from appearing at the White House, since they spread fake news.
Democratic media constantly push the idea that Trump, in the event of success in the midterm elections, will feel more confident and influential than ever, and that this will do great damage to America.
More and more observers are concluding that the ongoing rift in American society objectively undermines the US position in the world, and the New York Times wrote on September 20 that the heyday of American exceptionalism is over.
A little more than a month remains until the November 3 elections — as the voting date approaches, the internal political struggle will become increasingly fierce, the words more furious, and the division of society will deepen.
Veniamin Popov, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, PhD in History
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