The nation is at war. It’s our 250th anniversary. We just had historic performances at the Olympics.

“In normal times, each would summon national pride and unity,” writes The Washington Post‘s Theodore R. Johnson.

That “they’re happening together — the rally-around-the-flag effect should be supercharged,” he says. “It’s not.”

While President Donald Trump calls this “the golden age of America,” Americans aren’t feeling it.

But “when the crisis isn’t presented to the public; there’s little bipartisan support; the White House spins the events poorly,” the rally-around-the-flag effect lessens.

“The effect was Trump’s for the taking, and the administration fumbled it,” Johnson observes.

“American optimism has slumped to a record low, and 60 percent of the country thinks we’re on the wrong track,” he writes. “A Pew study published March 5 found that the U.S. is the only country among 25 surveyed where more adults view their fellow citizens as morally bad than good. And the military strikes against Venezuela and Iran have produced no customary bump in approval ratings for the president.”

Why?

READ MORE: How Trump’s ‘Delusional Faith in Himself’ Drove His Decision to Wage War: Columnist

Trump has put his name — and imprint — on “many of the nation’s institutions and symbols,” including the Kennedy Center and the Institute of Peace. He’s planning a 250th anniversary celebration with a UFC fight night at the White House on his birthday. And MAGA has changed what “patriot” used to mean.

“Meanwhile, the president has called Democratic lawmakers ‘traitors’ and labeled them adversaries in a ‘war from within.”

Johnson says that these are “not accidents of polarization. They are products of a president who uses the bully pulpit to keep the country at odds.”

He concludes, “The United States can win wars, celebrate gold and commemorate the nation’s founding, but if its president and politics reap rewards by sowing division, Americans are more likely to rally to the party’s pennant than around the nation’s flag.”

READ MORE: ‘Looking to Throw in the Towel?’: Trump Mocked as Administration Again Switches Priorities

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The reason the first few days of President Donald Trump‘s war against Iran were “a bravura display of American power” is that for decades the United States has studied going to war against Iran. Those same studies predicted the current state of affairs that Trump now faces there.

So says The Atlantic‘s Franklin Foer, who writes, “almost no other foreign-policy question has been studied harder over the past 20 years or so than the likely effect of U.S. military strikes on Iran.”

Those studies also pointed out the risk: “spiking oil prices, the spread of violence throughout the Middle East, civilian casualties of the sort now evidenced by an apparent U.S. missile strike near an Iranian elementary school.”

Past presidents “weren’t just dodging a hard choice; they were deterred by all of the obvious reasons a conflict could perilously spiral. Nobody should be shocked that the expected is now coming to pass.”

Why did Trump decide to attack Iran?

READ MORE: ‘Looking to Throw in the Towel?’: Trump Mocked as Administration Again Switches Priorities

“In the least charitable—and probably accurate—view, President Trump went to war with Iran out of a delusional faith in himself,” writes Foer. “He believed that the worst-case scenarios that have deterred past presidents from attacking Iran wouldn’t come true for him, because he is Donald Trump.”

Asking, “How does this end?” Foer notes, “The lesson that the Trump administration seemed to learn from the failed planning for postwar Iraq is that planning isn’t worth the effort at all. When asked what comes next, Trump can manage only several contradictory answers, sometimes in the course of a single sentence.”

Foer points to Trump’s “trumpeting” of “unachievable objectives—unconditional surrender, regime change—as his war aims.”

“Trump has given his enemies the opportunity to claim survival as victory. He’s left himself with no evident end point to what he recently called a ‘short-term excursion.'”

But, concludes Foer, “Trump ignored the obvious and went to war. Now the obvious is seeking its revenge.”

READ MORE: White House Defends Trump’s Right to Share His ‘Opinions’ Iran Has US Missiles

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America is increasingly divided, politicians and social media say, but a new report digs beneath the surface of society to reveal what may be a “big lie.”

According to Axios‘ Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen, most Americans “are too busy for social media, too normal for politics, too rational to tweet. They work, raise kids, coach Little League, go to a house of worship, mow their neighbor’s lawn — and never post a word about any of it.”

Those Americans are the silent majority, Axios says.

“Most Americans are patriotic, hardworking, neighbor-helping, America-loving, money-giving people who don’t pop off on social media or plot for power,” they write. “The hidden truth: Most people agree on most things, most of the time. And the data validates this, time and time again.”

VandeHei and Allen point the finger at “the terminally online news junkies,” and say that they are the ones “who are detached from the actual reality.”

READ MORE: ‘Looking to Throw in the Towel?’: Trump Mocked as Administration Again Switches Priorities

To prove their point, they note that “four out of five Americans don’t use X, and therefore don’t see what you see.”

“Pew Research Center found last year that only 21% of U.S. adults use X, and just 10% visit it daily. The loudest platform in politics reaches barely one in five Americans.”

Perhaps even more surprising, they say: “Did you know that during most hours of most prime-time nights, less than 1% of the country watches Fox News, CNN or MS NOW, combined?”

“Maybe,” they suggest, “it’s the very people on these platforms who are the crazy ones,” and “maybe, most people are simply normal, sane, real.”

Further making their case, they point out that Americans gave $592.5 billion to charity in 2024, more than 75 million Americans volunteer each year, three out of four Americans “gave money to a religious or other nonprofit organization in the past year, and 63% volunteered their time.”

VandeHei and Allen conclude by saying, “The next time your screen tells you America is broken, close it. Walk outside. Talk to your neighbor. Coach the team. Go to the town meeting. That’s the real America — and it’s a hell of a lot better than the one being manufactured for clicks, clout and cash.”

READ MORE: White House Defends Trump’s Right to Share His ‘Opinions’ Iran Has US Missiles

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