Under Trump the US has become more exceptional than ever. His bellicose actions regarding Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, Greenland, Iran, and Nigeria are the latest examples of American Exceptionalism.
"American Exceptionalism" derives from the argument that the USA is fundamentally different from other countries; that it is superior to them, "Number 1," "The Greatest Country in the World."
It's true that the US is exceptional, not because it is superior, but because it has become significantly worse than most countries around the globe. American exceptions abound:
The only wealthy country without a system of universal health insurance coverage. Existing health insurance plans verge on robbery.
A Department of Health and Human Services doing its best to revive diseases previous generations had virtually eliminated and to bring us more epidemics and pandemics.
A Department of Défense (War?) that thinks indiscriminate killing of civilians around the world is "legal" and OK.
A Department of Homeland Security that spends most of its time terrorizing the American people.
A Department of Justice devoted to undermining existing laws and eroding human rights.
A Department of Education seeking to undermine public education.
A minimum wage far below the level of a "living wage." A long history of union busting and bashing.
A railway system far inferior to that of every other developed country. Poor public transit in much of the country.
A deteriorating public education system.
Friendly to pedophiles and other sexual predators.
Number 1 in billionaires.
Number 1 in medical bankruptcies.
Number 1 in mass shootings
Number 1 in Covid deaths.
The US is currently in the grip of Christian-capitalist fascism. Its evolution into this obscene system did not begin with Trump. It is the result of decades of anti-democratic developments that eroded constitutional and legal protections of political and human rights.
Trump is a product, a symptom, of this evolution. He did not create it. It will not go away when he does without radical reform of the political system.
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