Good news. Inflation is basically gone, the economy is roaring, and America is “hot” again. I know this because Donald Trump said so. And he’s a man of his word. Just ask his wives. Or bankruptcy lawyers.

Not to chafe, but I can’t seem to find the gas station, grocery store or, say, major stock market index on Wall Street to affirm this. I’m being sarcastic, of course … or “nasty” as Trump might say when confronted with trifling things. Like facts.

A journalist buddy reminded me that Trump may be guilty of many things. But he didn’t re-elect himself. Roughly 77 million Americans did that. I didn’t like it. But I kind of understood it.

Inflation. Broken borders. In your face political correctness. Liberals can be preachy. A lot of Americans were rightly upset. And Democrats just didn’t get it. Many still don’t. So, yeah. Trump won a close election.

I’m just curious to know what his voters think now. Not the disciples driving around with middle finger MAGA flags. Let’s level set: if you’re still ranting about a rigged election in 2020, Trump could shoot your dog, and you’d say he was rabid. The dog, that is. Not Trump.

No, I’m curious about those of you who claimed to be on the fence. Maybe you voted for Biden in 2020 and swung back to Trump in 2024. You had your reasons. And the alternative(s) kind of sucked. It’s shameful that a clearly and deeply diminished Biden was allowed to run.

But here we are. It’s early days, still. But with Trump it’s dog year politics. One month is seven. The sample size is substantial. Any regrets?

Let’s set aside the fact our allies pretty much hate us and our adversaries (Messrs. Putin and Xi) — with whom Trump maintains an unrequited crush — are laughing at us. It seems even the Pope is loath to hear Trump confess his sins. But then, I digress.

Trump inherited an economy that, on the whole, was the envy of the world. Then he broke it. He still says “tariff” is one of the most beautiful words in the English language. Which is interesting. Only in that every respected economist, whipsawed 401K, Wall Street, and The Great Depression disagree. Sure, things are trending tenuously back upward. Why? Because he caved.

He wasn’t kidding about that whole “revenge and retribution” bit. The Constitution. Courts. Harvard. Law firms. News organizations. It just would have been nice if he’d stipulated he was addressing his own grievances first.

His cabinet is interesting. They’re pretty much all rich. And white. You know, populist types.

The guy at the Pentagon with the nuke codes long had a reputation as a philandering alcoholic. He seems sober but still has a penchant for drunk dialing. The FBI director, until recently, went by the first name “K$H” for promotional purposes. The Health and Human Services secretary, still not sold on the polio vaccine, recently took his family for a dip in a sewage-infested Washington D.C. creek.

Nobody can remember the name of Trump’s VP, but I’m sure he’s aces.

The real power seems to lie with an angry little man by the name of Stephen Miller. I’m not sure of his title, but his mandate seems to be to make women and children cry.

Gotten a notice from your church, community center, or kids’ school about potential ICE agent raids? Yeah. That’s a thing now.

Lots of talk about the ‘One Big, Beautiful Bill.’ As best I can tell, a lot of poor kids are going to wake up and go to bed pretty hungry. Chances are someone you know will lose their health care so that someone you don’t know can get a big tax cut. And we’re not going to spend much money on science anymore. The kind that focuses on curing diseases. Like cancer.

Oh, that “wasteful” money we’ve been sending to help people in developing – er, “s*^t hole” – countries? Not to worry. The world’s richest man canceled the checks. Hundreds of thousands of people in Africa and elsewhere will die. America first.

Trump’s sons, who emanate an amalgam of creepy and corrupt, are traipsing across the Middle East cutting real estate deals. Some of those countries are former state sponsors of terrorism. When not busy with that they’re peddling crypto. All in, the Trump family’s wealth has increased by billions in just the last six months. Billions. Such are the sacrifices they undertake to make America great again.

Maybe their rising tide will eventually lift America’s sinking boat. But I’m still trying to figure out what constitutes “great” by MAGA definition. Look around. Flip on a cable news network. Mute the banal commentary. Just look at the visuals. It’s not pretty.

I love this country. But not much about America is “great” right now.

I’ve always said Trump is neither a businessman nor a politician. He’s a showman. One of the best ever. And, as midterms past have proven, people don’t buy as many tickets to the circus when his name isn’t on the marquee.

It’s an eerily open question as to whether he allows that election to happen next year.

Ben Clarke is a communications consultant. A former Republican speechwriter, he has written for political leaders across the globe and advised numerous Fortune 100 CEOs on messaging and strategy. He resides in his hometown of Greenfield.