Robert Reich Jun 28, 2026

Friends,

For the next seven days, most of America will be engaged in celebrating the birth of our nation 250 years ago.

Trump wants to use this occasion for his insatiable ego by putting his name and face everywhere he can. His grandiosity is boundless; his narcissism, loathsome.

Others may use the anniversary to celebrate the good things America has accomplished over two and a half centuries. Fine.

But a true understanding of where America has come at this point in our history would see the current danger to the ideals we’ve striven for — the wanton attacks on democracy, freedom, the rule of law, and equal opportunity, by people asserting white Christian nationalism.

That attack has been spearheaded by Trump and abetted by spineless Republicans in the House and Senate, a small-minded Supreme Court majority, and a blight of billionaires who are bankrolling much of this for personal gain. They are all traitors to those ideals.

America’s ideals have never been fully achieved, of course, but the effort to achieve them has been noble; it has inspired much of the world. That effort had been our nation’s purpose, the core of our moral authority.

Those ideals haven’t died, but the effort to achieve them is on life support.

I wish I could feel celebratory, but I don’t. To me, the darkness that has befallen our country doesn’t call for celebration or self-congratulation — not this week, nor as long as the darkness prevails. It calls for a clear-eyed determination to renew the effort to achieve our ideals — our moral rudder — and thereby take America back.

Instead of celebrating the 250th anniversary of America, I for one will be mourning the loss of our national purpose. I’ll be wearing a black armband to signify my sorrow.

[Ken Gray] I include at this point a few comments on Robert Reich’s blog post. Many more on Robert Reich’s original Substack post

Our triumphalism has been one of our deepest weaknesses. I’m a big believer in repentance. In which error is recognized and acknowledged, and change is resolved and made. First mourning. Then repentance. This is the second best time for it.

We currently reside in a diminished America. Trump and the Project 2025 billionaires have squandered much of our greatness through gutting and redirecting our government programs away from benefiting families and towards pampering the sickeningly wealthy.

Hope alone isn’t enough. Hope must be paired with a shared vision, and that vision must be followed by collective action. Without a picture of where we’re going, it’s easy to become consumed by what we’re fighting against instead of what we’re fighting for.

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