Americans know something is deeply wrong. They're not imagining it

[marmar]

Americans know something is deeply wrong. They’re not imagining it
Surveys and data confirm a country in crisis — stressed and divided, but not yet ready to give up

By Chauncey DeVega
Senior Writer
Published May 28, 2026 6:45AM (EDT)


(Salon) Civil rights activist and former sharecropper Fannie Lou Hamer was weary when she spoke alongside Malcolm X at a church in Harlem in December 1964. “I’ve been tired so long,” she said, “now I am sick and tired of being sick and tired.”

More than 60 years later, many Americans share this feeling but in a different context. More than ten years of the Age of Trump — and the great problems that birthed it — have left us full of dread and weariness. The evidence is clear: Donald Trump’s return to power is taking a deep toll on the American people’s psychological and overall health.

According to the American Psychological Association’s recent Stress in America survey, more than half of American adults report feeling stressed, isolated and lonely. Societal division and the future of the country are sources of deep anxiety for 62% and 75% of adults respectively. Younger adults are experiencing the toll in “more profound” ways, with “nearly two-thirds of those ages 18–34 (63%) and more than half of parents (53%) [saying] they have considered relocating to another country due to the state of the nation.”

....(snip)....

Much of the nation is in a paradoxical state. People feel emotionally unwell and exhausted because they know that something is deeply wrong with their society and politics. Their sense of normalcy has been broken. This is not Trump Derangement Syndrome — it is a healthy and normal response to an unhealthy, abnormal and dangerous reality.

....(snip)....

Ultimately, pro-democracy Americans will need to learn and enact what can be described as political grit — an antidote to despair that combines practical, spiritual and emotional approaches to political action. Grit must be calm, reflective and based on a sense of shared responsibility and commitment to reason and the truth. The goal: a more just present and future. The work will be long and difficult, and require collective action and political engagement. ................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2026/05/28/americans-know-something-is-deeply-wrong-theyre-not-imagining-it/

[Aristus]

1. Trumpsters are the same people who lynched black men for voting.

Is it any surprise that they lynched the country for voting for a black man?

[sop]

4. Harsh, but true.

[aggiesal]

5. My daughter was 10 years old when Obama took the oath of office ...

I kept her out of school so she could see it.
Once he took his oath, I told her that I was proud to have voted Obama into office,
and that she should remember this day forever.
I then told her that we will now see all the racists come out from behind the rock where they were hiding.

[llmart]

2. It's also taking a toll at a very basic level.

A couple of my friends and my grown children have had in depth conversations about how so many people in this country that we interact with are just plain shitty people. Whether it's in a store or on the road or working. Trump and the GOP have set the tone for this. It's all on them - none of this bothsiderism nonsense. I have become much more reclusive and choosey about who I'll talk to.

[sop]

10. It's really hard to remain hopeful when confronted with the shittiness that's taken hold of so many in this country.

[llmart]

13. Yes, it absolutely is.

I've never been so cynical in my life. I'm an old person and I can't wrap my head around people who are 80 and still acting like they want to control others. Some of them have major health problems and still they think they're indispensable.

[kentuck]

3. TDS?

"This is not Trump Derangement Syndrome — it is a healthy and normal response to an unhealthy, abnormal and dangerous reality."

[Soul_of_Wit]

6. TDS is the cult of personality around the charismatic figure, AKA Donald (n/m)

[SergeStorms]

11. DJT'S cult members....

are the true "Trump Derangement Syndrome" victims. They're the people who buy into TrumpCo.'s grifts and temperament. They willingly hand their money over to a 34 time convicted felon because "he speaks for us." Trump leads white racists/supremacists around by their noses. They're Trump's "marks," and he's squeezing them, and all American taxpayers, dry.

[Happy Hoosier]

7. The rigging of the economy... and the government... is nearly complete.

If you're in the top 10% economically, you're probably doing pretty well. If not...

And the political environment is rigged too to maintain and reinforce that.

[Soul_of_Wit]

8. You're not paranoid if they're actually a threat to the republic (n/m)

[wnylib]

9. Excellent article. The 4th paragraph in the OP is especially good.

[mdbl]

12. Anyone with a sense of ethics and loyalty to the Constitution feels that way

All the others are corrupt grifters.