By Baoky Vu. Vu formerly served in the administrations of President George W. Bush and Georgia Govs. Nathan Deal and Brian Kemp.
Over the summer, one of our former neighbors in Decatur moved to Autun, a small town in France southeast of Paris. A retired corporate banker, he had painstakingly mapped out his move over the past year. Coincidentally, I found out this past week that a client's family was also contemplating a move to the outskirts of Paris. What did these 2 families have in common? Aside from access to croissants and cafe au lait every morning, they came to the realization that the America we cherish and love was being ruined by a virulent strain of anti-science, anti-immigrant and anti-business populism not seen here in a century.
Since the early ‘80s, under the leadership of both major political parties, America has been a beacon of opportunity drawing the best and the brightest to our shores, bringing their capital, knowledge and work ethic to build America into what it has become. Sadly, this virtuous cycle is unwinding, potentially leading to a brain drain that will sap America of its creative energy and unique leadership role on the global stage. Responsibility for this reversal lies squarely at the (small) hands of one man and his cult followers.
The current occupant of the White House has implemented his own version of DEI since re-entering the White House, one of Dysfunction, Extortion and Intimidation. Pre-2025, DEI was a quaint term symbolizing America's aspirational ideals compared to what it has morphed into in the 10 months since Inauguration Day.
To start, the President has been the master of sowing chaos to distract the populace from his plundering of taxpayer resources to exact a campaign of retribution against the so-called Deep State. This includes anyone and everyone who had stood up against his lawless behavior, from former federal prosecutors and law enforcement officials such as James Comey and Jack Smith to even his former National Security Adviser John Bolton. Im addition, the stifling of free speech through threats of pulling FCC licenses, not to mention the arbitrary arrest and detention of individuals across this land, should send chills down the spine of every American who cherish the freedom and liberty promised by the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. The chaos has also been a tool and a smokescreen to deflect from the grift and intimidation being committed by his circus of cronies, from legislation favoring crypto companies his sons are backing to the extortion of law firms and media giants across this land.
Where's the Beef? In the TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out)
In case readers have not been to their local supermarket to buy groceries lately, you might be surprised to see food prices on many items having crept up these past few months. For example, for those who enjoy a good beef tenderloin steak, a pound of tenderloin at Publix will now cost you $35.99, instead of $28.99 just 2 months ago.
As mentioned in the September column, cracks to our economy are manifesting as a result of poor macro policy decisions emanating from the (yet-to-be-demolished) West Wing of the White House. Since summer ended, various companies from Verizon to Amazon and Microsoft have announced large job cuts (Verizon 13k, Amazon 14k, for example). Some of this is driven by the investment in AI but inept domestic policymaking no doubt has decreased confidence in our economy going forward. Furthermore, the impact of reckless tariffs are finally being felt by American consumers. Initially in denial (or simply lying), the President and Administration officials now are backtracking on the harmful impact of tariffs on American families. Perhaps it was the 35% approval poll numbers that spurred the backtracking but less than 2 weeks ago, he quickly announced a rollback of tariffs for a slew of consumer staples, from beef and bananas to cocoa and coffee.
Prelude to 2026: Alarm Bells for the Grand Old Cult (Party)
Four weeks ago, off-year elections in a number of states came and went. If you are a Republican familiar with reading tea leaves, the results were about as toxic as witches' brew heading into the 2026 midterms. In particular, Abigail Spanberger's stunning 15% margin of victory in Virginia sent many Republicans scrambling. In recent times, Virginia had become a reliably purple state and also a weathervane for the following year’s national midterms. For comparison, the Democratic margin of victory in 2017 was 8% and it foreshadowed the 2018 Blue Wave when the Democrats won over 40 House seats. Closer to home, Democrats won both of the contested Public Service Commission seats.
The current occupant of the White House certainly noticed. Not unexpected, he responded in his usual bluster of denying responsibility, blaming weak Republican candidates and noting that he was not on the ballot. If you understand his psyche, then you don’t listen to what he says but you observe what he does. He has been pushing for legislatures in red states to redistrict, likely recognizing that next year’s midterms will undoubtedly serve as a referendum on his leadership, or lack thereof.
The 2026 midterms will truly be consequential. If we want our country to once again be a beacon of opportunity and a leader of nations, we have to move beyond party politics and identity politics. Character, integrity and competency should be metrics on which we choose our leaders, not just party labels, ethnicity or gender. After all, Donald Trump is no more of a conservative than Kamala Harris is a socialist. We also cannot let the perfect be the enemy of the good, recognizing that our system of governance works best with compromise and bipartisanship.
