America in sorry State despite Trump's pledges

US President Donald Trump speaks before signing an executive order in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, on September 19, 2025. [AFP]

President Donald Trump returned to the White House on a simple promise: No new wars, lower inflation, sealed borders, and restored respect for America on the global stage. Today, millions of Americans are mired in high inflation and spiking gas prices. Campaigning and governing are two different things. Nearly two years since Mr Trump took office, America is no more united than under Obama or Biden. The cracks he vowed to seal have widened, promises remain unfulfilled, and his MAGA base has crumbled.

Start with the economy, what voters feel first. Biden left an economy scarred by inflation that raided paycheques. Trump said he would fix it quickly. That has proved a mirage. The cost of living has hit a crescendo. Groceries have gone through the roof; gas, rent, and medical costs are out of reach. Is this what Trump promised Americans?

A Kenyan in America told me: "My brother, we are economic refugees. We came to build better lives and support families in Kenya, but life is unbearable. I can't afford rent unless I work three jobs. The future is bleak in a country we thought rewarded hard work. And the phone never stops ringing for help from home."

The role of any government is to ensure citizens' well-being. That is why Kenya, though developing, has social protection where the elderly get a monthly stipend; an idea that deserves praise. How do you fathom homeless people roaming in American cities, better known as "chokoras" in Kenya? This is a country people spend a fortune to reach just to make ends meet. All that glitters is not gold.

No denying, America is great. Systems work. Civil servants work like termites, fully committed to public service. Police don't take or ask for bribes. However, foibles do exist.

Immigration is Trump's strongest card. He uses the bicameral legislature and Judiciary to advance his anti-immigration agenda. Recently, the US Supreme Court allowed Trump to terminate Protected Status for almost 400,000 Haitians. What a shock? Where will they go when Haiti is gang-infested? Kenya sent police to pacify Port-au-Prince while the superpower looked away from its own hemisphere.

Why have thousands of troops in Qatar rather than quell violence in Haiti? Today, hooded, masked agents conduct terrifying raids, rounding up even legal residents. Two killings in Minnesota portray fear in the Trump era.

How do you campaign as a peace president, mocking predecessors for endless wars, only to end up without any purpose, striking Iran, killing the country's spiritual leader, Ayatollah, military generals, nuclear scientists and even elementary schoolgirls? This has brought a global economic meltdown following Iran's closure of the oil waterway, Strait of Hormuz. This is the entanglement Trump vowed to avoid.

On Gaza, he fuelled rather than eased it. He bought Benjamin Netanyahu's war narrative, trusting golf buddy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner, dealmakers, not diplomats, to handle Gaza. Today, Netanyahu and former defence chief Yoav Gallant face ICC, which Trump calls a bogus court.

He pledged to end the Ukraine war fast, boasting his friendship with Vladimir Putin would silence guns in 24 hours. He met Putin in Alaska, land the US bought from Russia. The world watched with bated breath. Four years on, war rages, carnage and destruction grind on, with no sign of peace.

Trump claims America is respected, yet the reverse is true. Threats to make Canada the 51st state and seize Greenland would have hoisted the flag over the Arctic but for European pushback. Leaders err; Obama and Biden failed but never sold instant fixes. Trump did, and stature shrank. His gambit , abducting Maduro, bankrolling war in Gaza, acting opaquely on Ukraine war in Ukraine, dismissing the ICC, floating a Board of Peace to replace the UN, and belittling NATO, has left Washington a geopolitical loner.

No European power supports America's war in Iran, rare in modern geopolitics. Compared to the Clinton, Bush, Obama, and even Biden eras, US moral authority has slipped badly.

At home, resentment bites. The GOP will be neutered if Democrats retake the House and Senate in November midterms. That would be tragic for Trump, as he will face probes over corruption and constitutional breaches. Abdul El-Sayed, of Egyptian ancestry, won a democratic primary in Michigan.

America is torn asunder. Poor race relations, no trust in universities, Congress, courts and even controversies about elections. When the main pillar is weak, the centre cannot hold, whether in Africa, the US, Asia or Europe. Trump is the face of America; what he does reflects 345 million people. Like Ruto's actions reflect 50 million Kenyans.

America remains the biggest economy and strongest military, but power alone is not leadership. Leadership rests on credibility, consistency and moral authority. The developing world reels from the richest man and DOGE backer Elon Musk, who pushed to abolish USAID, leaving poor Africans dependent on food and drugs in limbo.

Mr Nyaringo is a Kenyan public affairs commentator based in Washington, USA