Tired of Winning

American Thinker 

During the 2024 presidential campaign, Donald Trump repeated the line that, under his administration, America would “win, win, win,” so much so that Americans would become “tired of winning.”

In just one year, President Trump has scored so many wins that it would be difficult to list all of them in a brief article, but it may be, just as he predicted, that some Americans have become tired of winning.  For some, it’s hard to accept the fact that their country is now the sole global superpower and is exerting its strength; that inflation is under control, and the GDP is predicted to grow at 5% in 2026; that the borders are largely closed, and three million illegal aliens have been deported or self-deported; that women’s bathrooms are now safer and males excluded from women’s sports; and on and on...

There is no doubt that tens of millions of Americans, those we call “progressives,” would rather live in a country that does not stand out, that conforms to global standards rather than its own rules and traditions, and that is sinking gradually into mediocrity.  In other words, a country that is failing, failing, failing.  That is what their hysteria about Trump is all about.  They are globalists and Marxists, and they do not want America to be exceptional.

In a sense, it’s easier to be a second-rate nation that never initiates change and that takes no responsibility for events.  It’s easier to be invisible or even “dead,” as we were just one year ago under Biden.  If Democrats win at the polls in November, it will be in part because of the fact that it is stressful to be a global leader and to see one’s domestic economy growing at such a pace that the DOW has just hit 50,000.  Better to tuck our heads in the sand and depend on a stimulus check from Biden instead of a good job.

What is not always admitted is that a large percentage of our population want to be “dead” in this sense.  They do not want America to be a global leader; they don’t even want us to be able to defend ourselves against growing threats from around the world.  They want us to sink and be defeated in the way that Spain declined after the loss of its armada or that Britain sank after WWII.  Liberalism is a psychosis, and at its core is a self-punishing impulse that amounts to a death wish.  Liberals and progressives are insanely opposed to the sanctity of life, personal liberty, economic growth, wholesome habits, and all else that leads to happiness.  They are like teenagers who self-harm in the sense that they live within their own cosmos of self-hatred.

For those on the left, there really is a kind of psychological stress associated with winning.  Nearly half of Americans would prefer the Clintonesque complacency of not responding when attacked and not facing up to China on trade matters.  The problem is that not facing up to  problems just makes them worse.  When the first attack on the World Trade Center took place in 1993, Clinton pledged a “full investigation” but not much else.  A second, devastating attack followed in 2001.  When China entered the World Trade Organization in 2001 (after years of lobbying on China’s part and with the enthusiastic support of President Clinton), China did not alter its ways; it continued to steal intellectual property and engage in unfair trading practices, in violation of its agreements.  The only way for America to survive is through strength.

Strength involves sacrifices, including a $1.5-trillion budget for the military.  But it also involves rewards such as the benefits of economic growth.  This month’s final reading of the third quarter GDP with a growth rate of 4.4% is just the beginning of what is projected to be a series of quarters of strong economic growth, and there are huge benefits to GDP growth, just as there are consequences to its stagnation (as occurred for four years under Biden and before that under Obama).

Growth of 5% compounded for the next 10 years — not impossible under Trump and a conservative successor) would increase the real standard of living by 65%.  There is an enormous difference between the current U.S. average household income of $83,730 and $138,154, a 65% increase.  Given that level of growth, the sense of financial well-being would be palpable, and it would open many opportunities that do not now exist.

Progressives find this level of affluence distasteful.  These include Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, although Sanders’s net worth is reportedly between $2 and $3 million and Warren’s between $7 and $12 million (which pales in comparison with that of the Obamas at $120 million — so much for “pay it forward”).  Maybe it’s just that they don’t want others, especially that large class of what Obama called “ignorant folks” who drive pickup trucks, to enjoy the same.  Like most liberals, progressive leaders seem to think they arebetter than ordinary Americans.

Most Americans, I believe, would rather have the $138,154 that 5% growth will bring, even if it does involve work.  They would rather be winners than losers.

Much the same goes for winning abroad.  Those who criticize Trump’s attack on Iran’s nuclear sites, his tariffs (particularly against China), and his seizure of Maduro and his wife on drug-trafficking charges are utterly mistaken in their view of the world.  That includes Gavin Newsom and nearly all Democrat leaders.  America wins by having a strong military and exercising it when necessary.  But it appears that Democrats do not want to win; they just want to appease, and appeasement always ends tragically.

Winning entails a burden.  The United States is a global target for both criticism and actual attack  because of its power and status.  But power and status also garner respect.  As a prominent Japanese academic once told me, “I don’t admire the U.S. because of its wealth or culture, but I  respect your country because of its power.”

The only way forward is for Americans to accept their role in history and the burdens that this role entails.  A strong leader like Donald Trump will never be popular abroad, and he will not be popular among those at home who want us to fail.  But America will be respected, and the chances of America’s entering a global war are vastly reduced by our strength.  It is time to win, win, win, not just abroad, but at home as well, with a soaring stock market, wages rising, cities returning to law and order, and schools reformed so that they actually teach what they’re supposed to.

Winning is not easy, and the 2026 elections will reveal just how many are tired of winning.  The media are full of progressives who constantly complain about Trump’s victories.  But think about the opposite: a decades-long slide into mediocrity and second-class nationhood.  Then we would really have something to complain about.