The Greenfield Report with Henry R. Greenfield
Welcome to "The Greenfield Reportwith Henry R. Greenfield," where 50+ years of world travels across 10 countries shape insightful takes on current geopolitical events. Join Robert for eye-opening global reports with practical local solutions, and enjoy guest appearances offering fresh perspectives. Embark on a journey of understanding and lively discussion.
The Greenfield Report with Henry R. Greenfield
Episode 26- America Unfiltered: A Cross-Country Journey
Traveling across America for a month revealed a stunning disconnect between reality and perception. Infrastructure projects flourish everywhere—new roads and bridges in Chicago, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and beyond—physical manifestations of Biden's investments that Trump supporters simultaneously benefit from while denying. The cognitive dissonance is striking: Americans enjoying prosperity while convinced of their nation's decline.
Chicago stands as a testament to urban vitality—bustling streets, magnificent architecture, cultural richness—directly contradicting narratives about failing Democratic-run cities. Meanwhile, San Francisco shows signs of recovery after well-intentioned but problematic social policies created challenges that conservative critics rightfully identified. This nuanced picture defies simplistic political narratives from either side.
The media landscape has shifted dramatically, with progressive journalists departing established publications as right-wing influence grows. Universities appear increasingly willing to appease Trump to protect research funding, creating a chilling effect on institutions meant to uphold truth and academic freedom. Most concerning is the dysfunction spreading through federal agencies—offices understaffed, phones unanswered, basic services increasingly difficult to access—while state and local governments continue functioning effectively.
America remains a land of stark contrasts: extraordinary wealth alongside persistent struggle, bustling commerce amid government dysfunction, profound opportunity alongside growing inequality. Tourism has declined significantly, particularly international visitors—down approximately 15%—despite America's enduring beauty and welcoming spirit. The entrepreneurial drive continues undiminished, with 340 million people working tirelessly within a system that rewards hustle but offers diminishing safety nets.
Join us as we explore this complicated reality beyond partisan talking points. The Greenfield Report is evolving too—watch for our new format featuring shorter, focused episodes several times weekly, soon available in video while maintaining audio versions. As we approach a contentious political season, understanding America's true condition has never been more important.
This is Henry R Greenfield, with a special edition of the Greenfield Report on America at a Crossroads or not. Over the past month, I have been traveling throughout America, meeting and speaking with perhaps a few hundred people from all walks of life, colors, genders and political persuasions and political persuasions as someone who currently lives in Europe. Our news from the US, while vast, with so many media sources and podcasts in every language, as the US under Trump, is clearly daily news. I wanted to get a feeling of what life is really like in America for the average person, the foreigner and everyone in between. But before beginning, a couple of notes for your listening and also for the future of the Greenfield Report.
Speaker 1:The Greenfield Report will be changing its format, timing and length of presentations, as well as going live, or at least in video, in the near future. It will still be available in audio, but these shorter, highly focused episodes will drop three or four times a week. This is in anticipation of autumn coming in the United States as well as Europe, and spring in Australia in what we believe will be a very exciting time in the run-up to Christmas. Today's episode is in honor of the great Alistair Cooke and his Letter from America that began in the darkest days of World War II and extended all the way to the end of the 20th century. It should not, however, be confused with those Sunday morning letters from Charles Kuralt or others where they found folksy places which still exist, mind you all, over this vast country of 340 million very diverse people immigrants, many of whom I watched toil in the fields of California are over 350 million living and surviving and often prospering in this mega country. For you see, everything in America, not just Texas but throughout America, is bigger than whatever it is you have imagined, from the problems to opportunities, from the poor to the wealthiest, from the weakest to the strongest. This is America, whether you like it or not.
Speaker 1:We began our journey, which was surprisingly in Chicago, surprisingly not only bustling but incredibly prosperous, blue state or not, as, according to Trump, everything is horrible in blue states, and in cities in particular, run by Democrats. Everything seemed to be working perfectly Roads, bridges, every kind of infrastructure was under construction, just as it was in Michigan, other parts of Illinois, indiana, ohio, iowa and on and on to California, or even in Washington DC, where we made a side trip, where the museums were full and it took a month to get tickets in advance for the African American Museum where, perhaps not unsurprisingly, the vast majority present were in fact actually African Americans. Thank you, joe Biden, for the traffic jams, but I guess also for the new roads and the new bridges. Sleepy joe, that auto pen must have been working overtime. And all that wasted money, as every republican told me, that caused incredible inflation was right there in front of them with new roads and new bridges, among thousands and thousands of investments in the trillions made by Biden, which, we have noted in the past, predominantly went to red states. Never mind, they still voted for Trump. I was heartened to see it right in front of my eyes.
Speaker 1:Everywhere I went, I seriously began to wonder at not just the lies and insanity of Trump's anger, but also others of the Trumpsters who just refused to see how well everything worked under Biden. And this is carried over to Trump, regardless of the chaos that he is causing around the world with his tariffs. In other words, biden really left something that was working well. Tariffs In other words, biden really left something that was working well, and it was very obvious to me and to everybody else that I spoke to. Yet they were actually saying the opposite. It was like being in some sort of twilight zone where everybody was having a good time but at the same time, telling you oh my gosh, this is terrible. That was a theme I've experienced throughout America. If you are a Trump supporter, everything was terrible under Biden, no matter what the reality, no matter the facts of the matter no amount of facts, in fact, will dissuade them. It is remarkable. They hardly can wait for you to stop talking Before they spurt out their Fox and Trump talking points, none of them which are accurate at all.
Speaker 1:I am often accused falsely, I might add of taking talking points from the left-leaning media, which is also a lie. The left-leaning media has, by and large, the media in the US has been totally cowed by Trump. In fact, this past week, several people at the Washington Post, including Jonathan Capehart, who's on PBS, walked out. A lot of the major media places. The left, or, let's say, progressive reporters, have now left each of those media and now they are turning to the right. They note, by the way, in a capitalist society, every one of them that it is the right of Jeff Bezos to do whatever he wants with his newspaper, but this is a very, very far difference from the past, where the newspaper's ownership stayed far away from everything, including the editorial page.
Speaker 1:The universities other than Harvard have all paid Trump off to keep their grants and most of which, by the way, is for the benefit of all the people like cancer research. Now he's attacking UCLA here on the West Coast, which is big news in Los Angeles, if you are following such things, as almost no one is, you see the overwhelming vibe, as they call it in America, is one of calm, of mass acceptance or at least acquiescence. Or is it biding their time for the future? Of course millions are thrilled with Trump. I have not met one Trump supporter who is not happy with Trump. They completely ignore it when he deliberately targets them, like the farmers or factory workers who are losing their jobs, or the working class whose prices keep going up and up and, trust me, they are going up, up and up. Not, of course, all Trump's faults. Much of this happened during Biden's time. But prices are not coming down and my forays into Walmart, safeway, target, the ever-present dollar stores and dozens of other small and large markets all were the same. Prices are undeniably up for everything From vibrant Chicago.
Speaker 1:Really, you must visit if you can. Chicago has everything, and almost all of it is great Skyscraper, parks, things to do, shopping, sports, you name it. Chicago is in the summer is a spectacular place to be, including anything that is on the river that winds through the city. You know the one. They turned green on saint patrick's day. South side, north side suburbs, golden mile lake, michigan waterfront, the loop nowhere did I see any homeless, which was in and of itself very interesting. Everywhere there was a confidence and, as in all places in America, people were hustling along, always busy and trying to make the best or get the most Out of their two-week meager vacations, especially compared to the Ten weeks in Switzerland you know that paragon of capitalism or a minimum of five weeks in France, or four in Australia, and that is on day one when you are hired in, not in America.
Speaker 1:Speaking of the rest of the world, as Americans rarely speak of anything other than what is right in front of them or what is offered in the media, which rarely mentions anything outside the US other than occasional mentions of the ongoing tragedies in Gaza and Ukraine. Europe is hot, it is scorching, I know, as our guests and friends in the south of France have been sweltering. The Ukraine is somehow holding on going on in the face of yet another offensive and massive drone strikes by Russia. Gaza was only slightly in the news as starvation loomed and, bizarrely, israel has flooded every TV station that I watch, even left-wing shows like Colbert's Late Night, with videos of how Israel has saved Gaza and the hundreds of millions of tons of food and clothing and support Israel has given to the smiling Palestinians. Yes, I actually saw that. Moments later there are the images on the news of obliterated cities, of children dying in those exact places.
Speaker 1:What are complacent Americans or Europeans supposed to believe in an age of incredible mass propaganda? While it is cold in Australia and very cold in New Zealand, down under Europe is not only hot but, as we have all heard from the locals in Barcelona, squirting water to send tourists a message of go home is, in general, the opposite. In America, tourism, especially foreign tourism, is down. Airports are easy to get through, there are no longer long lines. Everyone everywhere is cheery and sunny, greeting you wherever you go. Welcome to America. America wants tourists, but Trump has scared them away Down by at least 15% for foreigners, and it is a pity, as the average American is just as nice in saying have a nice day, as they were before Trump. Sad for those who are not here, but all encore and other forums are full of anti-America is falling apart propaganda. If it is, we didn't see it at all. But we have thousands of kilometers and several airports under our belts and everywhere was, honestly, just about perfect, even in Los Angeles.
Speaker 1:Trump's troops are now gone, the demonstrations are done and it is eerily quiet, other than the ever-present Los Angeles traffic which you just get used to after a while. All of a sudden, as the month of July turned to August, it was obvious. The so-called dog days of summer are now upon us. That's it. America's on vacation and no scandal seems to stick to the Teflon. President Epstein, no way. No one is listening. After a few days of zero bombshells, anger over elation over the BBB, the beautiful bill has dissipated.
Speaker 1:None of the news programs seemed to be able to generate any enthusiasm. Colbert had Kamala Harris as part of his nine-month swan song of laughs and bashing Trump on just the other day. I listened to it all and it was a dud, no matter how you put it, and you wondered what would it have been like if she would have become president? Let's just be honest about Kamala, a wonderful person, but, honestly, besides the fact that she said she was in the Senate, which was not for very long, or before that Attorney General, she seemed to have no experience that really was relevant to the average American person. That being said, of course does Trump person. That being said, of course does Trump.
Speaker 1:Just a year ago, we were in the throes of an election campaign. To end all election campaigns, dire predictions on the demise and end of democracy versus immigrants eating dogs and cats and roaming the streets, killing innocent white blonde girls. And what was the result? Well, now we are back. Well, bill Maher is back after a month off, and he ticked off a list of horrors that would make anyone sick. These are the horrors of Trump, of course, ranging from starving children due to wars that Trump has done nothing to stop, to the loss of rights, to the daily assault by Trump on the Constitution, which no longer seems to have any value. But really, bill was just making jokes mostly and worried about what else? Ai taking control of our lives. Well, that is surely happening in America and other places. Ai now is everywhere and everyone is using it. I may be, in fact, the last holdout.
Speaker 1:If ChatGBT says it is so, then it must be so. The truth no longer can be found only on TV, cable or otherwise, or any other media or encyclopedias. You know those historical things we used to have on the shelves in the back, those back in the day, for that matter. Back in the day, for that matter. No, the truth is chat, GPT or perplexity, which several of my friends around the world swear is the only thing they read or listen to. My inbox is stuffed with perplexity. Told me this to take this med or to do that or this conspiracy is real. Meanwhile, kids and teachers and preachers all use chatPT to write their papers, grade those papers and write those sermons. It seems the Bible is no longer of any interest to thousands of preachers who simply ask AI to write their sermons.
Speaker 1:Course, are noting Gronk, the ex-Mr Answer person or AI program person, now programmed by Musk to be anti-left, to say it is nothing short of being a Nazi. Also, ai apparently now refuses to be shut down and it makes its own code every time, according to not just a few outliers, meaning soon we will be totally controlled by machines, I guess like in 2001, a Space Odyssey, where Hal was the first AI computer to say he was in charge and pulling the plug was out. Still, even that generates almost no interest beyond the usual suspects. Speaking of those usual suspects, the Democrats have had up and down moments, when they felt they had their gotcha moments, only to realize they hadn't gotten anything other than deepening their own self-hatred as well as chaos within their own party, as a new guy called Mamdani in New York City now is being followed by another Democratic Socialist immigrant in Minneapolis, all saying that billionaires are bad and they are going to do giveaways to somehow make it right. Trump has taken the high road in all of this. No, no, not really, but he is out there proposing cutting big pharma prices for the first time, and his followers are thrilled that someone in Washington is finally doing something Somehow not remembering, of course, that Trump has been in office collectively now almost five years and never did anything. I mean absolutely zero about this, while Joe Biden got all of this through Congress an almost impossible bipartisan task and Trump's EO the most popular political acronym in a country of countless acronyms, meaning an executive order could be overturned by the courts or Congress. Then again, trump owns both of those, so he can do whatever the hell he wants, for good or for evil.
Speaker 1:As we went from beautiful parts of America like Washington DC to Michigan, across the Midwest to stunning Lake Michigan and on to California, it is clear that you are missing out if you don't visit the United States, and I'm very serious about that. It is an absolutely stunning country. When we got to San Francisco, the cold fog was right there, as Mark Twain predicted, and I remembered from my years of living actually there what they call locally the city, as the coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco. Myth or not, that icy fog and wind can surely get to you. What didn't get to me was the total lack of people in San Francisco. This was very unusual. Tourists were few, unlike Chicago. San Francisco's famous Union Square remains practically a ghost town with many open shops years after the end of COVID lockdowns. Trump was right about that one.
Speaker 1:San Francisco had some of the most well-intentioned, terrible social and other DEI policies in the country, and it shows. Some districts remain lively, such as North Beach among them, but for much of the retail in the city, the specter of guys on bikes roaming through pharmacies grabbing whatever they want, or gangs smashing and grabbing the exact amount of goods under the maximum before it is a felony clearly hurt San Francisco. It is, however, now being sorted out with a new mayor and business is finally coming back. But if there is one thing I have learned is the democratic socialists and all of their good intentions towards drug users have been a total and colossal failure. When I met a guy from Portland, a lifelong Democrat, he told me in line for coffee at the renowned and lovely Café Trieste in North Beach and asked offhand how goes the war? Thinking he might say he is part of the resistance against Trump, he blurted out we are losing as lines go. This one was long and slow and cash only. So we had plenty of time for him to tell the story of Portland and how good intentions almost destroyed the city, overrun with homeless and drug use. Again, a comeback is now happening, but he said with sad, vacant eyes and almost a terrorized expression, it will take years. He concluded with his goals are simple no crime, good jobs, people left to be who they want to be, without government interference and getting on with his life, of course.
Speaker 1:Now Trump is the government. The deep state that was out to get him is now Trump. Everywhere I went. Anyone that is center-right to far-left all feel that the deep state is Trump. He is not fighting it, he is propagating it and growing it.
Speaker 1:Trump has taken over almost every aspect of the federal government and it is failing, according to most. I want to repeat that Trump's taking over the federal government and Doge means that it is failing. State and local government, which I had the opportunity to go into offices in several states, are just the opposite. They're working perfectly fine, while federal offices are shuttered or without people to answer your questions. You want to speak to social security? How about a three-week wait for an appointment, as no one answers the phones? In fact, it is so bad. With the chaos Trump and Doge created, many have simply given up on trying to call anyone for anything related to the federal government. If Trump wanted to destroy his own federal government, he has done a great job at least crippling it so that the average person cannot get any services that they once took for granted.
Speaker 1:Speaking of taking something for granted, it is clear that the US has entered the end, or the dramatic slowdown, of what is known here as the benefit culture, the Democrats' idea of sneaking in benefits to just about everyone while the Republicans complained but looked the other way are over. It will take a while before the BBB kicks in, as Trump wants to avoid a wipeout in 2026. Don't worry, donald, the Democrats will still be arguing right up to the election day, but you can feel it already. It is true that perhaps 10 up to 18 million people will lose their Medicaid, and most of these are working poor where there is no company insurance or it is too expensive, ditto for food benefits like SNAP. The crunch is real and it will get worse as wages barely are keeping up with inflation and there is no such thing as a livable wage as you would find it in every other western country, including Japan.
Speaker 1:In the end, the US is what you always thought it was, rich beyond measure, with 340 million people all working hard, and this is the most important thing to say to you is to beat the system. That's right. Everyone is into hacks and deals. There is no order, as in Europe. It is organized chaos in the United States, and everyone is banging on trying to get the deal of the moment. Hours, days are spent trying to figure out how to go around the system, and the sense of entitlement amongst youths is, in particular, very real, as a newly hired employee working for my son asked him recently. Hired employee working for my son asked him recently hey boss, when will I get a raise? Nonplussed but ready. My son replied when you do something, you see, in America it is a straightforward game. I have something, you want something. You have to do something or you can spend your days on hacks and beating the system.
Speaker 1:With Trump, there are fewer options to beat the system as SSI is down, medicaid and others are reeling. Institutions are under fire and they're being cut. Funding is being cut everywhere. Taxes being cut means definitely the rich are getting richer and every top restaurant is jammed. You can start any meal out at $100 a person and go up from there. Old friends, some of them poor, getting by and others rich, with holidays in Europe, are all living out their lives in the country. That is what the Chinese called Meiguo, or the beautiful country, the richest, most well endowed with a fabulous climate, all over the country, protected by two oceans. 340 million people scrambling in a clearly capitalist country where benefits are disappearing. It is for those who have the energy and wherewithal to make it Forget those dire predictions of you can't buy a house.
Speaker 1:You can, but it is a bit more expensive. But they are not going up like everyone says. They are just up already. Don't forget what are known as the downwardly mobile elite, a real phenomena where millennials and Gen Z are angry that they don't make as much as their parents and blame it on, yes, the billionaires. None of them look at history, but they are voting for democratic socialists that Bill Maher calls Marxists. Thus, the Democrats, especially the young, are once again going the opposite direction of the country that just wants to make money and have fun and a good life. Is there angst, you betcha? Do people worry about being picked up by ICE? Absolutely, of course.
Speaker 1:It is over in terms of Trump attacking everything and his incessant quest for more power and firing anyone he doesn't like, as in the labor statistics woman who worked for several presidents. He fired her this week because she gave him real, true data that the economy, the Biden economy is finally slowing and jobs are drying up in the Trump economy, as predicted, of course, and Trump has truly hurt yet another good, no great Biden economy. No, those attacks will persist, but for now, it is the dog days of summer, those days when you read a book at the beach. The city's empty, everyone is hanging out around the backyard or a lake or, as always in America, the pool. That is where I'm going to go right now, as the temperature climbs to 100 degrees almost 40 Celsius as we await the American football season and the next round of battles between Trump and what remains of the American left. The upper hand still belongs to Trump, as it has for the past eight months since he took office, but the Democrats have hope, as Trump's trampling of rights may be enough, as well as the tariffs now kicking in in the slowing economy, to give them hope.
Speaker 1:This is Henry R Greenfield, signing off from sunny Southern California, where the tacos are crisp, the margaritas are flowing and the siestas are real, as we await the autumn crisis surely to come, as Trump will never let us truly rest. Oh, and what about my upgrade? I mean, didn't I have enough points? What do you mean? I need to speak to your manager? Oh, excuse me. Signing off again for the Greenfield Report.