President Donald Trump seems infatuated with a part of America's past that never existed, according to a new column.
Journalist Molly Jong-Fast argued in a recent essay for The New York Times that Trump world appears to be trying to create America's second Gilded Age. The Gilded Age refers to the period between the 1870s and 1890s, when many industrialists and capitalists amassed extreme wealth. That timeframe inspired novels such as "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald and "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair.
But, as Jong-Fast argued, the version of the Gilded Age that Trump seems to be trying to recreate never existed in the first place.
"It’s important to be clear-eyed about Trump world’s nostalgia for a time that never existed," Jong-Fast wrote.
On one hand, Trump has embraced aspects of the Gilded Age, like tariffs and surrounding himself with lavishness. The last time tariffs on American imports were as high as they are under Trump was during the 1930s, when President Herbert Hoover signed the protectionist Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act to protect American farmers from foreign competition.
"So, it’s not a stretch to say that a return to the Gilded Age is a goal for Mr. Trump and his administration: They pretty much said so out loud," Jong-Fast wrote.
Similarly, Trump has slowly redecorated the White House with gold accents, most notably around the Oval Office. His plans to build a $200 million ballroom at the White House also reflect the Gilded Age, according to some analysts.
"It’s probably that version of the Gilded Age that Mr. Trump and Mr. Lutnick fantasize about, a kind of ode to hats, jewelry, seating plans, and white men who win," Jong-fast argued. "Those in the working class mostly know their place, and there is little actual poverty on view."
However, that version of the Gilded Age never existed. In fact, poverty was rampant during the Gilded Age. Part of the reason poverty was so rampant at the time was that workers had almost no legal protections, according to historians.
Trump's administration appears to be returning America to a similar state by seeking to reduce regulations on corporations, Jong-Fast argued.
"It’s not hard to see ourselves hurtling toward a crisis engendered by the anti-regulation financiers and oligarchs who make up Mr. Trump’s inner circle," Jong-Fast wrote. "They get theirs and the rest of us don’t matter much."