What Happens When The American Dream Explodes?

By Sidney Plotkin & Bill Scheuerman

Photos: Wikimedia Commons

“The American Dream is Back,” President Trump boasted during his July 4, 2026, speech on the National Mall. This is the same man who said, “I love the inflation,” as he constantly assures us that affordability is a Democratic hoax. Trump no longer even pretends to give lip service to addressing the economic issues he ran – and won – on in 2024. As the New York Times just reported, Trump’s wealth has increased by over two billion dollars in the 15 months since he returned to office again. And much of this newfound wealth came from crypto-currency transactions that he directed the SEC to ignore. 

While Trump’s raking in big bucks, climbing inflation is wreaking havoc on families’ budgets. Rising prices of groceries, rent, and gasoline have caused 80% of Americans to change their spending patterns as many face the choice of either paying rent or skimping on groceries or medicines. Additionally, as Forbes just reported, five million Americans lost their health insurance when Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill cut subsidies for Affordable Care Act coverage. Homelessness is on the upsurge even as the President bans homeless camps. Burdened by huge loans to pay for college, young people – those between the ages of 18-29 – who can’t find decent paying jobs are among those hurting the most. 

Small wonder, then, according to a recent Gallup poll, a majority of Americans no longer believes that everybody still has the opportunity to achieve the American Dream. Clearly, the billionaires disagree. While most Americans are struggling, the rich and super-rich are living the Dream and making out like bandits in what Trump calls the “golden age of America.” As of January 1, 2026, Federal Reserve data reveal that the wealthiest 10% of households own over two-thirds of all wealth. The top 1% of the population – those who have at least $13.7 million – own 31% of all wealth, just a bit less than the entire bottom 90%. 

But it’s the billionaires, including the household names that frequent the White House and contributed over two billion dollars to their favorite candidates in the 2024 election, who are prospering the most. Elon “Chain Saw” Musk, for instance, surpassed Jeff Bezos on the Fortune 400 List in 2022 with holdings of around $400 million. Since then, he’s more than doubled his wealth and has become the world’s first trillionaire! Sam Walton, Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos aren’t trillionaires yet, but they are bounding their way upward. While the rich are getting richer, the National Bureau of Economic Research reports that the bottom 40% of U.S. households are losing wealth. They now owe more than they own. Political and economic forces are creating levels of inequality that signal plutocracy, not democracy.

The American Dream – the belief that anyone can get ahead with hard work, honesty, and a little luck – is most famously celebrated in the works of Horatio Alger. His hero, Dick Hunter, is a homeless orphan who escapes poverty by lifting himself up by his bootstraps to become a successful businessman in 19^th century New York City. Over the years, most Americans bought the myth: if you fail financially, it’s your own fault, not that of an economic system structured on inequality. A struggling economy, the decline of opportunity, the emergence of record-setting economic inequality, and the blatant hypocrisy of our political leadership are lifting the veil off the myth. The Dream is no longer deferred. As Langston Hughes presaged, it exploded. What, then, are the consequences for the future of American politics and society?

When Americans see the dream as unattainable, they want action. And that’s exactly what’s happening. According to a recent Quinnipiac University poll, 57% of the population say democracy in the United States is not working and 55% believe that the political and economic systems need restructuring. The real question, then, is which direction this change will take. There has always been a strong anti-democratic voice in American politics and recent polls indicate considerable support for an autocratic government. In fact, almost 30% of the population believe a “strong” leader like Trump who governs without the checks and balances of Congress is just what this country needs. But even that’s not enough for 16-20% of the population who think military rule is a good option. 

There is another strand of American politics that appears to be on the ascent. The pro-democracy movement personified by the massive “No Kings” protests is a reaction to the autocratic behavior of the Trump administration. Early demonstrations brought millions to the streets. Then, this past March more than 8 million participated in “No Kings” demonstrations in over 3,300 locations across the country, making it the largest single-day protest in American history. Accompanying the protests are electoral victories of progressive candidates who support fair taxation, universal health care, and other policies beneficial to the working and middle classes. 

The United States is in a historic crisis. The country is now heading rapidly toward autocracy. This is not hyperbole. Endless flaunting of his 2020 election lie, Trump is sowing seeds of deep popular distrust in American elections, even as his Save America Act will make it harder for millions of Americans to vote. Recent Supreme Court voting rights decisions push in the same anti-democratic direction. Will exposing the American Dream for what it is – a myth – take us further down that road, or will broad-based democratic movement reaction reverse this trend and set the stage for making the American Dream a reality for all. The jugular question of our time is what will happen to our republic. Voters will give us an answer on November 3, 2026.

Sidney Plotkin is Professor of Political Science and Margaret Stiles Halleck Chair of Social Sciences at Vassar College.

Bill Scheuerman is Professor Emeritus at SUNY Oswego and former President of the National Labor College.