American Breakdown: Why We No Longer Trust Our Leaders and Institutions and How We Can Rebuild Confidence

Wall Street Journal editor-at-large Baker argues in this uneven debut that the multiple crises afflicting America today all stem from a loss of trust. Asserting that “the last twenty years have been among the most dispiriting periods in the relatively short history of the United States,” Baker attributes this state of affairs to a common, corrosive factor: Americans have lost trust in “their leaders, in their important social and civil institutions, even in their common values and ideals, or ultimately in one another.” He blames the usual suspects: namely the misguided and mismanaged wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the lack of genuine accountability for the 2008 financial collapse, failures to accept election results, mixed messaging in response to Covid-19, biased media, and corporate greed. But Baker’s review of the facts is selective; he cites the Bible to disprove climate change. (“Weather events have been with us for some time.... The Bible is full of them.”) He is also less than scrupulous about being consistent; allegations that Trump colluded with Russia are both “mainly false” and “false.” This is a missed opportunity for Baker, a media leader, to begin to restore trust for Americans by finding common ground after a balanced diagnosis of current ills. (Sept.)