I Alone Will Break It

The Myth of the Strongman is Always a Charade

Aug 11, 2025

During his acceptance speech at the 2016 Republican National Convention, a boastful Donald Trump bellowed, "I alone can fix it.”

He claimed he would fix the immigration problem by building a wall that Mexico would pay for. It never happened.

He claimed he would fix our nation’s aging infrastructure with an additional $1 trillion in spending. It never happened.

He claimed he would fix Obamacare (the Affordable Care Act) by replacing it with a much better system. It never happened.

He claimed that his Tax Reform package would provide massive tax cuts to working families. It never happened. Instead, his cuts put an average of more than $60,000 into the pockets of the wealthiest Americans.

He claimed that he would fix the $19.95 trillion national debt. It never happened. It ended up $7.8 trillion higher.

It was all part of a deliberate propaganda and disinformation campaign to cause fear and uncertainty in the population, then offer himself as the “Strongman” —the only one with solutions.

While he didn’t fix it, the fix was in: Trump and his family took in more than $1.6 billion during his first four years as President of the United States.

Much like his career in the private sector, where he filed numerous bankruptcies, mishandled charities, ran a fake university, and stiffed contractors who worked for him, he alone always breaks it… for his own personal benefit.

In 2024, enough voters were willing to overlook Trump’s shameless business dealings, all the broken promises of his first term, his endless fabrications, election denialism, the Jan 6 insurrection, and a host of other misdeeds and major character flaws that historically would have been unacceptable.

They bought the line that he was a take-charge leader who would “get things done,” a strongman who would solve their problems and make their lives better.

But just like in his first term, he is already failing time and again.

He failed to end the war in Ukraine on Day One as promised.

He rocked global markets with his on/off tariffs, earning himself the nickname TACO for “Trump Always Chickens Out.”

He has dealt serious blows to the National Institutes of Health, AmeriCorps, the Department of Education, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of the Interior, the Department of Agriculture, Health and Human Services, FEMA, U.S. Agency for International Development, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Small Business Administration, the General Services Administration, the Office of Personnel Management, and the Internal Revenue Service.

He has enraged his devoted MAGA base by backing down on his promises to release the Epstein Files (and he has been furiously trying to change the subject ever since).

He alone cannot fix it. He is breaking it… for his own self-interests.

Trump and his family have taken in billions through Cryptocurrency ventures, real estate deals with foreign leaders, hawking Trump Bibles and MAGA bling, taking large donations for access and influence, and receiving taxpayer dollars for bumped-up security at his own properties.

Like most authoritarian “strongmen,” his carefully cultivated image is a fraud.