CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

Winning and Losing in the New American World

Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair

According to Donald Trump, the United States is “bigger, better, richer, and stronger” since he became president, lifting his new-and-improved MAGA slogan straight from the Olympics motto of “faster, higher, stronger.” If one is to define excellence by standard of living, healthcare, or life expectancy, however, the US falls short. Counting 2026 Olympic medals, the US (33) even finished second behind Norway (41), whose population is 60 times smaller, while many other competing countries also beat the US in medals per population (US 349 million, 33), including Italy (59, 30), Germany (84, 26), and Switzerland (9, 23).

For the world’s richest country by GDP, the US oddly fails in many basic categories: household and national debt (1), healthcare costs (1), and press freedom (57) as noted by European Commission VP Kaja Kallas. Inequality is also drastic: ten Americans (Musk, Zuckerberg, Bezos, Ellison, Page, Brin, Balmer, Huang, Buffett, Dell) have 50 million times more wealth ($2 trillion) than the average American annual income. All are men – the ultimate boys’ club lording protected privilege over all others. No wonder money is at the root of politics. Winning an election these days is expensive.

Sadly, the dividers characterize success by one word – winning – typically defined by money, no matter that winning comes in many forms, some not easily labelled and often holistically gleaned in prior loss. The American figure skater Alysa Liu dropped out of skating for two years, unable to enjoy her life, returning better for the break, and ultimately achieving success in Milan; not by an Olympic gold medal, but by finding joy again. As Liu noted, winning and losing is “just something that happens. It’s the outcome. But what matters is the input and the journey.”

The US men’s and women’s (ice) hockey teams excelled in their Olympic gold-medal pursuits, both beating Canada in hard-fought 2-1 overtime finals. In his typical louche way, Trump derided the women’s achievement, offering another casual misogynist remark about having to invite the women’s team to the White House after the men’s stunning victory. He then announced a presidential Medal of Freedom for men’s goalie Connor Hellebuyck, the difference-maker (42-28 shots) in an intense end-to-end final game.

But why not say good things about both teams and award the women’s captain Hilary Knight along with Hellebuyck? A five-time Olympic medalist (2 gold, 3 silver), Knight has captained the US team since 2023, has the most........

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