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HISTORY
The Dutch Ate the Businessman Who Ended Their Golden Age
The willful destruction of the U.S. golden age
Alchemists long tried to turn lead into gold. None succeeded. Donald Trump, however, is the anti-alchemist. He has succeeded in the much easier task of turning gold into lead.
I don’t think any leader of any country at any time in history has so quickly, gleefully and purposely caused so much ruin. The American golden age is over.
No golden age lasts forever, of course. History shows us that these eras come and go. But you can speed up the ending, and Trump isn’t the first leader to do it.
Right now — with new tariffs tanking the stock market — this seems to be the first time that many Trump supporters finally realized that their guy was never a good businessman. He just played one on TV.
What we can learn from the Dutch golden age
Because I married a citizen of the Netherlands, I have leaned into Dutch culture. Copies of Dutch paintings hang in my dining room. My front walk is lined with tulips. I painted my kitchen floor Delft blue to coordinate with Dutch tiles.
And I learned some history, especially about the Dutch golden age, which ran from about the…
