GEW Intelligence Unit
The United States is at a critical juncture due to political polarisation and a deep erosion of domestic and global trust. In The Sick Man of the West, this trust crisis is examined through the lens of a nation struggling with the loss of faith in its institutions, disorganised leadership, and the geopolitical fallout from crumbling power. According to Gallup’s statistics, only 31% of Americans trust the media, and 36% outright reject it. This book builds the case that America’s fraying democratic fabric is underscored with consequences far beyond its borders. This decline was crystallised in the 2024 election, a pivotal moment in American history. Even before the election, traditional media—their trust eroded by digital outlets, partisan echo chambers, and non-traditional competitors—faced an existential question: can institutions built in a previous century adapt to a new trust landscape century? As the book explores, the answer is complicated. News has been relegated to a battleground, where objectivity is dismissed as bias and sensationalism reigns supreme. To make matters worse, the nation’s highest office has also devolved into a spectacle.
The second term of Donald Trump is continually speculated on, serving as a dreadful benchmark: will his worsening approval ratings, which were a dismal 47% with independents during his first term, indicate a changed leader or a more fractured nation?
The term’ distant America’ refers to the perception of the United States from a global standpoint. America’s diplomacy has perplexing elements, such as pondering the annexation of Canada or offending European allies. At the same time, cosy up to Putin—the US is now referred to as the ‘sick man of the Occident’, a sadder semblance to what it was pre-war. This internal strife creates global repercussions. If citizens of a superpower do not trust their system, what can the rest of the world hope for from their governance? A key argument of the book is that credibility is exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, to regain once lost. In the meantime, allies doubt American promises, while adversaries like China seek opportunities to fill this gap. China’s growing influence is not presented as a clash of ideologies but rather as a methodical exploitation of American self-induced harm. In an unofficial sense, a cold war of influence begins—one where China’s strategic calmness is set against America’s chaotic debacle. Nevertheless, the situation is not beyond saving.
The Sick Man of the West critically examines whether the US can reconcile its principles with the stark realities it faces.
Are media organisations able to innovate while still maintaining virtue? How can trust be restored in the context of deepfakes and misinformation? The book ends on a sobering note: If the US does not address its self-inflicted wounds—the polarisation of facts, the obsession with individual leaders, and the retreat from global cooperation—the nation faces casting its decline in stone. Everyone is observing, witnessing a superpower that cannot even manage to guide itself.
