Steady

Bruce Springsteen is our country’s conscience – an artist who can tap into the feelings of a nation and express them poignantly and pointedly in song. He did so after the September 11 attacks with his album “The Rising.” He was accompanied, fittingly, by the E Street Band, for the first time in more than two decades. Springsteen said he was encouraged to create the album by a stranger.

Donald Trump speaks in Dallas on Wednesday night. Credit: Getty Images Call it what you want, a dividend, payola, or a straight-out bribe. It would be sad if it wasn’t so alarming. There he was, the president of the United States, promising to pay every American adult $5,000 if Republicans retain control of the House and Senate. Imagine any president in American history making such an offer without being impeached the next day.

It doesn’t get much more awkward than this. With gas and food prices soaring, a self-started war showing no sign of ending, and polling numbers plummeting, Republicans and their president are gathering in Dallas to celebrate — their word, not ours. Donald Trump is rallying the faithful for a midterm convention to “celebrate our achievements and bright future.” The convention covers two days, which seems way more time than is needed to tout the accomplishments of this administration.

We are going to take a trip to Cuba via Miami for this week’s reason to smile. That’s because we are celebrating Cuban-American superstar Gloria Estefan’s 69th birthday. September 1 is not only the day of her birth, it is also the day she married Emilio, her partner in life and in music. Gloria and Emilio, both Cuban exiles, put Latin music on the map and on your radio in the 1980s. Their “Miami sound,” Latin rhythm infused with pop and R&B, became a worldwide sensation.

Turns out we Americans are taking an important part of our lives for granted. We’ve assumed for a long time that our groceries are safe, that food inspectors are on alert, and that it would be foolish, reckless, or just downright dumb to eliminate government workers whose job it is to keep us from eating contaminated or bacteria-laden food. All those assumptions have gone the way of $5-a-pound hamburger meat.

We live in an age of amazing advancements in communication. Technology has given journalists the ability to report from anywhere in the world with a phone and cell signal. That is why it is so ironic that a war being fought in 2026, a war that is costing American lives, untold billions of dollars, and large chunks of the country’s reputation, is happening in such secrecy. And that’s just the way Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth want it.

To remain steady during Trump’s second reign requires an iron will. There are days when the actions of this president are heartbreaking. Others when he’s an embarrassment. On this day, it is both. Just when you think you’ve been hardened against Trump’s petulant histrionics, he strikes again, now threatening to do to another monument of our democracy what he did to the East Wing of the White House. If he doesn’t get his way.

The American economy is not in a good place. That is reportedly, supposedly, allegedly a major concern of the White House 71 days out from the midterms. But up to and including today, we’ve seen little evidence the president cares much for anyone who isn’t a megadonor or a relative. But Americans, working Americans, many of whom still climb into their cars or catch a bus early each morning and don’t return home till dark, are in serious distress.

Neil Diamond’s name has become synonymous with feel-good easy rock. It all began one hot August night. Well, ten, actually. In August 1972, Diamond headlined ten sold-out shows at The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. One of those performances, 54 years ago on Monday, was recorded and released as the double album, “Hot August Night.” “‘Hot August Night’ captures a very special show for me. We went all out to really knock ‘em dead in LA,” Diamond recalled of his best-selling album.

A big reason people say they voted for Donald Trump is because of his alleged business expertise. He claimed to be a successful businessman, after all. He flew around the world on private jets and had buildings named after him. A majority of the electorate believed the U.S. economy could use someone like him to give it a needed push. That turned out to be one of his many cons. Fast-forward 19 months, and many sectors of the economy are worse now than before Trump returned to the Oval Office.