Amna Nawaz
@PBSNewsHour·5.3M subscribers·62.2K videos
Are America's divides creating a crisis of cynicism?
Posted
July 4, 2026
Views
14,139
Likes
1,033
Engagement
7.31%
July 4, 2026
14,139
1,033
7.31%
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1:42Now PlayingMany Americans have concluded that "no one is looking out for them," according to The Atlantic's Tim Alberta.
He shared his analysis on a special edition of Washington Week with The Atlantic, which focused on the nation's 250th birthday and where the country is headed.
Alberta added that those feelings contributed to President Donald Trump's political rise.
"These are people who have become sort of deeply cynical, deeply calloused," he said. "I think, in that space of real wounding, there is an opportunity for them to be preyed upon and to be manipulated and to be demagogued, and that is where certain actors in American life have been very successful."
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