US economic show marred by zero-sum thinking

The brightest point for US President Donald Trump in his first year in office is definitely the economy - the lowest jobless rate this century, a relatively healthy GDP growth, and the robust securities and financial sectors thanks partly to deregulation and other economic incentives, have injected vitality into the US market. But the economic performance has failed to fully stabilize US society, as was expected.

The Charlottesville racist violence, the Las Vegas shooting, the terrorist truck attack in New York City, in which eight people were killed and nearly a dozen injured, and other violent incidents testify to the US' failure to address the social malaises and contradictions.

In the face of such problems, Trump has chosen to respond either by following the traditional but unhelpful Republican position or by resorting to a more radical "nativist" agenda, as represented by the "immigration ban". For a "country of immigrants", such an extremely conservative stance on immigrants will have negative effects, and the social fissure widened by the Trump administration is unlikely to be bridged in the coming years.