What happened to the dream?

First, President Joe Biden's withdrawal from Afghanistan, after 20 years of war, had about it the aspect of Saigon '75.

The rout of our Afghan allies and humiliation of our departure delivered an irretrievable blow to Biden's reputation for competence.

There followed the visible failure of the administration to defend and secure America's southern border as 2 million migrants from all over the world poured across in Biden's first year.

Then came a surge in crimes of violence, shootings and murders in major cities. And people recalled that our media and political elites who had cheered on the Black Lives Matter protests and excused the riots after George Floyd's death had echoed the BLM-Antifa calls to "defund the police!"

Also, suddenly, an inflation rate not seen in 40 years was back, driving up the price of gasoline and groceries and everything else at a rate of 7.5%.

Then came news that the U.S. trade deficit, which helped to propel former President Donald Trump into the White House, was at an all-time record of over $1 trillion, and the national debt had crossed the $30 trillion mark, exceeding the entire U.S. GDP.

Late in Biden's first year, COVID-19 reached its omicron stage with infections, hospitalizations and deaths suddenly exploding again to record numbers in a pandemic deep into its second year.

Then, there were the manifestations of cognitive decline in the president, seemingly with each new televised appearance.