Populism in America is based upon a series of lies: that the American economy is failing; our middle class has been hollowed-out; and other countries are taking advantage of us. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Firstly, we are not a failing economy. The United States is an economic juggernaut; our GDP growth has significantly outperformed all major advanced economies including China. Our technological prowess is unmatched from internet services to artificial intelligence to scientific and medical discoveries.

Our universities are unsurpassed and the best and the brightest from around the world want to come here. We have the world’s largest and safest capital markets and we run the world’s financial payments system. The dollar reigns supreme as the world’s currency of choice.

Our world-class multinational corporations and banks dominate global sales, profitability and innovation. Our popular culture of music, movies and artistic achievement enthrall audiences everywhere. In short no country has ever dominated the world as thoroughly as we do.

Secondly, the middle-class has prospered, not been hollowed-out. Over the last two decades, per capita income has more than doubled to $82,000 per person – far exceeding other advanced countries. Our high labor productivity has rewarded almost all U.S. workers, making us the richest people on the planet.

The U.S. has been transitioning from low-skill, low-wage manual labor jobs to advanced manufacturing and cutting-edge services. We have left behind textiles and coal mining for aerospace manufacturing, software engineering and high-value legal, financial, scientific and managerial services. Still, we remain a manufacturing powerhouse, second only to China, but, because of automation, we do it with far fewer workers.

After years of relative wage stagnation, low income workers have recently experienced the fastest real wage growth of all income earners. And they have benefited mightily from free trade; lower income Americans’ consumption of high-quality, low-costs imports has risen by 2.6 times over the past half century – consuming vastly more than their 1960 counterparts (CATO Institute).

Thirdly, we have prospered tremendously from free trade and our alliances – not exploited by other countries. The greatest years of prosperity (in the history of this country) coincide with free trade and our world leadership since 1945.

Our military and global alliances are the envy of our enemies, but President Trump has destroyed decades of confidence and goodwill – our friends’ positive attitudes toward us have plummeted (Democracy Perception Index). You may say so what! But this matters hugely for our S&P 500 firms who earn 40%-80% of their revenues abroad and are increasingly encountering retaliatory tariffs, “Boycott USA” and “sell America” campaigns.

This Administration’s assaults on universities, scientific and medical research and our largest corporations are damaging America’s crown jewels. Trump is interfering in business decision-making by telling corporations where to invest, how to manufacture their products and what prices to charge. This is an unprecedented degree of state-controlled authoritarianism .

According to the best economic models (Penn Wharton, Yale Budget Lab, Tax Foundation), President Trump will achieve none of his stated tariff goals: tariff revenues will be insufficient to fund the Federal Government; the trade deficit will not shrink measurably; and, only inefficient industry, hiding behind high tariff walls will reshore, and they will give us high consumer prices.

Few countries come close to American economic and technological dynamism. But economic nationalism and populism are weakening key components of our success story. Fewer skilled immigrants are allowed into the country; prominent U.S. scientists are looking for opportunities abroad; and Trump’s tariff regime will extinguish the vigor and competitiveness of American industry. Populism is destroying America.