American carnage is real

President Trump began his presidency uttering the phrase “American carnage,” and the commentators scoffed. Every month, it seems, we get new evidence that the carnage is real.

More Americans are dying of despair now than during any time in history, a new study finds. Suicide rates are climbing. Alcohol deaths are, too. The picture on drugs is even worse, with overdose deaths tripling in the past 20 years.

These numbers highlight how off-base was the reaction to Trump’s line in his inaugural address. “Trump gives us 'American carnage,’” wrote New York Times editor Andrew Rosenthal, as if these problems didn’t exist without Trump. The Times editorial that day chastised Trump’s “fantastical version of America.”

“With sweeping exaggeration,” the editors wrote, “Mr. Trump spoke of ‘carnage.’”

Of course, the carnage isn’t merely in the inner cities. Hidden in the new death data from the Trust for America’s Health is a telling correlation. The states with the highest and fastest-rising suicide rates include Montana, Wyoming, and Alaska. The states with the lowest rates include Maryland and New Jersey. Roughly, suicide in America seems inversely proportional with population density.