In 2003, George W. Bush defined the American character through PEPFAR, framing the fight against AIDS as a “work of mercy” and a moral “calling” for a blessed nation. This initiative brought the “light of a new day” to those in the shadow of death, using American power not for geopolitical gain, but for the preservation of human life. By saving over 25 million people, it established a “star in the universe” of humanitarian achievement that stabilized entire continents through the simple, profound act of empathy.
Bush and baby datahowillie
Decades after his most potent works were written, the words of Gil Scott-Heron feel less like historical artifacts and more like dispatches from a future he had already foreseen. The “Winter in America” he sang about in 1974—a season of political disillusionment, racial tension, and national malaise—has returned with a vengeance, manifesting in the polarized and profoundly disquieting landscape of the present day. To read his poetry and listen to his music in 2025 is to confront a sobering reality: the struggles he chronicled have not been overcome, but rather have morphed and intensified, finding a chilling new echo in the political climate of the second Trump presidency. 
