I think the state of the press today is similar in some respects to how it was in the early days of the republic. I mean John Adams was throwing newspaper editors in jail for sedition. As contentions as things are today, it has been worse.
As far as Trump, I think he does what he thinks is best, particularly on economic issues. That doesn't mean he is always right but I don't think he has a hidden agenda. Tariffs are a bad idea (but he may just be using the threat as a negotiating tactic) and some of the cuts have been a bit heavy handed but I don't think the alternative of the status quo was better. There needed to be a serious reckoning with regards to government bloat.
As far as tech and jobs, until we get to star trek levels with replicators, I'm not sure it's going to make as big a difference as some people think. That's been the threat since the steam shovel replaced men with shovels (and probably before).
Thanks for the thoughtful comment. Yes, a look at history quickly reveals that things have been worse and we're not so special. My sense of Trump is that he's more interested in actually helping than he was in his first term, particularly after getting grazed by a would be assassin's bullet. I feel the same way about the tariffs and totally agree that business as usual is a guaranteed losing strategy.
I do think that we're still reliant on systems designed for a paper based world, and that modernizing these systems might eliminate a large number of jobs.