I tried to read the book version of The Odyssey by Homer. More than once. But I just can’t get there. Poring over fantasy based on myths seemed like a low yield on my time. But there are people who have made the calculation that myth sells. The producers of the recently released movie, The Odyssey, for one. Tom Kean, Jr., for another.

Kean, Jr. has done a hard thing. He shared that he suffers from clinical depression. This cannot be easy to live through or talk about. It was serious enough to debilitate him for about four months, and he is apparently still being actively treated for it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieFY4j5Nvdc.

But that has not stopped Kean, Jr. from campaigning. It has not interrupted his remarkable record of nonaccomplishment for CD-7 or the nation. Nor has Kean, Jr.’s truthfulness about clinical depression carried over into his re-election campaign.

Let me be specific. Tom Kean, Jr. is currently running on two myths: his irreplaceability on the SALT tax deduction and his leadership in “fixing” our healthcare system by ending fraud, waste, and abuse. The former is based on an implied assumption he wants us to make that (upon examination) is untrue. The latter is a foray into the surreal.

There is no question that Kean, Jr. pressed the Trump Administration for SALT relief. But not the relief given. Kean, Jr, was against any cap, and wanted the deduction to be permanent. https://newjerseyglobe.com/congress/now-that-the-big-beautiful-bill-is-law-heres-what-it-might-mean-for-new-jersey/. In the end, he got neither.

No matter. Kean, Jr. must have saved us. Why? Because if Kean. Jr. was for SALT, then the Democrats must have been against it. They were not. There was (and remains) a bipartisan consensus among New Jerey’s Congressional delegation on this issue. https://www.njspotlightnews.org/2025/04/capitol-hill-budget-talks-discuss-raising-salt-state-local-tax-deduction-cap/. You can check the positions of each of them on Ballotpedia. The point of departure, by party, was that Trump wrapped SALT relief up in the “Big Beautiful Bill,” which broadly assured the unsustainability of our country’s finances and, ultimately, our own. That unfortunate goal is being fully met. Today, our still accelerating national debt stands at just under $40 trillion. That is, 40 million million dollars.

Let me put that into English. Right now, the share of every American – every man, women, and child – of America’s debt is about $118,000. That’s individually. A family of four’s share is $472,000. Not all of which, of course, is attributable to Trump. Only about 11 trillion is. Trump only oversaw eleven million million dollars of new debt; about $32,000 per American, and around $126,000 for a family of four.

America is 250 years old. Our national debt is cumulative over that entire 250-year period. In five and ½ years, Trump increased our nation’s debt by almost 38 percent.

What have we heard from Kean, Jr. about that ?  “Not much” would be an overstatement.

On to surreality. Kean, Jr., is now claiming that, under his watch and from his efforts, waste, fraud, and abuse in our healthcare system have been fixed. Really?

Last year, government spending on healthcare was 1.8 trillion dollars. https://www.crfb.org/blogs/cbo-projects-high-federal-health-program-costs. This year it is projected to be about 2 trillion dollars. https://www.cbo.gov/topics/health-care. Is that number an explicit measure of fraud, waste, and abuse in this country? No – but it appears to be Kean, Jr.’s measure. Because the only thing Kean, Jr. supported regarding healthcare that I am aware of is the Big Beautiful Bill. Which did what – exactly? It cut the number of people eligible for subsidized government healthcare. Kean, Jr. now conflates that cut as the equivalent of ending fraud, waste, and abuse. Without ever explaining how one equates to the other. To the extent this all seems circular, it is a circle that Kean, Jr. made.

Here is another measure of our now “fixed” healthcare system. If you are truly wealthy, America provides the best healthcare in the world. If you are not, an AI analysis relying on  Commonwealth Fund and OECD data (the OECD is made up of 38 industrialized countries) ranks the US 40th. Not first. Fortieth.

Then there is a measure of Kean, Jr, the man. He can speak out when he has to. After 4 months of unexplained absence from Congress (and CD-7), he had to tell us why. Which Kean, Jr. then did to preserve any chance of re-election in 2026.

But when it comes to Trump’s (i) unilateral reordering of American values and institutions by executive fiat, (ii) his unraveling of our alliances, (iii) his failed promises to end the war in Ukraine in “one day,” bring down prices at home, and balance the budget, (iv) the badly mishandled war in Iran, (v) the President’s (frankly) bizarre self-naming epidemic, (vi) the reflecting pool debacle, and (vii) Medicare’s looming insolvency – to name just  a few - what does Kean, Jr. say - beyond platitudes - then?  You can hear it. We all can. Deafening silence. Not a word.

Why? You know why. It didn’t happen 4 months ago and has nothing to do with clinical depression. It is all about who and what Kean, Jr. is. Which is worth considering the next time you see a Kean, Jr. “problem solver” ad. Because the actual problem that Kean, Jr. now faces involves mythology. He seeks to overcome having not solved any of the real problems we face as Americans and New Jerseyans by pretending to have done so.