Hmm. This is an interesting article. I have a few observations.

There is genetic research linking the prevalence of certain genes to either individualism or collectivism. If Americans as a group have more genes predisposing us to individualism, then our smaller social circles are natural FOR US, even though they would be highly abnormal for other groups with a different genetic makeup.

For one interesting article on this topic, see https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2894685/, which was published in a peer-reviewed journal and therefore has some credibility.

2. Social ties vary by location in America. For example, in places like South Florida, where the population is always changing with people moving in and out, often from other continents, social ties are weak. On the other hand, in the South and Midwest, it is my sense that social ties are stronger.

3. Many Americans would rather have fewer close friends than more friends who are less close.

4. I wonder why this writer focuses SO MUCH on Trump when the most harmful president in modern times has been George W. Bush: a. A cruel war based on WMD claims that Bush was told were questionable. b. The Patriot Act with its reduction of civil liberties. c. Waterboarding and the outsourcing of torture.

Trump, while vicious in fighting already existing wars did not start new ones. Trump, while awful, is a piker compared to Dick Cheney, who visited CIA headquarters to drum up "evidence" to support the invasion of Iraq.

5. Trump's policies toward Latin American immigrants was disgraceful, but compare it to the treatment of Haitian immigrants detained in the Krome Avenue Detention Center. This treatment has occurred since the 1980s and persisted under both Republican AND Democratic presidents.