You’re using the wrong metric. “Were we better off?” is a vague question and the answer depends on whether you’re referring to the daily lives of Americans or to the power struggle we’re engaged in (and have been for decades). With regards to daily life, things were worse in Jan. 2021 than in Jan. 2017.
But strategically, we’re in a better position today than we were at either of those two times. The people have turned on the Democrats, they’re losing key parts of their constituency, and Trump is headed for a landslide and a mandate to do what he was prevented from doing in his first term.
That’s how wars work. The colonies had to go through the low point of Valley Forge in order to get to Cornwallis’s surrender.
The point is that we were more under the thumb of the federal government (and our own military!) than we may ever have been in history.
Most of the bad legislation was already passed, but Trump set it in motion.
And you don’t hear a peep out of him on repealing all those bad laws!