Trump is a symptom of a trend which has been going for about 40 years, and accelerated in the past 20 years.
It's system-wide.
It's not that rule-of-law was ever perfect in the US, but it was ahead of the world, and ahead of where it is today. Probably, it peaked a little bit after cases like Brown v. Board through around 1990.
From 1800-1900, there were more serious issues than today, obviously, but the baseline of comparison globally were largely dictators, kings, warlords, ..., as well as fledgling systems like the French Revolution and the Haitian Revolution.
1900-1960, the baseline was 2nd and 3rd world.
Today, the US is no longer in the lead, and to the contrary, towards the tail end of democratic developed countries. That's also a bigger club than in 1950.
It's system-wide.
It's not that rule-of-law was ever perfect in the US, but it was ahead of the world, and ahead of where it is today. Probably, it peaked a little bit after cases like Brown v. Board through around 1990.
From 1800-1900, there were more serious issues than today, obviously, but the baseline of comparison globally were largely dictators, kings, warlords, ..., as well as fledgling systems like the French Revolution and the Haitian Revolution.
1900-1960, the baseline was 2nd and 3rd world.
Today, the US is no longer in the lead, and to the contrary, towards the tail end of democratic developed countries. That's also a bigger club than in 1950.