Trump might not ‘fall’, but Reagan’s myth of America being that ‘shining city on a hill’ has fallen in its place. It has absolutely been exposed as complete bullshit. The same is true with regard to the likes of Musk Bezos Zuckerberg Wall Street et al, remaining at large and thriving but at the expense of a belief in capitalism.

It is hard to overcome childhood programming so it takes a while for citizens to realise. I spent a couple of months in Russia quite a while ago. I remember being told “We know our society is corrupt, you don’t know yours is.” The person that told me that was right.

I’m a Brit, the same thing has and is happening here in more or less the same way and starting at a similar time: with Thatcher’s 80’s policies that amounted to the last looting of empire, looting the remaining profitable bits of the British state itself on behalf of capital. American capital did the same thing but on a much steeper curve. We obviously display various cultural differences in response to this economic/political policy.

We even have completely credible evidence of a paedophile ring based in Westminster in the 80s that has been thoroughly brushed under the carpet. Not one mp went to Grenfell when that tower burned and children died due to avoidable issues, but they all trouped out to mourn when big ben had to be covered up for a bit due to refurbishment.

Add the abject failure of fossil-fuel-powered-[neo-liberal]-capitalism to deal with what could easily become the existential threat of climate change, and things get pretty depressing. I’m not sure when or where (as a species) we managed a fair and equitable society post-agriculture and writing. Maybe Aboriginals, or South Sea Islanders, or some of tribal Africa somewhere.