Corruption in high places continues to plague America

The second Trump administration is thought by most historians to be far and away the most corrupt in American history, abetted by a compromised Supreme Court placing the presidency above the law and by the craven failure of a Republican Congress to exercise constitutionally mandated checks and balances. Former federal prosecutor and law professor Barbara McQuade describes it as "mob-style government," which it certainly looks like.

We may not yet be able to see the full repercussions of the Trump era in the economic data, but we see the psychological consequences all around us: a growing sense that economic walls are closing in, a skepticism in the electorate toward government competence and intentions, the mistrust of Americans by foreigners and the mistrust by Americans of each other.