Trump is useful for keeping the Democrats out of power, but who among his supporters really believes that he is any kind of real force for reform or renewal? It’s grift all the way down. I suppose there are lots of folks on the Left who really do believe that politics can change things for the better — that if only they defeated the Republicans, we would be on the road to recovery. It is pretty to think that, but they should keep in mind that half of America doesn’t believe that. Besides, most Americans — including them — have lost faith in other institutions. “Big Business” isn’t part of the NPR/PBS Marist poll above, but I bet people have little faith in our corporate masters. I know I don’t.

Nor is organized religion in that poll, but honestly, who has much faith in religious institutions? Reading Murray’s book, and encountering the lies upon lies that European governments of the Left and the Right have told the people about how this time, they were going to get tough on immigration, it’s impossible not to consider the US Catholic bishops and their years of lies about abuse. You can only lie to people so many times before they just won’t believe you anymore.

So, to what extent does this loss of faith in a wide range of institutions say about America losing its secular “founding myth”? After all, it is axiomatic in a liberal democracy that the people can be trusted to govern themselves. What if that’s no longer true? What comes next?

Put more pointedly, after Trump fails — that is to say, after even those who believed in him recognize that he is and always was a grifter, and never intended to do the things they hoped he would do — what will happen to our politics?