If the collective wishes of “liberal” America came true, the 45th President of the United States, Donald Trump, would long have left the Oval Office in disgrace. Instead, it is Trump who has in the past two years mocked and outraged the sensitivities of the Washington establishment with impunity and shook its very structure. The set of norms and work ethics he has introduced and the set of policies—economic and political—he has tried to pursue have sharply polarised the country and left the US almost friendless.
Much of the apprehension about Trump stems from his attempt to normalise relations with America’s traditional ‘cold war’ adversary Russia, heightened by the alleged connections, now under scrutiny, between Trump’s presidential campaign and Moscow. But his critics believe it has gone far beyond that, as the real estate tycoon-turned-politician threatens the values and principles cherished in America, as exemplified in impolitic behaviour practically every...