THE PRESIDENT IS NOT A SUAVE MAN, BUT HE IS VERY TOUGH.

times as many incarcerated people per capita as Canada, there is a porous social safety net, and there are about 40 million designated poor people. Beneath all the tired pieties about constitutional government — which has assured freedom of expression and elections, and avoided violent changes of government — it is a rough and tumble place where politics at the highest level is a cynical, no-holds-barred battle of the fiercest, richest and most cunning. America is not complacent or degenerate, but it is not overly civilized either.

Much depends on which side controls the prosecutorial apparatus. As many (including me) predicted at the time of Watergate 50 years ago, the country crossed the Rubicon into very dangerous and unknown territory with the criminalization of policy differences. Richard Nixon get traction for impeachment. The media led the assault on Nixon, an ancient foe, and was somewhat restrained about Clinton, a kindred spirit. There is not the slightest hint of an illegal offence by Trump. The last six months of the former administration were spent tearing up the floorboards looking for evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. None was found. The ousted FBI director, James Comey, confirmed to the bipartisan leadership of the Senate intelligence committee that there was no evidence against Trump. Comey, it will be recalled, announced in July that Hillary Clinton had effectively broken a number of laws, but recommended against prosecution, which was grossly in excess of his authority. (He should have made his recommendation