It&#x27;s easy to forget sometimes that our leaders are still humans. Bill Clinton was as human as Saddam Hussein - the only difference is that the US has strong institutions to check the powers of its human leaders, so Bill never became a Saddam. People like Donald Trump rise when when those institutions are rattled either internally (the GOP sold itself to hurt Obama) or externally (9&#x2F;11 rattled the national apparatus and consciousness so much that the Iraq war was greenlighted, despite the tenuous link there).<p>The key is to focus on the institutions. As long as the institutions remain strong, we may be able to weather the occasional rogue leader.