Trump’s corruption leaves us cynical – and complacent (opens in new tab)

Impunity breeds popular cynicism, and cynicism undergirds autocracyAs his mentor , Donald Trump never admits wrongdoing or apologizes. But he occasionally evinces something resembling a qualm. In October, considering against the government for $230m in compensation for federal investigations against him, he reflected on his own appointees deciding on the payout and him signing off on it. “It sort of looks bad, I’m suing myself, right?” he said. “So, I don’t know.”That month, when he to build ...