Bring an end to the Trump-led mess and gridlock in Washington

For someone growing up in, say, France or Brazil or Singapore in the second half of the 20th century, America would likely have been seen as a political and economic model that set the standards of freedom, progress and know-how for the rest of the world. "Like in America" meant that one's country was moving in the right direction.

Germans or Japanese or Mexicans would on occasion be critical of US foreign policy or hit the streets to demonstrate against this or that American president. But Washington, Congress and the US presidency nonetheless represented beacons of hope and islands of stability in an otherwise turbulent world. It used to be that when the US president spoke, the world would listen, as it looked up to, and…