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b'America has never seen anything like this. Time and again, Donald Trump has attacked the very fabric of US democracy. He has called the press \\u2018the enemy of the American people\\u2019. He says that claims that Russia interfered in the US election are a hoax. And that the FBI - currently investigating his campaign - should be personally loyal to the president.\\n\\n\\nAnd it\\u2019s not just political institutions Trump is damaging, his opponents say: in America he has stoked racial tension, coddled Wall Street and given succour to the gun lobby. On the world stage, he\\u2019s alienated key allies, slapped $50 billion in tariffs on China that may spark off a trade war, and appointed the hawkish John Bolton, who has advocated regime change in Iran and North Korea, as national security adviser.\\nIf Trump is a new kind of threat, the big question is whether the damage he is doing to America will be permanent. Will the country that survived two world wars, the Cold War and the attacks of 9/11 really be put off its stride by a reality show host who could be gone in less than three years\\u2019 time? Or is Trump dismantling the robust system that has kept America united and irreparably damaging its standing as the most powerful nation on earth?\\n\\n\\nBut perhaps this is all liberal hand-wringing. Could Trump, in fact, be that rarest of things - a politician who delivers on his promises - and prove to be the reformer the American electorate voted for?\\n\\n\\nTo examine the political health and standing of the United States at this crucial moment,\\xa0Intelligence Squared\\xa0brought together\\xa0Ronan Farrow, former US government adviser and journalist, who has just been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for breaking the Harvey Weinstein scandal;\\xa0Mark Lilla, the American political scientist who hit the headlines last year with an article arguing that it is the left\\u2019s preoccupation with identity politics that opened the door to Trump\\u2019s victory;\\xa0Lionel Shriver, award-winning novelist and commentator; and\\xa0Brian Klaas, an expert on authoritarianism who claims that with every autocratic tweet Trump is edging America away from its democratic norms. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared.\\n \\n\\xa0See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.\\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices'