He was elected, despite his numerous faults - so he and his policies are emblematic of at least enough of the country to be politically relevant.

What does "political relevance" have to do with political longevity? We're not a fundamentally different country now than we were last year, and policies created with a pen stroker can be struck down just as easily. Anyone who thinks that Trump's policies are a good predictor of future US policy need to explain their rationale because it doesn't follow reason.

The rationale: we aren't a fundamentally different country now, and won't be fundamentally different after Trump's term is over.

Thus, no matter how progressive or good-neighborly future administration policies are, allies now have to build in the risk that every 4 years there will be a 50:50 chance that those policies will be reversed and any agreements voided.

How do you suppose one Trump election drives those odds up so high? And what percentage of international agreements has Trump actually voided? As bad as things may be, the sky isn't actually falling, and it does us no good to pretend otherwise.

Well, it's more like with each president over the past two decades, everyone became more aware that the US is not the benevolent/welcoming/whatever democracy it said it was.

And with Trump's open imbecilic statements, it's like a switch went off in people's heads - "hey, they US is really not the benevolent/welcoming/whatever democracy it said it was!"

It will reduce it's importance a bit for the next decade. Leave it to Trump's successors to strike the final blows.

I don't know why the fuck you guys are talking about the US and Trump in this thread, btw.