Quote Originally Posted by rory_20_uk View Post
Obama was a lawyer for a long time before he was President, and by all accounts continued to act like one - very detailed focused, generally cautious and slow to act.
Trump is a... "personality" of little substance. And by all accounts he is continuing to act like one - views life as a reflection of TV, decisions should be decisive and made quickly; ratings = "winning" and detail = loosers.

Some genuinely prefer the second way of behaviour. They think government is too slow, are xenophobic and are anxious about how their life is not improving and blame this on everyone that is not them.

Obama did many things that were wrong - but he did it in a "normal" manner so most things happened behind the scenes or at the very least in a lawful way. Trump prefers to do things as gestures with little interest in whether things are lawful since no one will follow the boooooring case through the courts - least of all his supporters.

There are many things structurally wrong with the political system in the USA - many because things haven't been altered in over 100 years when the country was much more rural; others such as the electoral colleges are no longer required - direct voting with a decent AV system would be more likely to get a candidate that more people liked or a more balanced system of votes in at least the House if not the Senate as well.

But comparing it to other large bodies - which only the EU, India (and arguably China) exist it is the best by a country mile. Which itself is rather depressing.

The UK system has the potential to be much better. However, the most important and powerful component in the UK system, the Commons, is currently at its worst I've ever seen. Another of its components, meant to hold it to account, the press, is also atrocious. They are institutionally good, but the individuals currently populating and driving them are awful.