UNDOING THE WORLD AMERICA MADE MR. TRUMP GOES TO DAVOS

Could this be it? Might the American Century actually clock out at just 72 years, from 1945 to 2017? No longer than Louis XIV ruled France? Only 36 months more than the Soviet Union lasted, after all that bother? The question sounds preposterous.

For one, there is the unrivaled U.S. military. For another, there is the U.S. economy, still larger than any other. But then there’s the U.S. President, who in the name of making the country great again has renounced the global architecture that the U.S. designed, championed and dominated for generations. It’s the very international system that did so much to cement American greatness in the first place. Pulling out of it won’t be easy—kind of like playing Jenga wearing mittens—if it’s possible at all. But Donald Trump has gone about trying with brio.

To recap, the U.S. emerged from the devastation of World War II as the most powerful nation on the planet. In his last