Whatever meaning we gain from the Trump years, the rest of the world has lost a good bit of its faith in America.

Since World War II, the United States had been the country to reckon with. Dictators might rail against us, but they had to take into consideration our condemnation. Allies might curse our pride, but they depended on us.

Now, although our allies may welcome us “back” with the Biden administration, they are never going to trust us as they did before Donald Trump appeared on the scene. If we went off the rails once, it can happen again.

Indeed, I’m not sure we can trust ourselves. The fact that our system would allow the election of one so unsuited to the office of president is, to say the least, unsettling.

Something has gone seriously wrong when Joe Biden, who takes his Christian faith more seriously than any president in years, gained so little of the white evangelical vote.

That Donald Trump was actually followed into a coup attempt calls for a period of reflection and mourning.