Autocrats dump their democratic allies and keep the company of kleptocrats.
Since the earliest days of the republic, America's international friendships have shaped domestic politics. And some of those friendships helped America strengthen its democratic principles. So what happens if America's new friends are autocrats? John Bolton, former national security adviser for President Donald Trump, and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island argue that if America no longer leads the democratic world and instead imports secrecy and kleptocracy from the autocratic world, American citizens will feel even more powerless, apathetic, disengaged, and cynical.