In the FT, Edward Luce worries about a loss of dignity that is reflected in contemporary politics.

Republicans generally favour liberty over equality and Democrats the reverse. Other people’s dignity is not up for grabs. Mr Trump’s hostile takeover of the Republican party has shredded that equation. … “You walked out of a Reagan rally in a spirit of optimism,” says Stuart Stevens, an adviser to Republican nominee Mitt Romney. “You leave a Trump rally ready for a fight.” …

… Luigi Zingales, recalls an event … The shocking part was not Mr Berlusconi’s boorishness but the audience’s wild applause. “Such approval would have been unimaginable before the rise of Berlusconi,” said Mr Zingales. “There is no way of measuring the degree to which he has debased public life in Italy.” The same applies to the Trump effect. But the quality of Italy’s democracy is largely an Italian affair. … What happens in America shapes the fate of democracy around the world. …

Mr Trump’s rise is bad news for our system of government on three fronts. First, he has shown you can rise to the top of the world’s most cherished democracy by scapegoating entire categories of people. … Second, he has made post-factual politics respectable. … Finally, Mr Trump has corroded faith that rules-based societies are self-sustaining.