Given the growing difficulties to reach meaningful consensus among all G20 members, Trump’s return is likely to accelerate the emergence of more pragmatic, mini-lateral initiatives between like-minded actors willing to move forward in a specific policy area, be it in the realm of security, climate, or trade.

If Trump’s new administration were to walk away from all elements of global leadership, U.S. democracy support would evaporate. More likely, however, is that Trump’s second presidency will see various shifts in U.S. global engagement but hardly a full abrogation.

Pernicious polarization is a process that divides an electorate into two mutually distrustful camps. It can be thought of as us-versus-them polarization. It occurs when politics is reduced to a single dividing line around some kind of identity.

Polarization is a mortal threat to democracy, and if the United States hopes to avoid violence and authoritarianism it needs to contemplate significant reforms to its political institutions and reinvigorate a commitment to a common purpose.

Today’s tech titans will do everything in their power to maintain their supremacy. But constraints from Europe and U.S. regulators, coercive pressure from China, Russia, and India, and the long arc of innovation belie an uncertain future.

Quick and transparent results, holding political actors accountable, curbing disinformation, and fostering cross-party collaboration are tools that any democracy can use to defuse tensions.

Democracies the world over are not being undone by disenchanted citizens but by leaders with predatory political ambitions that use all opportunities to defy constraints to their power.