text: A friend observes that in Chinese history, when the power of the emperor is exercised by someone else, and the real emperor is only a "puppet emperor", that marks not just the marginalization of the emperor but the beginning of the end of the dynasty. Obviously, the parallels are inexact. But we should not miss the significance of the fact that the power of the presidency is now being exercised by a surrogate who has embraced frankly racist and anti-Semitic views. Our "experiment" in democratic self-government is relatively new in the long history of the world; there is no guarantee that it will survive. In the run up to the election and to the inauguration of Trump, I expressed several times my confidence that our Constitution and institutions are strong enough to survive his presidency. I still believe that; but I have been stunned by emergence of a neo-Nazi as the de facto president. Every day that Donald Trump is president, the presidency is demeaned and the country is diminished.