Bryant’s historical knowledge allows him to explain the success of the Right in overturning abortion rights and preventing meaningful gun control, while doing so in the name of preserving American tradition. That the Supreme Court is the final arbiter on issues we would regard as the preserve of the legislature — abortion, same-sex marriage, outlawing assault weapons — makes it the most powerful judicial body in any political system.

At times, his fascination with historical detail becomes overwhelming — a tougher editor might have jettisoned some of the stories and would certainly have been alert to repetition. But Bryant is a skilful writer, and makes judicious use of his own experiences, as in his concern for his children during yet another mass shooting.

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This book could well have been titled The Case Against America, as Bryant writes rather like a well-informed prosecutor, leaving no possible fault undiscussed. Indeed, he writes rather as a spurned lover, whose initial fascination with the US has turned to complete disillusionment.

I sympathise with this view, having myself written a memoir which echoes much of Bryant’s disillusionment, although my infatuation is a generation older. But like any spurned lover, Bryant is prone to exaggeration. To link French President Emmanuel Macron’s desire for a more independent European foreign policy to apprehension about Trump is to overlook the legacy of Charles de Gaulle, who was equally suspicious of the Atlantic alliance.

Bryant is somewhat ambivalent about the future of the US: “The country,” he writes, “occupies this strange betwixt and between: abyss adjacent, but a step or two back from the edge.” Not since the end of the 1960s would an observer take seriously the possibility of civil war, and polarised as the country was then, there was still a commitment from both major parties to compromise.

Richard Nixon was forced from office because senior members of his own party told him to go. Today, the Republicans have been purged of anyone critical of Trump, so that a long line of politicians who have previously declared him unfit for office now grovel for his favours — often in person at the courthouse where he faces criminal charges.

Bryant offers no full explanation of Trump’s ability to capture the Republican Party, which has abandoned most of the principles associated with the Reagan and Bush presidencies. As Bryant argues, there are historical precursors of authoritarian political figures, but none have been able to galvanise the extent of support Trump enjoys.

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It is difficult to imagine an optimistic scenario for the November elections. Trump may not only win, but it is likely he will also gain control of the Senate, where the vice president has a casting vote, which has been crucial for much of Joe Biden’s term. But a narrow loss by Trump will undoubtedly lead to angry claims of vote-rigging and possibly civil disturbances far greater than the January 6, 2021, assaults on the Capitol.

Bryant has relatively little to say about Biden, who reminds me of Jimmy Carter, a president who achieved more than his public persona suggests. Compared to Bill Clinton and Obama, he has been the most progressive and effective Democratic president this century. If he is defeated, we may need to find solace in Martin Luther King’s observation that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice”.

Dennis Altman’s latest book is Unrequited Love: Diary of an Accidental Activist (MUP).

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