I can’t stress to you enough how little this distinction matters to the rest of the world.

America elected Trump. Again. Knowing exactly who he was, and what he would do, because it’s just more of what he did the first time.

We don’t really care which specific Americans are to blame for that. The existence of good Americans is as meaningful to us as the existence of good cops.

This is why the relationship between America and its allies is never going to be the same again. We can’t trust you. Sure, maybe in four years Trump will be gone. Maybe he won’t. But, to paraphrase a French senator, we can’t put our security in the hands of a bunch of voters in Wisconsin every four years.

America held a trusted place in the world. That can’t happen anymore, because the American people have proven themselves incapable of living up to that trust.

At this moment, on a geopolitical scale, the two are synonymous.

The distinction only matters to those of us unfortunate enough to be in the US right now.