later. so it is -- things can change very quickly. the lights go out. the electricity goes, and people get very different very fast. do you worry about that in the united states, or do you believe this too shall pass regardless of how long this administration is in, that the institutions are strong enough? >> well, i think right now we've seen our institutions bent, contorted, but they haven't broken. and we had a midterm election that allowed one form of accountability in terms of house accountability to be put back in place that didn't exist for the first two years. and that at least puts the brakes on what can be congressionally blessed. but, you know, eight years is very different from four years. the hemorrhaging of expertise from our scientific agencies, the hemorrhaging of linguistic and regional expertise from our diplomatic corps at just the time we see conflict spreading and rising and, again, americans