Back in April, New York Times columnist David Brooks blamed Trumpism for the well-documented distrust Americans now have for institutions.

He described institutions as the "sinews of civilization," and listed several examples: legal systems, scientific institutions, news outlets, charitable organizations, and schools and universities. "These institutions make our lives sweet, loving and creative," he wrote, "rather than nasty, brutish and short."

He gratuitously concluded that the threat to those institutions is President Donald Trump.

Nothing could be more wrong.

Those institutions have grossly misbehaved in ways over time that lost the people's faith and confidence. And, to make matters worse, they became defensively and arrogantly resistant to self-correction.

Many institutions were their own worst enemy, and the resulting self-inflicted threat occurred long before Trump showed up. He was elected to remedy them--to make institutions great again.

This is what the establishment leaders in both political parties failed to perceive in 2016. And what Democrats, in particular, still can't seem to fathom.

Let's start with the politicians' primary territory. When Pew surveyed Americans in 1958, 72 percent expressed trust in government. By 2015, that number had plummeted to 19 percent.

It's hard to pin that on Trump, who wasn't elected until 2016.

More specifically, in........

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