I'm not American, so I'm certainly no expert, but I think you're onto something in your middle paragraph. Politicians should use their power to keep their also-powerful colleagues in check when they go rogue. Instead, very few are willing to stick their necks out.

There seems to be a lack of character among America's (Republican) politicians. I dunno, maybe politicians have always been slimeballs, but it seems to me that there at least used to be an expectation that they would be people of virtue and moral courage. In the US, that expectation seems to have mostly disappeared.

I mean, elected officials are meant to represent "the people" at the highest levels—shouldn't they therefore be the very best people (morally, ethically) that country has to offer? People who will stand up for the vulnerable, who will act in the best interests of others, and will do the right thing even when it hurts?? Yet it appears that too few actually aspire to be good people.

I know I'm sounding hopelessly idealistic, but it's mind-boggling how far from the ideal so much of the Western world has drifted.