Americans are pointing fingers at Nigeria. They laugh at the corruption. They act like it is a foreign disease. They are wrong.

The rot is local. The US political machine is just a different version of the same decay. We see the same patterns of betrayal. We see the same hollowed out institutions. The mockery is just a distraction from the collapse at home.

The features of this global decay are undeniable.

• The death of public trust.
• The rise of political theater.
• The erosion of democratic norms.
• The comfort of ignoring our own collapse.

There is no difference between the joke and the reality. It is all just the same dying breath.