When I was growing up, Conservatives were the ones much more proud of US institutions, like the courts, universities, and even the free media, while Liberals and Leftists such as Chomsky were always criticizing these institutions, e.g. the media in the book Manufacturing Consent. (They criticized it as being too much a mouthpiece of the government.)

I find it interesting that four years of Trump's usual blame-shifting, together with his fan base, has resulted in Trumpists blowing way past the Leftists in their distrust of all US institutions. This is far beyond the Tea party's displeasure with government spending. Sure, Republicans distrusted scientists before, but now Trump supporters distrust the following for partisan reasons:

Media

Polls

Election

Scientific establishment

Medical establishment [1]

Universities

Courts (so-called judges[2], Mexican heritage[3] etc.)

FBI

CIA

IRS

and much more.

Are the institutions perfect? No. Is there fraud and corruption? Sure, but comparing to other countries relatively little, and probably less than in the past. But destroying Americans' trust in these institutions can be dangerous. I can understand dissidents doing it, but the President?

1. https://ctmirror.org/2020/10/18/inside-the-fall-of-the-cdc/

2. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/02/04/tr...

3. https://www.politifact.com/article/2016/jun/08/donald-trumps...