It makes me wonder if it's ever been anything but corrupt, except perhaps at its inception. The only thing that kept a lid on it was our being a republic.
There will always be some corruption in government, but it is about as deep as it can get now. We are turning into--or perhaps have already become--a sort of dictatorship as more and more of the government apparatus is being turned against the people and the political enemies of the "permanent political class". When you compare Putin and Xi with Zelenskyy and Biden, there is not a lot of difference...except that Putin and Xi seem to be winning at the moment. Putin and Xi seem to be trying to look out for what is best for their country, while Biden and Zelenskyy seem to be willing to sacrifice their respective nations for their own political purposes.
This is from Paul Harvey, and some early pictures of Donald Trump, when it was first suggested about running for President.
I love listening to President Trump when he was younger as I always thought of him as being just who we need for a President. Paul Harvey was wonderful, we've sure lost some good ones and the new ones coming up won't ever top them imo.