That concept of “Public Trust” is a tough one for Republicans and Democrats. The interests of the Public Trust as a concept are people’s faith in government to “do the right thing”, and is a foundational principle for democracy as a concept.

It’s interesting this Pew Research data that shows a constant erosion of the public’s trust in government overall, while it is noted that each party tends to trust the government more if “their guy” is in the Whitehouse, what’s remarkable is the erosion of trust as a pattern that’s now regardless of whoever’s in office.

This thermocline inversion of trust overall is why the US is totally fucked. Nobody trusts their democratically elected bought and paid for by special interests representatives to do the right thing for the public overall, but only for the special interests that elected selected them.

I’d love to know what the perception of the public trust was back in the mid to late 1800’s during the gilded age. I’d bet that it’s similar to today’s sentiment of corrupt fat cat politicians and gluttonous profiteering at the expense of workers and natural resources.

Source: Pew Research on the Public Trust in Government from 1958-2023