Selected aspects of the United States' condition on the threshold of Donald Trump's presidency

The aim of the article is to describe the contemporary situation of the US, especjally the most important domestic trends shaping governmental decisions and the American foreign policy. The proposed hypothesis states that in recent years we could observe a culmination of many domestic crises. In part one, the authors present the crisis of economic and social development models: low economic growth rate and growing public debet, the lack of balance in the area of gains associated with economic growth after the so-called Great Recession, and racial tensions. Part two presents issues connected with declining public trust in political elites and in governmental processes, including low Congress job approval rates, political polarization, the role played by party establishment, and financial resources in the primaries and presidential elections, the influence of interest groups on the government, and the rules according to which the US President is elected. Using selected example, the authors show how these domestic trends have previously shaped the US foreign policy and how this process is likely to continue. In conclusion, the authors argue that the most important challenge to the effective leadership of the US in the contemporary world are domestic problems.