The dystopian world in which Australia would plough its own lonely furrow in the aftermath of an American collapse into itself is hard to imagine. So much would depend on the nature of that collapse and how quickly it occurred. America has endured parallels to the Donald Trump phenomenon in earlier decades, perhaps most recently during the campaign that saw Richard Nixon elected in 1972. Nixon did not so much serve the interests of the people who elected him as he did those of the people who backed him: the military-industrial complex, corporate America and moneyed individuals. His resignation in...