This is GPS, the Global Public Square. Welcome to all of you in the United States and around the world.

I'm Farid Zakaria coming to you live from New York.

We'll begin today's show with the extraordinary events in Washington this week.

The director of the FBI, the man in charge of getting to the bottom of Russian collusion in the American election, fired.

Is this a new war to get?

We'll bring you the latest news of the best analysis on this unraveling tale.

He was not doing a good job.

Also, Jared Kushner's sister was in Beijing last weekend selling a path to American citizenship for wealthy Chinese.

The real scandal is it's perfectly legal.

Meanwhile, once the richest country in Latin America, Venezuela is on the brink of collapse or civil war.

How did this happen? We'll tell you.

But first, here's my take.

As regular viewers know, I have tried to evaluate Donald Trump's presidency fairly.

I've praised him when he has appointed competent people to high office and he has and expressed support for his policies when they seem serious and sensible, even though this has drawn criticism from some quarters.

But there has always been another aspect to this presidency lurking beneath the surface, sometimes erupting into full view as it did this week.

Donald Trump in much of his rhetoric and many of his actions poses a danger to American democracy.

What makes the American system of government distinctive is not how democratic it is, but rather the opposite.

American democracy has a series of checks intended to prevent the accumulation and abuse of power by any one personal group.

But there is one gaping hole in the system, the precedent.

During his famous interviews with David Frost in 1977, Richard Nixon made a statement regarding Wartigate that has been mockingly quoted ever since.

Well, when the president does it, that means that it is not illegal.

In fact, Nixon was a smart lawyer and a close student of the American Constitution. He was basically right.

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