Trump 'Kind of Gorbachev' Seeking to Shake Up US Political Stagnation - Ex-US Diplomat

"I think we have been going through an extended period of, I would call it, a period of Brezhnev stagnation. Our period of stagnation is lasting longer because, I think, we have experienced it more than 10 years," Jatras said. "Trump is in some ways kind of Gorbachev figure, who thinks he can shake things up and save the American empire. As I said, it is going to lead to further destabilization."

Jatras believes that having Western powers as an opposing side made the Soviet Union experience stagnation relatively quickly.

However, the US has no peer rival now, which could make its path longer and more difficult for the entire world, according to Jatras.

Jatras is a former US diplomat who worked in the US embassy in Mexico and served at the State Department’s Soviet desk in the early 1980s. Later, he was a foreign policy advisor for the US Senate Republican leadership for many years.