I am not the most political knowledgeable person so take what I have to say with a grain of salt.
American politics and elections to me have always been about the money in some way or form. Politics use economy as a way to draw in the masses. They promise that things will be better for them in their day to day lives, especially on a financial level. I can't say that I have seen this come to life.
On the contrary, it actually got worse because the last election was won by someone who actually used a project that would cost ridiculous amounts of money to realize as one of his strong points. Talking about Trumps Wall here of course.
Looking at things here in Germany, people are as unhappy about the political situation as people are probably everywhere on the world. Let's face it, being a politician most of the time comes with you giving away any chance of winning a popularity contest. Aside from the popularity contest called elections anyway.
With that being said, German presidents and representatives do not earn nearly as much as, say, the presidents of america do. Their lives are also not as extravagant and to my knowledge there have hardly if ever been any serious cases of corruption.
It is probably still a topic, the politicians want to keep businesses strong and growing for the sake of the population being able to work in useless jobs. But the band between democracy and capitalism isn't as bad as it could be.
America has a rich history of corruption at the federal level. Of that there is no doubt.
The really scary part today is that representatives and Presidents make huge piles of 'legal' money the way the laws are currently structured. Instead of being a life of service and dedication as elected office once was it is a pathway to certain riches. Sad, almost beyond all comprehension.
In a movie I watched a while ago, a queen once said that she is a servant to her people.
That's the mentality that we need.