Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan famously quipped, “Democracy is like a streetcar; you ride it as far as you need and then you step off.” He long ago abandoned even the appearance of democracy in Turkey, but he now exports his disdain for electoral democracy elsewhere.

Republicans who raised valid questions about the appearance of pay-to-play donations to the Clinton Foundation, and Democrats who raised valid questions about foreign money channeled to President Trump’s inaugural celebrations, should be on guard.