But that's what "rule of law" means: that the rules also apply to the leaders. The fact that leaders in the US aren't held accountable for their crimes means the US does not have the rule of law, but the rule of power. Or the rule of money, probably. The rich are above the law and can buy the government.

Rule of law would prevent all of that. Or should.

Except that's fundamentally incompatible with "rule of law."

So whatever real-world thing being described would need a different term.

By that logic, nobody has lived under the rule of law ever, because it's only achievable in an ideal dream world.

* ty6853: "The car is reliable."

* Terr_: "No, there have been too many serious breakdowns."

* dns_snek: "It's reliably unreliable, so it still counts."

* Terr_: "No, that's literally the opposite of what it means to describe a car as reliable."

* arcfour: "Terr_! Stop demanding perfection! The universe is imperfect therefore true reliability is impossible!"

* Terr_: "No, goddamnit! That's not what I said! FFS, it's as if [RECURSION EXCEEDED]"