We have great leaders. What we have not had is great followers. Have you ever watched a football team with a great QB and a great coach but the rest were lousy players ? It is not a pretty picture.
True. But one mark of a great leader is to get people to follow him. Reagan managed that. The press worked against him 24/7, and tried to Watergate him with Iran/Contra, but it didn't work, because he reached out to people and persuaded them he was a good man.
It can be a fault of Democracies that they follow demagogues and populists to their ruin. After the death of Pericles, Athens followed Creon and Alcibiades, and as a result was destroyed by Sparta. It was the same Athens it was earlier, but it lacked another Pericles, someone who was both wise and persuasive.