I pretty much stopped reading here.
Understandable - that was an unwarranted (and utterly false) accusation. Ann is being a petulant bitch, again, which greatly detracts from any serious point that she may be trying to make.
And BTW, I think the scenario is more that both the U.S. and Western Europe are turning into "Rome". The analogy can be chased further down the road with comparisons involving the eastern and western Roman empires.
That is her one (of two) gratuitous anti-Trump remarks. The rest of her essay couldn't be more spot-on. It's one of her best works in recent times. She could have left that nasty (and false) anti-Trump remark out, but I guess she can't help herself. You should read the entire piece -- only takes a couple minutes.