He worked to fix it for years. He was considered a hero by the people. But he just... gave up.
Not that I'm excusing what he did! Not at all. [he still can't help but defend Alexei, and he doesn't like that about himself. stupid, Flynn, that's the kind of thinking that made you useless to prevent Alexei's plot even when you saw the signs] Just -- the Empire was in a bad state for a very long time.