Trump's legacy includes an extremist Republican Party that tries to hold on to power by flagrantly undemocratic means, and an opposition pushed towar… - George Packer

At the heart of Obama’s narrative was a belief that progress, in the larger scheme of things, was inevitable, and this belief underscored his position on every issue from marriage equality to climate change. His idea of progress was neither the rigid millennial faith of Woodrow Wilson nor Bush’s shallow God-blessed optimism. It was human-scale and incremental.

In a sense, Americans expected a degree of fabrication from their leaders. After Jimmy Carter, in his 1976 campaign, promised, 'I'll never lie to you,' and then pretty much kept his word, voters sent him back to Georgia. Ronald Reagan's gauzy fictions were far more popular.

Progressives find it hard to imagine that there are others who in good faith don’t want the better world they’re offering and will fiercely resist it.