Is This Who We Are

I agree with the general point of Tumulty that it's wrong to imagine "we" are "better than this" despite everything (and not just our choice of presidents), but it doesn't emphasis enough that his too near re-election is an artifact of silly electoral college rules, not a pure expression of the will of The Amerkun People.

And "we" are informed by a news media that has failed at many steps.

In 2016, it was still possible to believe that Trump would grow and change under the weightiness of the office.

It was still possible to claim he was a moderate Republican, still possible to claim he was LGBT+ friendly, and subsequently, repeatedly, possible to claim that today, again, is the day he became president.

Who, exactly, kept claiming this? I kept reading it on the front page of the New York Times, and elsewhere.

Even now, are the public - at least the mythical swing and irregular voters - truly able to understand what's going on, given the obscuring conventions of mainstream journalism and repeated downplaying  of Trump's rhetoric? Even a well-informed voter needs a decoder ring. Sneaking the important bits past the editor in paragraph 17, and expecting everyone to just get it, is asking too much!

I don't doubt that between 27-40% of the population is absolutely thrilled with the worst Trump of liberals' imaginations, but there are other powerful people - including the too loyal opposition - who haven't done their part.

We're going to get a lot of this, and whatever the thinking of the person writing it, the basic message is: oh well, this is a democracy, and this is what the people want!