自由派的绝望

he first time around, there was something almost thrilling about Donald Trump as presi- dent. His administration furnished the virtuous with a kind of negative pole against which to define themselves. Here was a foolish and incompetent tribune of the nation’s racist vulgari- ans, opposed by the prosperous and the well educated, the civilized and the tolerant. It was somehow fulfilling to imagine him as a bumbling villain, a Russian operative of some kind, or Adolf Hitler returned to life. The re- spectable world came together against him with a gratifying unanimity: the legacy media, the nonprofits, the uni- versities, the think tanks, the tech sector, the intelligence community. Insulting this imbecile became the most rewarding pastime on earth. …