A nation must think before it acts.
The fact of an insurgent President trashing liberal norms and democratic institutions with every twitch and tweet is but the most obvious symptom of a dysfunction that goes far deeper than mere politics. As fascinating as Donald J. Trump may be in a clinical sense, and as skillful as he may be in attracting attention as the omnidirectional freak show that he is, the proper focus of concerned Americans ought to be on understanding the conditions that enabled a man of his character to become President of the United States—and what we must do about them.