Is there anyone who can claim, in the American tradition, that they are confident of a better future?

Looking for leadership, Americans come up short. The best our system could produce last election was two geriatric candidates. Biden, elected, has done little to move the nation past COVID. He hid behind our national exhaustion with Afghanistan to not suffer a greater political defeat over the botched Gotterdammerung in Kabul. His open borders policy created a massive humanitarian crisis and a growing political one as an unknown number of immigrants play a version of Squid Game to flood America. The Border Patrol marked its highest monthly total of migrant encounters since Bill Clinton was president.

The president can’t even exercise leadership over his own party. It appears his signature infrastructure bills and social spending initiatives, if they pass at all, will be more symbolic than transformational. In the background, police reform legislation failed, and most defunded departments have been refunded to face down rising crime. “Disappointed” is likely the term most Biden voters would be apt to use. “Bystander” might be another.

America alongside all this has become a deeply cynical place. We were once, to the annoyance of most of the world, an endlessly optimistic place. Now we take for granted that AOC and the media would be at the border for the Trump Kids in Kages spectacular but missing when an even worse situation unfolds on Biden’s watch. We roll our eyes when the media tells us what we’re hearing isn’t what we’re hearing but instead is “Let’s Go, Brandon.” Newspapers will print any Trump gossip but not one Hunter Biden email.