Many of us also hoped a free-market or libertarian populism would scramble preconceived notions about big government being on the side of the “little guy” as opposed to a protector of privilege, challenging crony capitalism and an industrial policy that allows Washington bureaucrats to pick economic winners and losers.

Instead Trump lopped off the free-market and libertarian modifiers, preferring to pick winners and losers with tariffs that protect steel industry jobs at the expense of a potentially much larger number of jobs in steel-using industries.

The ease with which the country lurched from a supposed “libertarian moment” to Trump’s economic nationalism, using some of the same political forces, ought to tell us these changes might not be permanent. Our politics are more volatile than ever; there are few permanent victories or defeats.