in american politics, but he is the most vivid manifestation of many of our worst characteristics. we have to be honest about that. harry truman once said that we get the government we deserve. politicians are far more often mirrors of who we are than they are molders. we like the idea that people like in shakespeare s history plays, henry c shapes who we are, far more often they reflect who we are. the constitution was written for moments like this. it assumed that we were sinful and driven by ambition and appetite and greed. that s why they made it so hard for you to get anything done. they basically bet that we would get things wrong more often than we get them right and we have proven them correct with astonishing regularly. this is an extreme moment, but it s not a wholly separate moment. i think that until we genuinely grapple with the fact that