And I think we had this conversation early on\u2014is there anything about him that surprises us? And I remember, I think, saying that it surprises me what he does to the people around him and the institutions around him. What he\u2019s done to federal institutions, what he\u2019s done to people in his orbit, what he\u2019s done to the party\u2014that is, the ability for him to be able to just steamroll those people and processes and institutions\u2014surprises me. Because he\u2019s this flagrant, demented delinquent, and it shouldn\u2019t be this easy. But I think one of the lessons of that is the reason it was easy for him is that he\u2019s a reflection of a lot of real issues and anxieties and hatreds and divisions in our society that have been papered over, or not, for a long time, and it sort of came into full blossom in his presidency. Politico<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
And I think we had this conversation early on\u2014is there anything about him that surprises us? And I remember, I think, saying that it surprises me what he does to the people around him and<\/p>\n