William Kristol wrote:

*****[I]t also turned out that Biden’s presidency wouldn’t mark the end of the Trump era. It would be an interlude between two Trump terms.

This is not, I believe, fundamentally Biden’s fault. He was a decent president, and though slow to step aside in 2024, he ultimately did so. The fault of Trump’s return lies not with Biden (though his stubbornness didn’t help) but with the American people.*****

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I agree that the fault for the restoration of the 45th president lies ultimately with those who chose to return him to office. This is not to say that all who voted for this outcome – much less the electorate as a whole and much less still "the American people" – are guilty of the same malignancy that infuses the 45th/47th president.

For sure, FAR too many are indeed malignant and did indeed return him to office because of his malignancy. However, in the case of many others it was simply a matter of passivity and inattention to the responsibility of citizenship.

If we are to rescue our republic, we must resist the impulse toward demonization, make distinctions among people who make bad choices, and win over people who have the potential to join as active champions of decency and sense.