Republicans fighting back against changes Obama made means those changes are important, as with most of the major progress in American history. Jonathan Chait More Quotes by Jonathan Chait More Quotes From Jonathan Chait President Obama is so much smarter and a better communicator than members of Congress in either party. The contrast, side by side, is almost ridiculous. Jonathan Chait partypresidentsides Activists measure progress against the standard of perfection, or at least the most perfect possible choice. Historians gauge progress against what came before it. Jonathan Chait progresschoicesperfect Netanyahu and his coalition have no strategy of their own except endless counterinsurgency against the backdrop of a steadily deteriorating diplomatic position within the world and an inexorable demographic decline. The operation in Gaza Jonathan Chait politicalwingstwo Illiberal left ideology has its greatest strength on campuses because campuses are one of the few places in American life where a certain kind of far-left politics can actually impose hegemony on other ideas and really control the discourse in a way it can't in most places in American life where even moderate liberals are more of a minority. Jonathan Chait hegemonyminoritiesideas The story of the Republican Party is of a far-right that has moved from the fringes of the party to a complete domination of the party. The moderate, mainstream and pragmatic leaders of the party have been pushed out or died off. Jonathan Chait partyleaderstories That's an important Obama accomplishment: he raised taxes back to Bill Clinton levels, and made a major dent in inequality doing so. That's certain to be reversed, that's going to disappear. The Republicans are going to slash the rich's taxes. Jonathan Chait billsaccomplishmentimportant Donald Trump will be a tragedy, a sad joke in American history. Jonathan Chait american-historytrumptragedy Trump's not the future; his ideas and his coalition are a dead end. Jonathan Chait trumpdead-endsideas We're not going to be living in a world of abundant coal power in a hundred years. Jonathan Chait coalworldyears We're not going to be living in a world where white identity politics is the basis for a major political party. Jonathan Chait identity-politicspartywhite Obamaism is the future of America. Jonathan Chait future-of-americaamerica In the long run, however much damage we come through, Obama's vision is the one that's going to be left standing. It's a question of how much pain and suffering America has to endure in the meantime. Jonathan Chait painrunningamerica Trump has a lot of authoritarian tendencies that need to be a serious concern. Jonathan Chait trumpseriousneeds I worry about the entire structure of American democracy under Trump. Jonathan Chait structuredemocracyworry One of the things we've learned during the Obama era is how important norms are, because we've seen how the Republican Party behaved against Obama. So much of what they did was to smash pre-existing norms, which were nothing more than assumptions of how people would behave, which didn't have any real basis in rules or limits. Jonathan Chait partyrealpeople Liberals will only support you after you're gone. Jonathan Chait support-yousupportgone Liberals tend to romanticize the past, past leaders' failures. Jonathan Chait leaderpast There's an element of clowning and entertainment to Trump, that makes it surreal and hard to understand to what extent he is pretending to be a fascist or an authoritarian. Jonathan Chait pretendingentertainmentelements It's possible that the clowning and the buffoonery and the entertainment are a bigger part of what's happening than we've allowed. And that Trump is primarily an entertainer who wants ratings, and an undisciplined speaker, and it will all be less than we think. It's something that we have to consider as a possibility; we don't know. Jonathan Chait entertainmentwantthinking I'm convinced in 100 years Obama will have an important place in the civic pantheon of American life. Jonathan Chait pantheonimportantyears
