I watch CNN, it's so much anger and hatred and just the hatred.

You have to buy off interest groups, compromise your ideals, and settle for half loaves...

In other words, in the same way that mass incarceration surged because of a real thing, it's finally starting to ebb because of a real thing: the actual, concrete decline in violent crime that started in the early 90s and which appears to be permanent. America is simply a safer place than it used to be, and looks set to stay that way.

I watch CNN, it's so much anger and hatred and just the hatred.

I’m just some white guy in California, and nobody in Flint is going to pay any attention to what I’m saying. I don’t blame them. Nor do doctors want to publicly agree with me, because nobody wants to downplay the effects of lead poisoning. I get that too. I can already imagine the number of tweets and emails I’m going to get demanding to know why I think Flint is no big deal.

In any case, to the extent that the media is dedicated to exposing lies and reporting the truth, it is indeed the opposition party to people like Bannon.

If you don’t want your followers to give up in disgust, your inspiration needs to be in the service of goals that are at least attainable.