Mookie, I wish I had your optimism. I have been crying in the wilderness since the first Trump administration that the dominant geopolitical conflict of our time is between Enlightenment liberalism and Putin-style oligarchic kleptocracy. The latter has spread its tentacles all over the Eastern Hemisphere, to Turkey, the Gulf States, the Indian Ocean, Southeast Asia. With Trump it reaches into the heart of American democracy itself. I thought we’d beaten it back in 2020, but this time the damage will be grievous. I do not see a good outcome.

As to the resilience of humanity, take a good look at the broad expanse of human history and geography and tell me that again with a straight face.