Trump Might Be the Best Foil American Democracy Can Have

Journalist E.J. Dionne and Rep. Colleen Hanabusa Discuss the Civic Power of the Response to a President

Should the Trump presidency make us more optimistic about America’s future?

E.J. Dionne—a prominent liberal pundit who is both a nationally syndicated columnist for The Washington Post and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution—thinks so.

“My grounds for optimism are looking at how the country has reacted to Trump’s election and mobilized,” Dionne told an overflow audience at the Artistry Honolulu, where he was the featured guest in a Zócalo/Daniel K. Inouye Institute “Pau Hana” event titled “Will the Trump Administration Renew American Democracy?”

Moderated by Bill Dorman, news director of Hawaiʻi …