The president was right. First, they came for the Confederates, and then they very quickly came for everyone else, the Founders included.

To remind the democratically challenged Turks, the American electorate’s mood, and therefore its leaders, can become hostile when U.S. citizens are routinely attacked or threatened.

It is a mistake for American leaders and those currently recoiling at the populist fervor gripping the nation to simply blame populism’s existence on a few demagogic pot stirrers.