There’s a comment from a Boston College history professor making the rounds. She essentially says that the outrage that the administration is generating is purposeful. It’s meant to create deeper divisions between the right, left and center, and to take up all of the political attention so more subtle corruptions of the system can happen unnoticed.

The only hope is for all of us to stay vigilant, engaged and united. As you say, we each need to cultivate humility and curiosity. And as President Obama said in his last address, we desperately need to talk to one another. If we sacrifice our own personal decency on the alter of ideological purity, we might as well give up on the moral arc of history.