The COVID-19 pandemic has now killed more than one hundred thousand Americans and constitutes a clear break in what had been our economic and social reality. Liberal critics are right to say that Donald Trump is dangerous and that he has now presided over an entirely preventable catastrophe. But a true reckoning with Trump’s threat to American norms and institutions must recognize that he is the product of both. It must also account for why a historic uprising against police violence in a Democrat-ruled city has abruptly upended the quarantine.

Liberals who had been claiming to lead the #resistance to Trump now find themselves cast as one of many targets for a mass rebellion. Obama’s national security adviser Susan Rice declared that the uprisings were “right out of the Russian playbook,” her delusion perfectly encapsulating liberal incomprehension.

In the meantime, economic conditions for everyday people remain catastrophic. Anger and necessity drove people together and brought an end to social distancing: both in the streets to protest and in workplaces, as “reopening” pushes people off the unemployment rolls. The coronavirus continues to surge. Not among masked outdoor demonstrators, but across the Sun Belt — including Tulsa, where Trump is going ahead with his plan for a large indoor rally the day after Juneteenth.