WASHINGTON — By this point in his term, President Biden figured things would be different.
His predecessor would have faded from the scene and the country would have restored at least some semblance of normalcy.
But as he said on Thursday night, “too much of what’s happening in our country today is not normal.”
And so the president who declared when he took office that “democracy has prevailed” declared in a prime-time televised speech that in fact democracy 19 months later remained “under assault.”
Former President Donald J. Trump “and the MAGA Republicans,” as Mr. Biden termed his predecessor’s allies, still represent a clear and present danger to America.
If it sounded like a repeat of the 2020 campaign cycle, in some ways it is,
although the incumbent and likely challenger have changed places.
A country torn apart by ideology, culture, economics, race, religion, party and grievance remains as polarized as ever.
Mr. Biden has scored some bipartisan legislative successes, but he has been singularly unable to heal the broader societal rift that he inherited.
It may be that no president could have.