Social scientist Yascha Mounk warned years ago that anti-democratic leaders were on the rise. He was right.
And yet today, he feels hopeful:
"I think the situation today is a mix of reasons to be very, very concerned in the midst of reasons to be optimistic," he says.
Politics feels like a centrifugal force, pushing, tearing American democracy apart.
Mounk says there's an opposite force — one that pulls even the most diverse democracy together: Underappreciated joys in all our daily lives.
"It's a love of the cities and landscapes, of celebrities and TikTok stars and even silly aspects of contemporary culture."