I'm an optimist. I also think that one of the things that has happened with this administration is that people, at a very grassroots level, are speaking up and saying, “We don't feel this represents our values.”

If anything, I'm disappointed in people that still have the capacity to be shocked by this administration's complete disregard for moral and ethical norms. Have they not been paying attention? What grounds do they have for expecting anything better? America's consequent abandonment of basic international obligations has been complete and shameless, and many Americans need to accept that the lingering self-image of their country as a bastion of freedom and opportunity is not only anachronistic but is getting pretty tiresome for the rest of the world to hear about, because from what we can see this kind of thing does now represent your values. To persist in believing otherwise demonstrates a failure to recognise - or acknowledge - the reality you now inhabit.