If Joe Biden stands for one idea, it is that America’s system can work. We live in a big, diverse country, but good leaders can bring people together across difference to do big things. In essence, Biden is defending liberal democracy, and the notion that you can’t govern a nation based on the premise that the other half of the country is irredeemably awful.

The progressive wing of the Democratic Party is sceptical: The Republican Party has gone authoritarian. Mitch McConnell is obstructionist. Big money pulls the strings. The system is broken. The only way to bring change is to mobilise the Democratic base and push partisan transformation.