So here we are, finally past the hundred-day mark. What we’ve learned about the president is self-evident—that the weight of the office has not changed him, and will not change him. What we’ve learned about the Republican Party and conservatism is unsurprising—that they’ve sold their souls to a demagogue, and will continue to do so. (Until his behavior threatens to cost them their majority.) But what exactly have we learned about liberalism, in defeat?

One salutary thing: Liberals are fighting in a way we haven’t seen in our lifetime. From the Senate, where Democrats held the line on the Neil Gorsuch filibuster, to the House, where they stood firm on Obamacare repeal, to the streets, where people have made clear their determination to stand up and be counted, the opposition is behaving like an opposition.

But there’s one thing a lot of elite liberals haven’t gotten around to dealing with yet: They haven’t made their peace with middle America. Which is a pretty big deal, given that middle America is extremely large, and encompasses most of the country, and generally determines the outcomes of most presidential elections.

Before I go further, let me announce that I myself am an elite liberal. I tick all the major boxes. I’m not religious. I have few Republican friends. I have deeply conflicted feelings about patriotism. I would never consider living anywhere other than a major city, or at the very least a liberal university town where the odds are slim that I would end up next door to an actual racist. So if I’m hectoring anyone here, I’m hectoring a group that includes me.

I think a lot of liberals in places like New York, Washington, Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles are too suspicious of middle America. I thought this long before Trump came along, although he brought a new urgency to the task of making peace with those who live beyond our deep-blue enclaves. On Election Night, many liberal opinion-makers who live on the coasts looked at the electoral map with horror: How could those people? Who are those people?