As first-generation Indian-Americans, they shuddered at his quickness to demonize people of color with Asian, African or Latino ancestry.

“I feel devastated,” Maya told me. “For me, the acceptance of diversity is one of the things that makes this country great. This election is destroying that. And that gets me into the street.”

What we’ve seen from the White House in this opening stage of the Trump administration isn’t encouraging. Trump’s promised pivot to a presidential demeanor never happened, and apparently never will: It’s outside of his skill set. It’s alien to his psychology. He’s all ego and spleen, with only the loosest of tethers to truth.

But we’re seeing something else — something sunnier — beyond the White House: an awakening in many Americans who were trusting, complacent or distracted before. That’s what the protests all around the country demonstrated, though whether they will translate into consequential action — and become an insurance policy against the damage Trump may do — isn’t clear. The three sisters are trying to figure that out.

They’re scared. Mythili told me that as she watches Trump and the people around him reject science, construct alternate realities and try to silence anyone who balks at that, she worries that the very idea of America is in jeopardy.

“We believe in freedom of expression,” she said, meaning Americans. “We believe in facts. We believe in transparency. And what he’s doing — it’s a slippery slope toward a country that I don’t recognize and a country that I don’t want to live in.”