My spiritual respite from Washington’s turmoil is “America’s Got Talent,” which began its thirteenth season in May. The show is as much about hope—in short supply these days—as it is about talent. Recently, viewers met Michael Ketterer, a pediatric mental-health nurse with tattoos who adopted five of his six children. Three had lived in a meth lab. One had been homeless. The fifth has cerebral palsy. “I want to show them that, if their dad can live out his dreams, then nothing is impossible for them,” Ketterer told the judges, before singing “To Love Somebody” in a style more reminiscent of Boz Scaggs than the Bee Gees. Howie Mandel, a judge, told Ketterer, “When I feel, and listen to you, I want to be just a fraction of the human being that I believe you are.” Brian King Joseph, a musician with bleached dreadlocks, has neuropathy, which deadens nerves. “The pain is 24/7,” he explained, cradling a white electric violin. “I can’t feel the strings when I play. I use muscle memory.”

Then there are the kids. A five-year-old named Sophie Fatu, in pink ruffles, belted out Frank Sinatra’s “My Way.” The judges gasped as the shy thirteen-year-old Courtney Hadwin invoked Janis Joplin while singing Otis Redding’s “Hard to Handle.” “Bloody hell,” the judge Simon Cowell told her. “You’re like a lion.” The talent goes beyond singing. A mother-and-daughter team taught ten cats to do dog tricks; an escape artist—he was escaping scorpions—had the audience on the edge of their seats. And, despite the “Unwanted” sign now hanging at America’s borders, “A.G.T.” features talent still looking to the U.S. for opportunity—including eleven young dancers who grew up on the streets of Manila, earned money by picking up recyclable material, and practiced on train tracks. “It’s amazing how people now come from all over the world to be on our show,” Mandel marvelled. Auditions are over now. The real competition begins with the public’s picks, and viewers can use their votes before the U.S. midterm elections—perhaps with greater enthusiasm.