President Donald Trump bet big on presidential fiat once more and this time, he lost. Democrats didn't really win and Republicans didn't really lose, but overlooked is that the exceptionalism of America, and those who truly believe in her greatness, won a small victory.

We should take the small victories for American exceptionalism where we can find them, and build upon them where we can.

The ugly example of a presidential decree is, and for the past six weeks, has been the separation of children from their families that attempt to enter America illegally.

This process started in April, when the Trump administration elected to prosecute all people stopped at the border.

In doing so, the natural effect of that decision is to separate children from families. In legal logic, because one cannot prosecute children, one had to take the children away. In six weeks, more than 2,000 children were separated from their families.

As it became known about the effects that this policy had upon the children, the statements of facts but not truth came regularly from the officials serving the president of the United States. They became part of a steady and eye-opening drumbeat, including the use of a Bible passage that might have done more harm than good.

With opposition mounting, Trump signed an executive order intended to stop the separation, though as of this writing there is no relief for the children and families already affected.

Somehow, though, Trump managed to undo whatever small good came of that gesture. On Sunday, Trump struck at the heart of the judicial system, suggesting on Twitter that America eliminate due process for illegal border crossers.

"We cannot allow all of these people to invade our Country. When somebody comes in, we must immediately, with no Judges or Court Cases, bring them back from where they came. Our system is a mockery to good immigration policy and Law and Order. Most children come without parents," he wrote.

All this comes amid the summer campaign season. Congressional Republicans are fighting to keep their majority. And perhaps they hope it will fade before the fall campaign begins in earnest after Labor Day. That seems unlikely.

But there is a bigger idea at play beyond electoral politics here, and the we see the idea this way:

America is truly an exceptional country.

"Exceptional" means just that - different and better.

"Exceptional" does not, and never will, mean "perfect." It is better captured by Lincoln's words of "a more perfect union." We try, and we have to keep trying.

But "exceptional" does not distill itself down to a red baseball cap with four words. "Exceptional" is not about power, and while "exceptional" includes strength, that strength lies with people, not in presidential fiat.

Not from an order by Barack Obama nor Donald Trump.

History is littered with deceased regimes and empires that were merely "powerful" and "wealthy."

The exceptionalism of America is centered on the goodness of its people.

We are exceptional not because we are stronger than others, or better than others, but because we strive to be good. The strength comes from that goodness, not the other way around.

We often disagree exactly what that should mean, but that 200-plus year debate and evolution of America also is part of the recipe of "exceptional."

There was nothing either strong or good about this policy announced by Sessions and enforced by the federal government for six weeks.

Indeed, this policy makes America look weak, as if there is a threat to all we are unless we separate children from families. This policy makes us look small, not "great again."

And no, there is no other word than "ugly" to describe this policy. No society that imposes its power to separate families has ever been looked upon fondly by history.

That "small victory" we talked about earlier?

This policy was changed because Americans on all sides of the spectrum recoiled against it, saying in effect: children will not be used as a policy goal in this way. Americans, as an exceptional people, said "no, not this."

They crossed party lines to focus on "goodness."

It's an example of setting aside what makes us different and voicing something that makes us similar. It's a case where the people in charge of the federal government knew they were licked and changed whether they wanted to or not.

This policy was always ugly. America is beautiful and has always been great.

We don't need a baseball cap for that.