For all of Obama’s power as a speaker and his skill as a writer (and that of the speechwriters who helped him), your memory of that last one might not be as clear as the others. That could be because it was one of many addresses Obama had to give after a horrific mass shooting (Dallas and Charleston were two others), but it also could be because in the end, for all his efforts to unify the country, the country simply refused. Or at least much of it did.

I couldn’t help but think of that on Monday, when Obama released one of the few public statements about pressing national events that he has offered since leaving the White House. Here’s what he had to say:

One paragraph on the policy questions, one identifying the source of the problem and one pointing in a direction for the future, including a plea for all Americans to come together to reject the poison on which the current president has built his political project.

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Even if that last paragraph had been perfectly written, it still wouldn’t have mattered: This country is not in the mood for reconciliation and healing, and hasn’t been for some time. Though we can thank him for trying, surely no one understands that better than Obama.

On this score Obama’s arc is a tragic one, not his own failure but that of the country itself. The question of whether he or anyone could unite us was the first and last theme of his career, from the moment he electrified the 2004 Democratic convention as a state senator with a call to common identity and common purpose, and a rejection of the idea of red states and blue states. “We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the Stars and Stripes, all of us defending the United States of America,” he said. “Do we participate in a politics of cynicism, or do we participate in a politics of hope?”

The idea that he could unify the country was part of Obama’s political brand, to be sure, but it was also true to who he had been his whole life, someone who believed that by listening to people and showing good faith he could cool their hostilities and persuade them to find some kind of agreement, if only a temporary one. His 2008 campaign was built on those aspirations, and when he won, his supporters thought it proved that the country was the inclusive and progressive place they wanted it to be.

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To which the Republican Party said: The hell it is.

Obama’s very existence, his presence as the first black president, produced a furious backlash. No amount of reaching out, no degree of politeness and grace, no commitment to respect and decorum could calm the anger and resentment that festered in the souls of the opposition. No disquisition on the nature of America he offered, no matter how eloquent, could persuade them to see him as their president, too, not even for a moment.

And then he had to watch Donald Trump — a vulgarian who turned himself into a political figure by championing the racist “birther” theory that Obama was not a real American — not only soil the office of the presidency, but also work every day to make America meaner and uglier.

Obama’s statement Monday was released not long after President Trump read a brief speech about the murders in El Paso and Dayton, Ohio, one that may well be remembered for many years to come — but only because of its pathetic insincerity. His aides presumably convinced him it was necessary to at least pretend for a few minutes that he wants to bring the country together, so they handed him words to say about how “Hate has no place in America. Hatred warps the mind, ravages the heart and devours the soul,” and how “Open wounds cannot heal if we are divided.”

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But it was a cruel joke. Everyone — both his supporters and his opponents — knows Trump couldn’t have meant it any less. Hatred and division are the reason he sits in the Oval Office, and no one understands it better than him. Not only that, he is certain that stoking hatred and division is the only way he can stay there for another term. So that’s exactly what he intends to do, with a 2020 campaign built on fear-mongering and race-baiting.

If Obama had faith that America could be convinced to come together, Trump has faith that we can’t, or at the very least that in the unlikely event that we did, it wouldn’t be good for Trump.

So he won’t be trying to bring us together. Now it’s back to warning about an immigrant invasion, telling Americans of color to go back where they came from, and encouraging fear, resentment, prejudice and hatred.

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That strategy might not be enough to win Trump reelection, given the opposition he has produced and the disgust even some in his party are beginning to feel for him. But a narrow Democratic victory in 2020 won’t be a total vindication of Obama’s approach, either. It will mean only that a slight majority of Americans have rejected Trump — and then it will inevitably be followed by another backlash much like the one Obama faced.

So much as it pains me to say, seeing Obama urge us to act together to create something better does not fill one with hope, no matter how much we wish it could. It only reminds us of how awful things have gotten.

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