Jonathan Rauch and I have co-authored several essays for the Times during the Trump era. We see the world differently in some respects, but not on the threat Donald Trump and his administration pose, and not on our judgment that the second term has been worse than the first. Mr. Trump has transformed the presidency in fundamental ways. But in this essay we argue that his administration's most ambitious project — using state power to remake American society — has largely failed.

The turning point came in Minneapolis, where peaceful mass resistance to Operation Metro Surge forced the administration to retreat. That failure, together with collapsing approval ratings, the debacle in Iran, defeats in court and a fracturing MAGA coalition, has left Mr. Trump weaker and the country less endangered than a year ago. Enormous damage has been done, and real dangers remain.

But MAGA's cultural revolutionaries have been slowed, and Americans, having discovered they are not powerless, are rising up.