This article was written for me. Learned helplessness in US institutions is a topic I've become interested in after some recent experiences that have really changed my mind about organizations.

As TFA says, "In other words, there is a cult of learned helplessness at the core of most American institutions, one that Trump punctured by appearing to be a man of action."

I think helplessness is the correct lesson for them to have learned. From their point of view, Trump's "actions" are almost universally awful -- ineffective at best, deliberately malicious at worst (and most commonly).

And apparently that is what voters want. There is not much you can do when the opposition is making promises they can't keep, but voters believe them anyway.

The closest the Democrats come is Barack Obama. He offered "hope" -- a very non-specific but entirely genial hope. He didn't actually deliver anything very exciting. The closest he got was a herculean effort to pass a barely-better-than-nothing Affordable Care Act.

He also delivered a more-or-less competent, largely scandal-free term. And that worked pretty well. That's all I really want from a President.

Maybe we'll get another Barack Obama some day, a diligent candidate with a short track record and a heck of a way with words. Until then, we're always going to lose to the "man of action", because merely running the country is insufficient. Americans want their President to be exciting, and they're going to get it, good and hard.