ANALYSIS: TRUE. We’ll remember 2016 as the year no one in politics wanted to confront reality.

But then, American elites have been sticking their head in the sand for quite a long time:

It’s shouldn’t be all that surprising that the affliction eventually became bipartisan. And as Jim Geraghty writes, “This election appears poised to end a long period of American political and cultural denial. Whatever comes next, it won’t be painless.” That will prove to be true no matter who wins next month.