If Americans are “really, really down,” as President Joe Biden suggests, it’s hardly surprising.

Many key aspects of economic, social and national life that were once viewed as smoothly running certainties are out of joint. The Covid-19 pandemic, though it has eased its deadly grip, has left a complicated legacy of challenges that are still disrupting daily life. Some are aggravations – like the more than 800 airline flights cancelled on Sunday. Others threaten Americans’ economic prospects and sense of safety and wellbeing, like the growing fears of a recession.

Such an atmosphere is sure to breed new turmoil in a nation seeing widening ideological