Trump is not some outlier or momentary fluke. The roots of Trumpism go far back and there are material reasons why people support him. So long as those root causes are not addressed, you should not expect Trumpism to simply go away, and the only thing US liberals want is a return to the status quo (the same status quo that brought us Trump).

When Obama was president, the same sorts of voices existed. Trump himself entered politics by supporting the “Birther” movement (a conspiracy theory saying Obama was born in Africa and not the US). The right had a complete and total unwillingness to compromise or cooperate no matter how amiable Obama tried to be. They denounced him as some gay foreign Satan-worshipping communist, and that was while he was keeping the War in Afghanistan going, bailing out the banks, and enacting healthcare reform that was originally proposed by a Republican. This whole extreme-right media sphere developed that needed constant stories to run with, no matter was actually going on.

Before that, we had George W Bush. Bush created ICE, he tortured people, he invaded multiple countries and started decades-long wars of aggression, he enacted mass surveillance which illegally targeted not only innocent Americans but also foreigners, including heads of state.

At what point does it stop being, “When will the US go back to normal?” and start being, “When will the US finally change?” Trump is more mask off, and somewhat more unhinged and unpredictable, but most of what he’s done is just following existing trends where they’ve been heading the last 20 years or more.