Recently I saw a picture taken of a message on the reader board outside of Madison Avenue Baptist Church in New York City. It read: “Rather than a wall, America needs to build a giant mirror to reflect on what we’ve become.”

The last two years have been noxious in politics. The United States has been working overtime to destroy its reputation with the world and its own citizens. It has been succeeding. Racism, bigotry and audacious lying are in vogue, and there were alarming echoes of 1930s Germany running through the just completed campaign season.

The president of the United States has proudly been the head of this dark version of the country. His sycophants in Congress have allowed him to run unfettered over and through the norms and expectations of American leadership. To them retaining power takes precedence over issuing anything but tepid responses — when they aren’t behaving as cretins themselves — against the president’s worst instincts. Voters, however, have seen enough at this juncture to want a counterweight. Perhaps we’ve begun looking in that mirror. Real oversight of the television star with poor impulse control is coming.

Yesterday’s election was ultimately a referendum on the president’s performance. Granted, not as much as many preferred but enough that there will be accountability going forward. The House can start to slow the wrecking ball that is this administration and current version of the GOP. This can be done effectively but must be done without abusing power.

My hope is that we avoid self-induced calamities as a nation, especially on the international front, for the next couple of years before voting this president out of the White House and back to his golden throne in New York. He can take his enablers with him. In the meantime, the bend in that arc of the moral universe is becoming visible. The national nightmare isn’t over, but it’s soon to be assuaged. Keep fighting for the truth and for what’s right, both of which have been casualties of this administration. Don’t let this flicker of light go out. Onward.