Crucial task: Confront forces that got us here

pleaded guilty to charges of lying to the FBI about his Russian contacts and was cooperating with the investigation.

So Indictment Day may soon come around again.

Not to kill the joy of that possibility, but a reminder seems prudent here.

Even if Indictment Day comes a dozen times more, even if the man himself is felled, none of it changes what needs changing.

In March of 2016, I wrote about what America should do “after Trump.” Got much of it wrong, including downplaying the possibility of his election.

But one thing said then holds up: Trump is a product of fear, intolerance, incoherence and ignorance. And those things would survive him.

After all, they grew strong and bold in recent years as some of us made expedient decisions to which morality was a stranger.

Exhibit A: the Republican Party’s choice to embrace an ethos of chaos — think tea party mobs and birth certificate lies — because it was politically useful. And to ignore the damage this wrought.

Now we’re paying the price for that short-sightedness.

And after Trump, assuming America isn’t a nuclear wasteland or two countries by then — possibilities that seem less remote than they once did — confronting the forces that brought us here must be Job One for faith leaders, news media, activists and educators.

Indeed, all people of conscience will have a simple mission: Drive fear, intolerance, incoherence and ignorance off the main stage of American politics.

It is, yes, gratifying to see a video where all this president’s men and women are carted away by the feds.

It is even more gratifying to see them face the music in real life.

What ails us, though, will be fixed not by indictments, but by engagement and education. It will take time. And truth is, “after Trump” is too long to wait. So, I hope you enjoyed Indictment Day. Now, let’s get back to work.