Biden has a chance of being the next president. That is, if we do actually hold elections. As incomprehensible as his ascendance might seem, his rise is rooted in the most dangerous of human emotions: nostalgia.

The problem is that some of the worst problems America faces today—including Trump’s presidency itself—are in many ways the products of the Obama years, during which inequality grew worse and average life expectancy dropped. Obama’s vice president hardly seems like the leader that Americans need to tackle them. Political operatives may not know this, but historians do: time moves forward, never backward. There can be no return to the past, “normal” or otherwise.

If Obama had done the right thing in 2009, Trump would’ve not been possible. He didn’t because he wanted to become a billionaire himself, so here we are. Obama is not solely to blame for all our problems, of course, but he is mostly responsible for Trump — and that is an unforgivable offense.