Arriving in America just days after Barack Obama ’s second inauguration, the air hummed with optimism. It was February 2013, and States exuded a sense of calm - a calm that, in hindsight, now feels surreal. America was prosperous, unified, or at least striving toward unity and still viewed as the leader of the free world. The headlines felt less like a countdown to chaos and more like a playlist of progress. Back then it felt like the country was on a steady path forward. Then, on June 16, 2015,