MAGA H-1B visa fight exposes Trumpism’s cultural contradictions

Americans used to be enthusiastic about the idea of progress. If you had attended any of the World's Fairs that were put on over the course of the 19th and 20th centuries in cities including Philadelphia, St. Louis, Chicago and New York, you would have seen great festivals celebrating the wonders of the future. If you went to Disney World, you could have visited Tomorrowland and the Carousel of Progress. But gradually intellectuals and then lots of other people lost faith in progress, in the idea that growth, technology and innovation would make the future better than the past. In…