I’m re-reading “Everybody’s Fool,” by Richard Russo (or, more precisely, listening to the audiobook). One of the heroes, Donald “Sully” Sullivan, is old, he has slowed down, he’s sick, and he’s disabled by injury. Sully is deeply flawed. But he’s still a better man than most and certainly better than the dimwitted, narcissistic villain.
The book was published in 2016, but it can be read as a political metaphor for the present day. That only just now occurred to me, more than halfway through my re-read of the 544-page book.