The political pendulum in America has swung dramatically in recent years, offering a stark contrast between the idealistic ambitions of the Biden-era Democrats and the transactional pragmatism of the Trump-led Republican era. As the dust settles on policies once hailed as transformative, a growing chorus argues that the utopian visions of recent years—from gender ideology to geopolitical strategies—are colliding with hard realities. Here, we examine how the Biden administration’s ideals compare to Trump’s realism and why a recalibration toward a multipolar world order may now be underway.