In conversations with friends and family about what turning points and subtexts explain this dark political era, I have often found myself lamenting the Elizabeth Warren Story, which I saw as a tragic two-act parable of what might have been. Thankfully, I may have been wrong. There might be a third act.

The first act of Warren’s political story culminated twelve years ago, when she became a national force by being one of the only political leaders willing to speak out against her own party’s Wall Street fealty. After forging an academic reputation as a combative economic crusader against then senator Joe Biden’s (D-DE) bankruptcy bill, she helped create a new financial regulatory agency that President Barack Obama prevented her from leading. So she instead got herself elected to the US Senate and quickly made national headlines blocking Obama’s nomination of a Wall Street insider to a top Treasury post. She made even more headlines trying to block Obama-endorsed legislation gutting postcrisis financial regulations and long-standing campaign finance laws.

Thanks to these kinds of battles, Warren deservedly became one of the most popular politicians in America — so popular that she was seen as the Democratic presidential candidate who could defeat presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic primary and win the White House. Warren was in a position to not only avert the Trump disaster but also forge a more populist Democratic Party and build a better America.