How can the Hadith "Islam began as something strange" be reconciled with the Hadith "There will always remain a group from my Ummah manifest upon the truth"?

There is no contradiction between the narrations about the "strangeness" (ghurbah) of Islam and the existence of a group (ta'ifah) that remains manifest upon the truth. The strangeness means that Islam will return as a stranger, just as it began. However, there will be a group that rectifies what people have corrupted and revives the Sunnah (definition). This strangeness does not mean the complete absence of truth, but rather the continuation of reform, da'wah (invitation to Islam), and knowledge. The strangeness may increase in one place and decrease in another, and it can take various forms, such as the proliferation of innovations (bid'ah) or the emergence of polytheism (shirk (definition)). As for the narration, "No time comes upon you but the one following it is worse than it," it is understood to be generally applicable and does not preclude the existence of better times, as occurred during the era of Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, Ibn Taymiyyah, and the call of Sheikh Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab.