Donald Trump has won the election in a very convincing fashion, becoming the first president to serve two non-consecutive terms since Grover Cleveland in the late 19th century. Once again, the polling managed to underestimate just how popular Trump still is with the American electorate, despite all the setbacks, gaffes and scandals. None of these things turned out to matter very much as they cast their ballots, and it is notable that Trump seems on course to win the popular vote.
In one sense, the magnitude of Trump’s political victory seems much greater than in 2016. He has survived the various attempts at prosecuting him or rendering him untouchable. He has beaten back every challenger within the party, securing the nomination in the contested GOP primary, often with quite brutal margins of victory over the rest of the field. Old-guard figures like Mitch McConnell, the longest-serving senate leader in US political history, have seen the way the wind is blowing, and McConnell will step down from his role in January, just as the Republicans have regained control of the senate. Trump’s enemies in the Democrats have been thoroughly crippled by their spectacularly bad result in the election, but also by the incredibly chaotic and delegitimising lead-up to it. Not only did the Democrats fail to contest Joe Biden’s decision to run again despite his advanced age, their belated political coup against him was messy and disorganised, came very late and embarrassed everyone involved. A period of recrimination and blame-shifting is almost certain to begin inside the Democratic party; it might last for quite a while. Behind Trump, a humbled Republican party has, yet again, been browbeaten back into obedience. In front of Trump, a Democratic party finds itself confused, disorganised and at war with itself.
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