Donald Trump has staged a remarkable political comeback.
He targeted his supporters with simple messaging about the economy and immigration.
He also fed the fears of millions of xenophobic, isolationist and insular American citizens with a diet of half-baked truths, wholesale lies and militant rhetoric.
It didn’t matter that the underlying US economy is the strongest its been since the 1960s, or that workers’ rights and healthcare provision were extended and measures introduced to tackle the ever-increasing threat of climate change.
Other hallmarks of this election were the underlying currents of misogyny and racism. The fact that 46% of women voted for him isn’t at all surprising in a deeply patriarchal society. The machismo ingrained in Latino culture allowed Trump to extend his supporter base.
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Not everyone who voted for Trump/Vance is a racist but most racists felt comfortable voting for them.
The MAGA movement isn’t so much a political organisation as a cult. And it’s a dangerous cult, not built on inclusivity but exclusivity.
It, and it alone, will define what is American – or more likely un-American – activity. The next four years will make the fearful McCarthy era seem like a walk in the park.
Trump and his consiglieri have promised a Stalin-like purge of state agencies, judges, prosecutors and regulators. It will be an exacting, bloody revenge which will shake the democratic foundations of the USA.
America’s democracy has always been fragile. The checks and balances between federal and state government, the executive, the legislative and judiciary branches have often reigned in the more extreme, fanatical and autocratic tendencies within the political establishment.
Now Republicans hold the presidency, the Senate, the House of Representatives and, more significantly, control the Supreme Court – Trumpism has unparalleled power and it will go largely unchecked for at least two years.
Only the Democratic governors can buffer their states from the dictatorial and autocratic reach of a clearly unhinged Trump administration.
No-one can say they weren’t warned.
Trump’s enthusiastic supporters aren’t stupid but they have been reeled in hook, line and sinker by highly-charged, emotional and stirring rhetoric. By the time the ugly truth hits home, they will have been stitched up like kippers in a smoke house.
Trump lied from both sides of his mouth when he promised workers and ordinary Americans to protect them from so-called globalists. He is the son of a multi-millionaire with a life as gilded as the toilets in Mar-a-Lago.
He has assembled a dangerous cabal of billionaire corporate elites who will enrich themselves – not John and Jane Does. Trump has put the soul of America up for sale and his corporatist friends will live high on the hog.
The great democracy which gave the world Washington, Lincoln and FDR now has a two-bit Putin.
The world survived the first presidency of Trump. It will again.
Isolationism will eventually hurt America. Trump will, as before, thrive on chaos. His offspring will rule the roost like the Kardashians on speed. His time will pass but MAGA’s won’t.
In fairness, Trump’s success wasn’t all down to his tenacity or political machine.
The Democratic Party must accept much of the credit for his victory. They left the door ajar.
President Biden should have resigned mid-term. Harris should not have been crowned and the party should have had an electoral contest.
The vice presidential pick was wrong. Nice but dull Walz was to the left of Harris – she needed a popular, more moderate ballot partner, and it existed in Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro.
More importantly, the mixed messaging from the Harris campaign was not resonating and the prospect of breaking a double glass ceiling wasn’t enough.
Even when an economy is doing well, if people don’t feel it, it’s of no electoral consequence.
Lessons will have to be learned. In the meantime buckle up for a bumpy ride.