The Donald Trump era in America — a uniquely destructive period of shattered norms, outrageous corruption and state-sponsored cruelty — began a two-year fade to black Tuesday night.
asserted
era → shatter → black
But early tallies suggest huge wins for a Democratic Party that, for more than a decade, has proven mostly incapable of standing up to and beating back Trump.
asserted
that → suggest → Trump
By 11 p.m. ET, the Democrats seemed near certain to gain control of the House of Representatives, with pickups in North Carolina, Florida, Kentucky and elsewhere across the country.
asserted
Democrats → seem → country
In the Senate, Democrats swept to wins in the traditional Republican strongholds of Texas and South Carolina and were leading in crucial swing states, including Iowa, Kansas and Ohio.
asserted
Democrats → sweep → Iowa
Some key races, in Maine, Alaska and elsewhere, had yet to be called.
asserted
races → have → Maine
Regardless of the outcome, the election marked an inflection point in American history.
asserted
election → mark → history
The next time Americans go to the polls in a general election, in 2028, the president won’t be running.
asserted
president → go → 2028
For the first time since 2014, Americans will be voting in something other than a referendum on Trump, his obscenities and his rule.
asserted
Americans → vote → Trump
Americans appear to have used the last real election of Trump’s career to deal him an embarrassing, emphatic defeat.
asserted
Americans → appear → defeat
The New York Times reported late Tuesday that House Democrats were ahead by 12 points nationwide, the largest such margin in any election for either party since 1982.
asserted
Democrats → report → 1982
It genuinely couldn’t have happened to a worse guy.
asserted
It → happen → guy
At the same time, if Tuesday marked the beginning of the end of the Trump presidency — six years, so far, of spite and self-dealing — it should not be taken for a new American dawn.
asserted
it → mark → dawn
Even if, as now appears likely, the Democrats do come away from the midterms with control of both houses of Congress, Trump’s ability to do damage in his final two years will be extreme.
asserted
ability → appear → years
He is, at this point, like a nuclear-armed Lear: a deteriorating, all-powerful egomaniac who can see the end coming.
asserted
end → arm → Lear
There may be no telling, over his final two years, where and why he directs his rage.
uncertain
he → tell → rage
(It’s entirely possible, for example, that Trump will blame Canada if the Republicans lose both Michigan and Maine.)
asserted
Republicans → ’ → Michigan
Just as importantly, the world that built Trump, and the world he built in turn, aren’t going away.
asserted
he → build → turn
We are not going back to the time before.
asserted
We → go → time
The old world is gone.
asserted
world → go → ?
There’s no guarantee the new world, the one after Trump, will be any less chaotic, any more predictable, any more humane.
asserted
world → ’ → Trump
In the lead-up to the midterms, I spent some time in Maine’s second congressional district, a toss-up seat held by a retiring centrist Democrat.
asserted
I → spend → Democrat
In Lubec, on the New Brunswick border, I visited two houses on opposite sides of the same street.
asserted
I → visit → street
On one side, the owner, a Trump supporter, told me he spent his days watching livestreamed press conferences from Fox News.
asserted
he → tell → News
On the other side, an elderly couple, both staunch Democrats, welcomed me into a living room cluttered with stacks of the New Yorker and the New York Times.
asserted
couple → welcome → Yorker
Two Maine households that live in the same physical space.
asserted
that → live → space
They shop at the same stores.
asserted
They → shop → stores
They watch the same sunrise over the same bay.
asserted
They → watch → bay
But they exist in different realities, in different Americas.
asserted
they → exist → Americas
And as long as those differences — fuelled by algorithmic social media, a splintered information environment, and floods of unregulated political cash — persist, some core part of Trump’s world will endure.
asserted
part → fuel → world
The Democrats had a good night Tuesday.
asserted
Democrats → have → night
Their version of reality came out on top.
asserted
version → come → top
Americans, and the rest of us too, should expect them to spend the next two years curtailing the worst excesses of Trump’s sundowning reign.
asserted
them → expect → reign
But it would be a mistake, now, to see Trump as an aberration.
asserted
it → see → aberration
It’s a mistake we’ve all made before, after Joe Biden’s victory in 2020.
asserted
we → ’ → 2020
We let ourselves believe that Trump’s first term was a fluke, that it wasn’t real.
asserted
it → let → ?
If nothing else, we know now that isn’t the case.
asserted
that → know → ?
Yes, Trump’s party lost Tuesday.
asserted
party → lose → ?
In a very real way, Trump lost too.
asserted
Trump → lose → way
His movement sustains.
asserted
movement → sustain → ?
He remains, in many ways, the most American man.
asserted
He → remain → ways
…and 3 more, not listed.
The Aporia
