Here is where I think I ultimately come down on the election. It was a victory for non-Trumpy conservatism as much as anything else. It was a repudiation of Trump personally, if you look at how he performed relative to the Republicans down ballot. It was likewise a repudiation of woke progressivism. Biden won by fairly thin margins, and he had campaigned as a bland, inoffensive, not Trump who was against fracking before he wasn't, and wasn't going to say how he felt about court packing (and said the people didn't deserve to know his position) until he ultimately decided he would put together a commission to study it. The Republicans held on to their state legislatures and even made gains in state governments in advance of redistricting. Biden was not particularly liked by anyone, but he wasn't Trump. But there were plenty of people who voted Biden and then for GOP down ballot and seemed to resist the nationalization of their local elections. And there are bright spots like Ben Sasse winning by 40 points, when Trump only won by 20. I don't know if the Green party took much grief after 2016, but Trumpers are pretty livid over the Libertarian vote this time. The Libertarian response, of course, is that this is what the map would have looked like if Trump voters hadn't thrown away their votes.
I understand (and I heard this from John Podhoretz on the Commentary podcast, which is my favorite of the NeverTrump variety) that assuming the GOP holds the Senate, Biden will be the first president to take office without his party in control of the Senate in 116 years, which renders him particularly weak. I mean, that is just about my dream for a Democratic presidency. Now, would I prefer that he not have the head of a teachers union as head of the Department of Education? Of course, but I think it's a relatively small price to pay for nothing of substance getting done. Of course, if the Ds take the Senate, it's all in the hands of Joe Manchin (who voted with Trump 52% of the time).
The biggest downside is that there are maybe 17 to 20 million voters who are hard core Trump firsters. And excessive eagerness to please Trump by future hopefuls will be the price of access to those votes.
I am horrified (though not surprised) at the acquiescence by Republicans to the delegitimization of the election (and ultimately our system of government), but I don't see it as much different or or substantially less helpful as when Hillary referred to Trump as an "illegitimate president" or when Stacey Abrams is celebrated for pretending to have won an election.
ETA, If the reports of DJT Jr. and Kimberly Guilfoyle making moves to take over the RNC are true, that sucks for sure.
ET Further A, I think that Biden will undeniably an improvement in our relations with European allies, but I fear that the one thing Biden will really screw up is the Middle East. Obama/Kerry was *terrible* on Iran, and the advancement of Israel and normalization of relations in the ME is probably the biggest single win for the Trump administration. I swear that if Biden brings in Ben Rhodes I will go insane.
