The United States is in better shape than one might think for the short term and maybe even the long term for at least three reasons. One, the astonishing, hard-won victory of the Democrats in Georgia, which is a signal for the ‘centrist’ Republicans—there are perhaps more of them than one thinks or at least several are recasting themselves as such—as well as for the Democratic Party, that it is necessary to go back to political programs—the Republican Party had not even bothered to offer one for the November 2020 elections—and collaborate on certain issues rather than wage an all-out war that started long ago with Newt Gingrich. Two, the election of Biden and the putative composition of his cabinet, which seems very professional, measured, centrist, and experienced. All the capitalist institutions are of necessity behind the new government, given the events. And finally the failure of the insurrection of Wednesday, after which a Ted Cruz or Josh Hawley of the senate, as well as a hundred plus representatives of the chamber, still felt constrained to repeat Trump’s lie and place their bets as his demagogue heirs for 2022 and especially 2024.

I was personally afraid of seeing this demagoguery succeed, because we cannot hide the fact that the labor, health, financial, and economic situation of the states and the country, despite the present possibility of borrowing at very low interest, is causing great misery. Greater difficulties may follow. It would not be surprising to see the Republicans play this old card of capitalist redistribution and quickly rebuild their reputation: less taxes and above all less social programs, no matter the consequences of the pandemic, while stoking anger, radical mistrust, and division to mask their support of economic and social division. Prior to Wednesday’s events, I thought that Trump’s haphazard demagoguery was a logical step in sync with the consequences of vast economic disparities. I thought that it would lead to worse demagogues like Cruz and Hawley, who would be far more calculating, organized, and dangerous than Trump himself. Now I think that these cynical demagogues have erred in judgment by betting on Trump. But the poisonous lie that they glibly repeat regarding the fraudulence of all elections has taken a life of its own and will live on, whether there is a Trump in the background or not. The coming weeks will tell us if the Republican Party will stop to think about its choices and anchor itself in a traditional right rather than marking time and eventually continuing its march towards fascism.