How did we get here and what comes next?

2024 is the first time in the history of modern democracy and universal suffrage that all incumbent parties in developed countries lost vote share. An astute observer of the two campaigns would have observed that the Harris campaign was hunkered down in Pennsylvania, while the Trump campaign expanded outreach across the country attempting to win the popular vote. It should come as no surprise that Vice President Kamala Harris and the Democrats lost this week in the second post-Covid election. And yet, the triumphalist manner with which former president Trump returned to office leaves pundits wondering what happened. 

In the days before and after the election, most of the mainstream media and other insiders spun stories for example that Harris ran a "perfect campaign," that she was the most well-prepared candidate in history, or that the Trump campaign was struggling with...