This was not the vaccine we needed to Trumpism.

Polls, demographics, election results. It did not go as planned.

First of all, congratulations to Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and their team. It looks like, at the moment of writing, he is on course to become President elect to the United States. That was objective number one, and they should achieve that. For nearly a year they have faced pressure to push and pull in every direction, moving resources from state to state at the behest of the latest questionable poll. To stay their course on a path they believed would be successful takes discipline. Replacing Donald Trump with Joe Biden is, in itself, a massive achievement.

I would extend a similar sentiment to all Democrats down the ballot, including — in fact, emphasising — the role of volunteers. It was not their fault polls were hopelessly optimistic.

However, in the words of Max Boot of the Washington Post, “Trump himself may lose, but Trumpism was hardly repudiated”. Politically, this wasn’t the landslide victory some expected or hoped for; demographically, Trump out-performed any other Republican candidate in history with non-white voters; and financially, mediocre results were eye-wateringly expensive.

The races in Kentucky and South Carolina emphasise this point particularly well. Both Amy…