The Atlantic
Biden Chooses Prosperity Over Vengeance
The future of American democracy depends on the president’s ability to show that even when the Republican Party loses, Americans who vote Republican do not.
March 15, 2021
Donald Trump was a punishment.
Conservatives saw him that way, and Trump saw himself that way, too. After his upset victory over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, some conservatives started to respond to any perceived liberal excess with a simple phrase: “This is why Trump won.” If that was a convenient deflection, a way to rationalize Trumpian malice as the left’s responsibility, it was also a concise expression of Trump’s appeal to them.