Despite his strongman, bullying persona, a stubborn majority of voters – rightly or not – associated Trump with economic prosperity and global stability. What Democrats saw as a threat to the nation’s democratic character, Republicans embraced as unwavering leadership to guide the nation out of chaos and decline.

It will be easy to criticize Vice President Kamala Harris for running a small, cramped campaign that failed to address voters’ concerns about her abilities and policies. And indeed, perhaps she could have spoken more forcefully about stemming the migrant crisis, resolving the war in the Middle East, recognizing the shortcomings of the Biden administration and how she could have done things differently. But it’s impossible to know whether any of this would have made a difference.

It seems equally fair to give her credit for running a vigorous and, above all, uplifting campaign amid the misinformation, bigotry and defamation she experiences on a daily basis. She faced extraordinary headwinds that even the most perfect campaign would have struggled to overcome: a deeply unpopular and visibly fragile President Biden who refused to withdraw from the race until too late, leaving Harris too little time to help Americans get to know it better; inflation primarily driven by pandemic shutdowns, supply chain bottlenecks and the war in Ukraine; a broad loss of confidence in the assumption that the United States was the world’s dominant power.

For Republicans, this will inevitably be a time of vindication and gloating against a Democratic Party that they have come to view as arrogant and entitled elitists. But they would do well not to overplay their hand. As much if not more than Democrats, they should also be prepared to loudly insist that the president-elect put aside warlike rhetoric aimed at his fellow Americans, resist calls for political persecution of his enemies, and oppose his promises happy to despise the law. . Whatever deportation policies Trump implements, his victory should not open the door to extramural intimidation or even violence against law-abiding immigrants, legal or otherwise.

Urging Republicans to oppose violence against their neighbors and support the Constitution does not seem an unreasonable request. Nor is it necessary to hold Trump to his late campaign promises to leave abortion up to the states and protect women. Meanwhile, the independent institutions of American democracy – Congress, the judiciary, the press – must be prepared to defend democratic norms if Trump attacks them, as seems likely.

Nor would it be unreasonable for Republicans to insist that Trump begin to restore confidence in the American electoral system that he did so much to undermine. The same system that he says was rigged against him when he lost in 2020 this time elected him with a relative lack of disruption. He should start telling his supporters that the system works and resist his party’s temptation to disenfranchise urban and minority voters who oppose him.

For their part, Democrats should think hard about the fundamental reasons why Trump prevailed. Filter out, if you can, the bluster and intolerance, and it is possible to discern the Trumpian notes that clearly resonated with many voters. The decline of American manufacturing. The need to forcefully counter an assertive China. The frustration of communities grappling with the cost of uncontrolled migration. The futility of trying to exert American military power anywhere in the world. Dismay in the face of a reflexive progressiveness so dominant in American universities and cultural institutions. The feeling of being left behind.

This won’t be easy to do after an election result that, for many Democrats, seems like a rejection of everything they care about about their country: its democratic institutions; his commitment to civil rights; its legacy as a refuge for struggling immigrants. It will be difficult to overcome their bitterness in order to see the legitimate hopes, aspirations and humanity of their Trumpian neighbors. But they should also recognize that the surest way to return to power will be to win over some of these neighbors, not run from them.

At some point, when the mourning and elation subside, Americans on both sides will have to decide they are ready to come together again as one nation. They will have to abandon their instinct to retreat into perpetually warring fiefdoms. The genius of the founders was to have created a system intended to accommodate conflicting factions and bend to the winds of history without breaking. But nothing man-made is unbreakable. The time to prevent breakage has arrived.

Editorials represent the opinions of the Boston Globe editorial board. Follow us @GlobeOpinion.