We saw it coming. America’s fascination with fame and wealth kept Donald Trump in the public eye even after he lost his re-election bid. He stood at a lectern on the Ellipse with the White House as a backdrop and urged the crowd of his supporters to march to the Capitol, telling them he would join them, which turned out to be a lie.

The Secret Service refused to transport him to the Capitol, so he sat in the room adjacent to the Oval Office, watching television about the Jan. 6 insurrection, telling an aide who informed him that the vice president Mike Pence was attacked: “So what? »

In the nearly four years since that day, Trump has nursed his grievances, convincing his supporters that he was cheated out of a second term and that the Biden-Harris administration had used the Justice Department as a weapon to falsely accuse him of any wrongdoing that the courts had accused him of. guilty of.

His third nomination as Republican standard-bearer was more about his own motivation to avoid prison than the fate of the country.

His victory in the 2024 presidential election signifies a global rearrangement of America’s alliances with the prospect of Trump kowtowing to Putin, whom he calls a “genius,” and breaking bread with Kim Jong Un, the leader of the hermit kingdom of North Korea, with whom Trump exchanged admiring letters. with.

Forget Ukraine. Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, say preserving Ukraine’s sovereignty is not in the national security interests of the United States. Putin can do “whatever he wants,” Trump said.

Forget climate change. Trump vows to “drill babies,” even though America has drilled a record amount of them. That’s one thing about authoritarianism and/or fascism, both of which Trump admires, is that they offer easy solutions to complex problems. “They broke it and I’m going to fix it,” Trump says of any problems that arise. He got enough people to be true believers to bring him back to power.

And now his perceived adversaries, his perceived enemies – for they are one – will all pay. All the marginalized groups towards whom he has incited hatred will have their lives even more brutalized. Women… well, he will protect them whether they like it or not, as he swore. After removing access to abortion care, what’s next?

Trump is back in power – meaner, more ruthless and better organized than before with more dedicated and focused lieutenants. America voted for a crazy authoritarian and revolutionary. Decent Americans, and the rest of the world, can only watch in baffled horror.