What did Americans really learn on Nov. 8?

What have Americans learned from last week’s midterm elections, beyond that the results defied the polls and gave Democrats control of the Senate and possibly even the House? Was democracy really saved from immolation by a fiery “red wave” of newly elected radical officeholders? And was former President Trump’s chokehold on his party weakened by the emergence of presidential aspirant Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.)?

Or has an even broader lesson been completely missed? Could the election have been proof that American society has become shattered by the harshness and vindictiveness of its politics in which civility and consensus have been banned from the public discourse? But if that is a correct interpretation, will it be heeded or even recognized?

Or is this politics as usual that simply reflects a deeply divided society grappling with many issues for which few or no good solutions exist?

While arguments will be made to support each of these reactions, the real answer, as depressing as it may be, is that little to nothing of value will be absorbed. Yes, the “red wave” as predicted by many in the media was barely a dribble. And control of both Houses of Congress will remain closely divided and hotly contested. 

If there is a winner, is it President Biden? Biden’s press conference last week was, for him, a tour de force. Despite a few misstatements, Biden was well prepared. His most definitive answer was to the question, “What would you do differently?” 

“Nothing” was his terse reply. And that might be the best answer of all.

Virtually all the laws and programs that were passed and put into place will take time to have an impact. Inflation is not a problem to be instantaneously or even easily corrected. Whether Biden runs for reelection, events of the next two years will determine his electability and the success or failure of his policies.

While “saving democracy” will not go down as one of history’s most memorable battle cries, it may have rallied enough Democrats to stave off the traditional midyear shellacking administered to presidents. But what is meant by democracy and how is it endangered? 

For many Democrats, the threat can be captured in a single word: Trumpism. Trumpism is the cynical pursuit of power at any cost that makes subservient all lesser criteria, such as providing good government staffed with able and honest officials; the rule of law; ethical values; and truth and fact. Indeed, Trumpism means the onset of systemic corruption.

Republicans see extreme social, political and cultural views encapsulated by the term “wokeness” that leads to bigger and more restrictive government destroying individual liberty and, hence, democracy as the larger threat. This is the so-called “socialist agenda” overseen by an ever growing and intrusive government. According to them, it must be stopped.

Caricatures that demonize the opposition are as old as politics. These caricatures, however, are surrogates for the real damage done to the soul of American politics. The discourse has been ruptured. The “other” party is the enemy to be destroyed to prevent it from inflicting its radical and hence un-American agenda on the nation.

In one sense, throughout history, societies have been fractured by internal dissent and often the failure to redress this fragmentation. But leaders have emerged. During the Civil War, it was Lincoln. FDR navigated the Depression and Pearl Harbor.  

To Democrats, Donald Trump is not merely unacceptable; he is wholly unfit for office. Even among what appears to be a growing proportion of Democrats and certainly Republicans, Joe Biden is too old to be president and shows his age. So, leadership remains problematic.

These are symptoms not of a failure of democracy but of a failing civil society that may be incapable of governing itself. Assuming Americans were to recognize this condition, what can be done?

Biden says stay the course. Republicans argue that Democrats are ruining the country. And Americans are almost equally divided on which position to support. Meanwhile, China, Russia and others wishing America ill must be encouraged by this political paralysis.

One fact is clear. Biden is right. We must stay the course until 2024. And that may be the toughest decision of all.

Harlan Ullman is senior adviser at the Atlantic Council and the prime author of “shock and awe.” His latest  book is “The Fifth Horseman and the New MAD: How Massive Attacks of Disruption Became the Looming Existential Danger to a Divided Nation and the World at Large.” Follow him on Twitter @harlankullman.