Unlike Biden in the final stages of the 2020 campaign, Kamala Harris has no great vision to improve the country. She has no plans to dramatically expand the safety net or to replace the dollar store economy with something more equitable. Even if she did, it wouldn’t happen; the lack of a majority in the Senate, the filibuster, and the Supreme Court would be insurmountable obstacles. A vote for Harris, therefore, is effectively a vote for the status quo.
Trump will similarly be frustrated by the lack of a real working majority in either the House or the Senate. For him, however, the inability to legislate–except on tax issues, on which he will undoubtedly defer to PBPs in Congress–is not really a problem. His tariffs and his deportation regime–his two significant policy initiatives– will be based, however unlawfully, on existing statutes, not any new ones.
In the end, therefore, Biden’s theory of the case was correct. This election is really about whether Trump can seize control of what he calls the “deep state” and use it to punish his political, cultural, and intellectual enemies in violation of constitutional norms. Nothing more or less is at stake here.