Usually after an election most of us focus on results and returns. That might apply to a normal election, but this election is anything but normal. This election essentially decides nothing regardless of who wins or loses. The fractures are too great and too deep. The outcome will go all the way to the certification period. In 2020 no one predicted the events which led to Jan. 6. Given all we know in hindsight, the “fun” has only begun.

Never has there been a canvas that exposed the deeper fissures in American life. Jesse Walters of “Fox News” likened his wife not voting for his preferred candidate as comparable to “adultery.” Tucker Carlson celebrated his champion’s potential victory by comparing it to the spanking of a naughty girl. Margaret Atwood in her wildest conjuring could never have imagined such a blatant celebration of patriarchy in the public realm.

The last stages of Donald Trump’s campaign were a bizarre display of egotism and disregard for constitutional government, but it is a reminder that MAGA will not disappear; it is a permanent feature of American life. The “age of consensus” is long gone. Republicans who disregarded Trump and saw him as a temporary phenomenon ignore that they have nominated him three times in a row. Only Franklin Roosevelt has had such a long stint with four nominations. Richard Nixon had three, as did Grover Cleveland and William Jennings Bryan. All of this suggests that Trump — or Trumpism — is now in our political DNA. He was dismissed as a fake in 2020 — he is not anymore.

This change in Trump’s fortunes has confirmed older suspicions dating back decades. “By God,” one observer noted in 1967 after an appearance by George Wallace, “this could be the time, just because all the others have failed before — the Know-Nothings, Joe McCarthy, Goldwater — that doesn’t mean they’ll keep on missing.” The observer concluded “He might be the one, the right combination.” Wallace did not have the right combination, Trump did.

For MAGA this election could also be a turning point. Kamala Harris’ “We are not going back” countered this zealotry. Despite everything, Democrats have opposed the bluster of MAGA. However, they might begin to push back with the same force as Trump’s legions. The swagger has been met by determination which will continue. Before the Civil War broke out, one abolitionist noting a new militancy on his side noted “I hear old John Brown knocking on the lid of his coffin and shouting, Let me out, Let me out!”

This might have been the year when progressives, liberals and leftists, joined hands. Now a word of caution, this column was written before the returns were in. We agree with others, that the election argument will continue, regardless of the count this week.

The struggle goes on with both divisions determined not to see the other side prevail. Given the likes of Mitch McConnell and Mike Johnson, compromise will not come from that corner. Democrats will not back down, having learned the hard way in 2016.

The fate of the nation hangs in the balance.