“It is happening again.” This morning, with Donald Trump in command of another crushing presidential victory, the dreadful words from David Lynch’s Twin Peaks sit like lead inside many stomachs. As the climax of a frenzied campaign and the triumph of so much that is vicious and corrosive in American society, Trump’s second election comes as a shock. And yet, as an event in contemporary history, it can hardly be seen as a surprise.

First and most prosaic, there is inflation. Did America really elect a dictator because Frosted Flakes hit $7.99 at the grocery store? Read that sentence again and it doesn’t sound so absurd.

At a deeper level, 2024 has taught us a hard lesson: in a global society defined by consumption rather than production, voters loathe price increases and are ready to punish rulers who preside over them. Across the biggest election year in modern history, with billions voting worldwide, incumbents have taken a beating, left, right, and center: the Tories in Britain, Emmanuel Macron in France, the African National Congress in South Africa, Narendra Modi’s BJP in India, Kirchnerism in Argentina last fall. Today post-pandemic inflation, aggravated by wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, has claimed the scalp of yet another incumbent government.