NAMBY-PAMBY LIBERALS VS FIX-IT CONSERVATIVES

ONALD Trump presents his comeback as a miracle and the world is in for months of punditry on what he did right and what Kamala Harris got wrong.

- PRATIK KANJILAL

We'll leave candidate-watching to the pundits. What follows is based on observing the voters who actually determine election outcomes. We'll also look at a couple of mysteries the election threw up. Neither thread shows human nature or intelligence in a good light.

The central mystery is, in a nation that takes the law very seriously (the volume of courtroom dramas and cop serials bears testimony), why did most Americans reject a prosecutor and embrace a convicted felon who thinks erratically, speaks menacingly and promises pain for all?

There are two answers, and the first is remarkably stupid: Trump's supporters identify him as an entertainer. Aren't stand-up comics abrasive, too? Entertainers can make good heads of government, like Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Ukraine and Ronald Reagan in the US. If Taylor Swift ran for president, she could actually win. But career politicians identified as entertainers are a different species, especially if the entertainment colours governance.

The second reason for choosing Trump is more substantial: the working classes felt insecure under the Biden administration, the Democrats were in denial of this, and the far right campaign playbook sounded reassuring. Once more, it was the economy, and the Democrats were being stupid.