In anticipation of the recent election results, businesses boarded up their windows, and additional military and police forces were deployed around the capital. That is not normal. This must not become the new normal—anywhere. This reflects America’s natural trajectory when political engagement is intertwined with the obsessive fervor of sports-like partisanship. The general sentiment leading up to the election was one of a lose-lose scenario for the country.

However, thankfully, nothing happened. The American people, perhaps too exhausted to riot or protest, stayed home. Yet, the Democratic Party’s strategy of “Trump Containment” (or “Trumptainment” for the left), aimed at managing the Trump phenomenon rather than winning over undecided voters, has proven ineffective. This, coupled with the perceived chaos surrounding the Biden-Harris transition, underscores a broader failure in political strategy.

The Republicans have regained a majority in the Senate and are likely to retain their majority in the House of Representatives. Meanwhile, the Democrats have reached an existential impasse. To remain politically relevant, they must introspect beyond coastal elites, beyond Hollywood, and beyond city dwellers. The party needs to reconnect with a new generation of voters who do not fit these molds—voters who feel deeply alienated and profoundly tired.

Ironically, it is the very establishment meant to represent these voters that has extinguished their political enthusiasm. Every left-wing voter under the age of 40 earning five figures annually has become the real loser in this race. They are the new version of Hillary Clinton’s “deplorables,” yet they lack a Donald Trump figure to rally around. There is no Bernie Sanders successor to channel their frustrations and aspirations.

Whether intentional or not, the far left and young left’s Palestine or perish campaign, along with their subsequent voter turnout, served as a direct message to the establishment. It was a retaliation against a system that has continually ignored them, deprived them of legitimate political representation, and left them trapped in futility. Issues like abortion rights, while undeniably important, lose their significance when access to abortions is financially out of reach.

What was the trade-off? Coming into this race, a major short-term concern for the left was the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 policy proposal, which outlined a radical, executive-heavy overhaul of government to promote ultraconservative policies. The far left has essentially told the establishment that they would rather take their chances with Project 2025 than continue to support the current status quo.

What is likely to happen now that Trump is back is a positioning of his family as successors. In 2016, his appointment of son-in-law Jared Kushner as his Senior Advisor raised issues of nepotism from his critics. But newly re-elected, Trump can do whatever he wants. Once he concludes his final term, he can endorse his children.

Finding Trump relatable and because the reaction he gets from the left is their “Trump Entertainment” (or Trumptainment for the right), his base will wholeheartedly vote for them for two terms. Unless the Democrats get their act together and grow some teeth, America will have eight years of Don Jr., followed by eight years of Ivanka, eight years of Eric, eight years of Tiffany, and then eight years of Barron who will then be old enough to run by then.

Donald can govern vicariously through them until he dies. At least 40 more years of Trump rule. He is primed to realize a technically legal, unopposed dynasty, moving America toward autocracy—a democratically elected dictatorship. Where does this leave America? While the Democratic Party hopefully rediscovers itself, in the continuing absence of American governmental and political leadership that remedies the corrosion of its middle class, the people who are instead most poised to thrive under the return of Trump, ironically, are the “Hollywood elites” who comprise the entertainment industry.

Similar to Trump’s first term, these upcoming four years pose an opportunity for immense creative freedom, the proliferation of social ideas, and discursive social commentary on issues such as abortion, immigration, and LGBT+. People the world over will come together to consume these products and then fiercely debate them along political lines, as has always been the case.

America is having a prolonged, protracted, public meltdown and needs time to sort itself out. Foreign policy is likely to take a backseat for Americans. Trump has manifested his “America First” mantra. Is World War 3 brewing in the near future? Is a second American Civil War imminent? One thing is for certain: whatever happens, the movies are going to be very pointed but very creative—for better and for worse.