With apologies to Cole Porter, was the election a rebuke or merely an invitation to compromise?

Although President Trump saw it as an invitation, he asked voters to pretend he was on the ballot, and they did. If it looks like a rebuke, walks like a rebuke and talks like a rebuke, it’s a rebuke. Americans voted, and they voted no to Trump.

Money hardly availed the Republicans. Trump’s offer of $5,000 to every American if Republicans retained congressional control fell on deaf ears. Even money from Trump’s lapdog Elon Musk, the world’s richest man , who wasted hundreds of millions of dollars to sway voters to the Republican side, had zero impact on the outcome.

The vote was a stunning upset victory for American democracy. There were no reports of violence at the polls. The Proud Boys stayed home. There were no stories of voter intimidation, no allegations of widespread fraud or false certification. The margins of victory were in almost all cases decisive.…