Trump triumphant means a new, high-stakes era of intensification of American hegemony

This is Iain Martin’s weekly newsletter exclusively for paid subscribers to Reaction.

When the Nixons arrived at the White House on the morning of January 20, 1969, they were shown by the Johnsons into the Red Room for the traditional Inauguration Day coffee and rolls. Hubert Humphrey, the defeated Democrat in the previous year’s election, was there as part of the welcoming party.

In his memoirsrecounted Nixon’s subsequent exchange that day with Humphrey, in which the winner suggested that Hubert should have the honor of delivering the address at the Capitol instead.

Humphrey replied with a smile that it had been his plan to deliver the address. But of course the voters had intervened.

Nixon won a narrow victory in 1968 in a politically deeply divided country. The Republican won by just 500,000 votes, 43.3 percent to 42.5 percent, while segregationist George Wallace won 13.5 percent and ten million votes.

Nixon knew what it felt like to be in Humphrey’s position on Inauguration Day, to have to show up — for constitutional propriety — stand there and be polite. Nixon had been the loser in a previous presidential election against Kennedy in 1960.

“I remembered from 1961 how painful this ceremony could be for a man who had lost a close election,” Nixon wrote, “and I was moved by Humphrey’s graceful display of good humor.”

We will find out today how graceful and good-natured the relationship is between the parties in general and between the victorious Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, the outgoing vice president and defeated Democrat, in particular. Not very graceful and in a good mood is my guess, but let’s see what surprises the day brings.