“It’s been a political witch hunt. It was done to damage my reputation so that I’d lose the election and obviously that didn’t work.” So said President-elect Donald Trump in court on Friday, before Judge Juan Merchan sentenced him to “unconditional discharge” in a virtual hearing. Trump, then, will serve no time for his felony convictions in the hush money case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. As the once and future president mingles with his former enemies in Palm Beach, it appears the era of resistance has given way to the era of acceptance. 

If we cast our minds back to 2016, the climate was very different. After Trump’s victory, a bipartisan coalition of elites did anything it could to thwart the president. Most notably, journalists, politicians, and intelligence officials improperly planted the seeds of the Russia hoax. They bent standards to indict him on offences others had gotten away with for years — all of which blossomed into a state of lawfare and a Democratic campaign organised around it. Recall, for example, the winter of 2018, when the women of Saturday Night Live sang “All I Want For Christmas Is You” to special counsel Robert Mueller. “Mueller, please come through,” they said, “because the only option is a coup.”

In the 2020 election, Mark Zuckerberg played a critical role in what Molly Ball of Time described as “a well-funded cabal of powerful people, ranging across industries and ideologies, working together behind the scenes to influence perceptions, change rules and laws, steer media coverage and control the flow of information.” The goal of that “cabal” was, as Ball put it, to “fortify” the election. Against what? Trump, whose second inaugural fund recently received a $1 million boost from Zuckerberg.

The goal of these efforts was to end Trump without addressing the concerns of his voters. There were some legitimate reasons to be frightened by his ascent, but it was delusional to believe he could be purged from politics, locked up, and forgotten. It was even more delusional to believe that this could be accomplished by a campaign that repeatedly violated norms in a way that lent credibility to his points, and drained credibility from the points against him.

But elites were not used to losing. They wanted to chalk 2016 up to a fluke, certain their money and power would restore order in due time. The 2024 election, which saw Trump elected by an even wider margin, appears to have put an end to that delusion.

Why did Elon Musk go from funding the Clinton campaign to camping out at Mar-A-Lago? Cynical or not, it was probably always true that cooperating with Trump would yield more gains than bitterly opposing him. Rather than fighting immigration reform at all costs, Democrats in Congress are currently looking to cooperate on the Laken Riley bill.

That realisation may or may not successfully win the battle for the soul of MAGA. This is the war that looms as Trump’s administration prepares for the inauguration, and Steve Bannon takes aim at Elon Musk. If Bannon emerges a clear winner — which is very much in doubt — perhaps those who wish to banish Trump and his movement will return to their desperate measures.

For now, though, Trump is a free man and his influence is greater than ever.

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Emily Jashinsky is UnHerd‘s Washington correspondent.

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