They got almost everything they wanted. On the one hand, Joe Biden has a friendlier record on trade and immigration, and on the other, they avoided the burst of spending that inevitably comes with unified control of the federal government.

Old-school debt and deficit hawks will also be pleased, too, but libertarians are ecstatic. As one writer at Reason wondered, perhaps speaking for many libertarians, “Is this the greatest election of my lifetime?”

In the early years of the Trump administration, with Republicans in control of Congress, the country saw a steady rise in spending and ballooning deficits and debt. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas might not have been quite right when he said that, after all, President Trump “didn’t campaign on cutting the debt.” Actually, Mr. Trump did, but in a throwaway manner, while putting more stress on continued, even increased, big spending and debt.

And as is so often the case with one-party control, as in Mr. Trump’s first years, big spending took hold.