After November’s Midterms, calls to change the Democrats’ class and geographic agenda will get louder, as they did after George McGovern’s defeat in 1972. A key goal will be to preserve a racially diverse party base in the South and Midwest, largely by abandoning the toxic cultural politics of the left. The base for a more centre-left party exists. Among Democrats, notes Pew, barely 12 per cent belong to the progressive left, less than a fourth of those who are traditional liberals and below those who consider themselves conservatives.

Two critical barriers stand in the way of reviving the Democrats. One lies in changes that create a more tolerant and less authoritarian populism. The New Democrats, who emerged in the 1970s and 1980s, operated in a very different environment. It was a time before the rise of China, and many were optimistic about the long-term benefits of globalisation. A successful Democratic agenda today would necessarily be a more nationalistic one, far less open to allowing foreign firms to undercut US firms, especially if they use far more destructive environmental methods to attain lower costs.

Perhaps the best way forward may be to follow the traditionalist model, which blends social-democratic policies as a critical part of the national purpose. Americans remain far more patriotic than Europeans and say they would pay at least somewhat higher prices for domestic goods.

Most voters want Biden to move to the centre and focus on their concerns, as opposed to mainly environmental or cultural concerns. The problem, however, lies with the takeover of the party by the super-affluent of Manhattan, Menlo Park or Malibu, and the party’s continued shrinkage outside the big inner cities.