It is, in other words, very much the country inherited by his predecessor four years ago. This is perhaps the most spectacular thing about Donald Trump and his legacy. The president whose world-historic iniquities have accumulated on cable television has proven to be inconsequential. The artifacts of his administration will disappear, leaving no traces save for the marginal tax rates that will continue to be enjoyed by the world’s wealthiest corporations and in the resigned faces of supporters who shake their heads at the prospect of another four years of cannibalistic pedophile vampires ruling the world and check what time the Bills game is on.

Not since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has a new president believed himself in possession of such a secure mandate. But unlike the one ostensibly given to George W. Bush 20 years ago, Biden’s moral authority extends no further than Democratic partisans and their allies in the media establishment, corporate boardrooms, and, of course, the Pentagon. Poll after poll reveals that Trump’s supporters continue to agree with him about everything, including when it contradicts their own previously stated views.

Biden’s policy toward social conservatives and economic progressives alike is one of scorched earth. There is no indication that he intends to rule prudently or to restrain his frenetic supporters.