In the last few months of his campaign, Trump was free and open with his dictatorial impulses, as he talked about punishing “enemies from within.” Now that he’s won, have we crossed the line into a different kind of country? Staff writers Anne Applebaum and McKay Coppins help us learn how to find the line. Does this resounding win mean the electorate gave Trump a mandate to act on all his impulses? Will he make good on his campaign threats? And how will we know? If you'd like to participate in our listener survey, visit TheAtlantic.com/survey. And get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/podsub. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This is Radio Atlantic.
I'm Hanna Rosen.
So Donald Trump won.
It's looking like he won every swing state, and also like there was a rightward shift.
Even in the states he lost, he won.
Even though in the last months of his campaign, he was at his darkest and most crude.
None of that mattered, apparently.
So here to help us understand what happened are two Atlantic staff writers.
Anne Applebaum, who covers threats to democracy.
Hi, Anne.
Hello.
And political reporter McKay Coppins.
Hi, McKay.
Hey.
So, McKay, what do we know about how he won?
The particular coalition, the demographics.
What do we know so far?
Well, you just got at it.
I mean,
I think that the most surprising thing is not that he won