Welcome to Talking Feds, a roundtable that brings together prominent former federal officials and special guests.

For a dynamic discussion of the most important political and legal topics of the day, I'm Harry Littman.

Shortly before midnight, on Tuesday, November 5th,

the plot line changed. Returns from the Swing Midwestern states brought home the shattering fact

that an anticipated neck-and-neck presidential race expected to drag on with recounts and challenges for days, weeks,

or even months, had devolved into a decisive victory for former and future president Donald

Trump. The American people had chosen to return to the White House, the man who just four years

earlier, had committed the most

severe constitutional violation in presidential history, waging an illegal campaign

culminating in a violent insurrection attempt to cling to power after losing the election.

We awoke, shell-shockedcked to a new reality straight out of a

dystopian novel with a madman, petty, vain, crude, crass, ugly to his soul,

lacking all public spirit, vain and insecure in equal measure, and an inveterate liar, poised to reascend to power and

determined to insist on personal loyalty to him as the defining qualification for government service.

His victory, moreover, wipes the slate clean and removes virtually any prospect of accountability

for the pernicious crimes he committed before, during, and after his previous term as president.

There's been a focus since Tuesday on granular causes for Trump's victory in Kamala Harris' loss.

For example, Trump's capture of more Latino voters,

or Harris's failure to sufficiently distance herself from President Joe Biden.

But the overall result was sufficiently decisive and wide-ranging

to suggest deeper explanations, particularly in a country that even as they returned him to the presidency

showed no signs of affection for Donald Trump's ideas or personality. And coming to grips with

...