The US Election was compelling viewing for the better part of a week. Here are five things I’m taking away:

1. Biden and Harris, will not fix everything: There is, and was a near fever about Joe Biden and Kamala Harris that everything will be rainbows and sprinkles now that they’re in charge. They are better than Trump, and Pence, and the Democratic program seems better suited to guiding America out of a pandemic. But they can’t fix everything.

2. The Divided States of America: Trump spoke to something in America. He legitimized being racist He capitalized on hopelessness from people who wanted desperately to improve themselves, but saw no way out. There are those out there that believe that science can be ignored, and media is faking. There are people who still have blind faith in the Trumpian way of doing things and will not see the other side. Until all of this is hashed out, America cannot truly unify.

3. Trump the disruptor: Like him or not, he disrupted a lot of things. He created a cult of personality, that people would follow as a religion. Only time will tell if we’ve come to the point where a personality can override the party infrastructure or policy the same way he did.

4. The Republican party in tatters: One of the more interesting stories over the next four years will be how the Republican Party will be able to rebuild itself. Can figures like Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz or Mitch McConnell walk back a lot of their rhetoric, and “yes men” behavior of the last four years? Or has there been too much damage done? What will their new path forward be?

5. Shattering the glass ceiling: Let’s take a moment to celebrate Kamala Harris; a woman of colour who will in January become the first female Vice President of the United States. Hillary Clinton cracked the glass ceiling four years ago. Harris has shattered it. In a year when women have paid a huge price in this pandemic, it’s worth celebrating.