Given that we are having public spats over whether our nation was actually founded in 1776, the notion of contributing genuine insight to something just eight months in the rearview mirror seems fanciful. Yet lessons of the 2020 presidential election are not unknowable. And pursuing them reveals important trends in American politics and society. But if we wish to glean some insight into 2020 that has a chance of standing the test of time, perhaps we might instead start with some narratives or lessons that seem unlikely to hold water. We can start with President Joe Biden’s assertion in Brussels that the Republican Party is “fractured” and “vastly diminished in numbers.” The truth is that the 2020 election was a particularly close affair — perhaps one of the closest in recent years, depending on how it is examined. Had some 6,000 people changed their minds in both Georgia and Arizona along with 10,000 in Wisconsin, Donald Trump would be president today. Senate control likewise was decided by around 13,000 Georgia voters opting for the Libertarian candidate rather than Sen. David Perdue. The Democrats’ House majority stands at around five seats. This occurred against a rather grim backdrop for Republicans. In 2020, national gross domestic product dropped a gut-wrenching 33% in the second quarter, the quarter to which many elections forecasters pay the most attention. The election also occurred against the backdrop of a pandemic that...