Despite the Trump election challenges, despite the Georgia Senate runoff that has turned Loeffler, Warnock, Perdue and Ossoff into unlikely household names, the most intriguing consequence of the 2020 election is Nancy Pelosi’s slim Democratic majority in the House. How did that happen?

The unexpected result suggests that, like much else in 2020, something is causing beliefs and allegiances to shift in the U.S. One of those forces is COVID-19.

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Joe Biden made a core voting issue out of President Trump’s leadership and statements during the early months of the pandemic. Some 10 endless months later, with a resurgence of infections and hospitalizations, we have entered a new phase of the country’s experience with COVID. The terms of the relationship between political leadership and public assent to that leadership are being reset.

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Memories of Mr. Trump’s role are fading, and Mr. Biden’s daily oversight is six weeks away. That means some of the most visible dissenters from the Trump coronavirus policy are themselves in charge of managing the pressures of the current surge, to wit: Govs. Andrew Cuomo of New York, Gavin Newsom of California and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan.

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