Despite his strongman fanfare and bullying nature, a stubborn majority of voters — rightly or wrongly — associated Trump with economic prosperity and global stability. What Democrats saw as a threat to the nation’s democratic character, Republicans embraced as steadfast leadership to guide the nation out of chaos and decline.

It will be easy to criticize Vice President Kamala Harris for running a cramped campaign that failed to address voters’ concerns about her skills and policies. And indeed, perhaps he could have spoken more forcefully about ending the migrant crisis, about resolving the war in the Middle East, about acknowledging the shortcomings of the Biden administration, and about ways he could have done things differently. But it’s impossible to know if any of this would have made a difference.

It seems just as fair to credit her for running a vigorous and mostly uplifting campaign amid the misinformation, bigotry and character assassination she endures on a daily basis. She faced tremendous headwinds that even the most flawless campaign would have struggled to overcome: a deeply unpopular and visibly fragile president, Biden, who refused to drop out of the race until too late, leaving Harris too a little time to help Americans get to know her better; inflation driven mainly by pandemic shutdowns, supply chain disruptions and the war in Ukraine; a great loss of faith in the assumption that the US would be the dominant power in the world.

For Republicans, this will inevitably be a moment of vindication and jubilation against a Democratic Party they have come to view as arrogant and entitled elites. But he’d better not overplay his hand. They, as much or more so than Democrats, should also be prepared to insist loudly that the president-elect drop warmongering rhetoric aimed at their fellow Americans, resist calls for political persecution of his enemies, and to oppose his cheerful pledges to disobey the law. . Regardless of the deportation policies Trump has put in place, his victory should not open the door to extramural intimidation or even violence against law-abiding immigrants, legal or not.

Urging Republicans to oppose violence against their neighbors and uphold the Constitution does not seem like an unreasonable question. Nor is Trump sticking to his late campaign pledges to leave abortion up to the states and protect women. Meanwhile, the independent institutions of American democracy—Congress, the judiciary, the press—must be prepared to uphold democratic norms if Trump attacks them, as seems likely.

It would also not be unreasonable for Republicans to insist that Trump begin to rebuild trust in the American electoral system he has done so much to undermine. The same system he claims was rigged against him when he lost in 2020 has elected him this time with relative lack of disruption. He should start telling his supporters that the system has worked and resist his party’s temptation to disenfranchise urban and minority voters who opposed him.

For their part, Democrats should think hard about the underlying reasons why Trump prevailed. Filter out, if you can, the fanfare and bigotry, and it’s possible to discern the Trumpian notes that clearly resonated with many voters. Declining American manufacturing. The need to forcefully counter an assertive China. The frustration of communities struggling with the cost of uncontrolled migration. The futility of trying to exercise American military power all over the world. Dismay with a reflexive progressiveness so dominant in American universities and cultural institutions. The feeling of being left behind.

That won’t be easy to do after an election result that, for many Democrats, felt like a rejection of everything they hold dear about their country: its democratic institutions; his commitment to civil rights; its legacy as a haven for struggling immigrants. Getting past their bitterness to see the legitimate hopes, aspirations, and humanity of their Trumpian neighbors will be difficult. But he should also recognize that the surest path back to power will be to win over some of those neighbors, not to keep them away.

At some point, when both the pain and the joy have faded, Americans on both sides will have to decide that they are ready to come together as one nation again. They will have to give up the instinct to retreat into fiefdoms in perpetual war. The genius of the founders was that they created a system designed to accommodate conflicting factions and bend to the winds of history without breaking. But nothing man-made is indivisible. The time has come to prevent the break-in.

Editorials represent the views of the Boston Globe Editorial Board. Follow us @GlobeOpinion.