It was a close run thing. President Trump actually came closer to winning the presidency this year than Hillary Clinton did four years ago. Joe Biden carried the three states (Arizona, Georgia, Wisconsin) that raised him above 270 electoral votes by only 43,637 votes at last count, much less than the 77,736 by which Trump carried the three states (Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin) that raised him above 270 in 2016.

By that narrow margin, America snapped a streak. Only once before in history have three consecutive presidents been elected and reelected and serve two full terms each. The political allies Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe, in the first decades of the nineteenth century, and the alternating partisan baby boom generation rivals Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama in the last three decades. Never before has America had four consecutive eight-year presidencies, and the defeat of Donald Trump means that that cannot come to pass at least until 2052.