Capitalist democracy is a class compromise. Capitalists agree to tolerate workers having a say in politics, and in return, workers agree not to use their vote to take away capitalists’ property. Neither side gets everything it wants, but both can live with it. As Larry David put it, “A good compromise is when both parties are dissatisfied.”

Tuesday’s election results were a confirmation of capitalist democracy’s ability to live up to Larry David’s axiom. Though, as of this writing, it appears that Joe Biden will attain a majority in the Electoral College, and will expand slightly on Hillary Clinton’s 2016 showing in the popular vote, the results have fallen short of the “blue wave” many commentators, following the polls, had been predicting.

There’s something here to make everyone unhappy. Donald Trump has probably lost the presidency, and while there are signs that elite Republicans are glad to finally be free of him, the tens of millions of voters who adore him will undoubtedly be furious. At the same time, Joe Biden achieved a victory that falls far short of the decisive repudiation of Trump that Democrats felt was needed. Moreover, the Democrats actually lost seats in the House of Representatives, probably failed to gain a majority in the Senate, and lost ground in state legislatures.