The political results of the Swedish election are in, and they bear all the hallmarks of a bad dystopian novel. The new government will be comprised of the Moderates, the Christian Democrats and the Liberals, and — in all ways except appointed ministers — the far-right Sweden Democrats.

Broadly speaking, the Moderates get all the central functions of government, including the roles of prime minister, ministers of finance, justice, and foreign affairs, while the Christian Democrats get social issues and health care, with the Liberals filling up the remainder. The Sweden Democrats will not have ministers in the government, but the Pyrrhic victory of “keeping them out” was bought at the price of them basically getting everything they wanted in terms of policy, as well as a coordinating office within the government office itself.

This means that a party founded, in 1988, out of the far-right, racist precursor organization Keep Sweden Swedish now has civil servants in the highest office of Sweden. It is hard to convey the rapid shift in the way this fact is being received in general discourse. While it would have been unthinkable five to ten years ago, most of the news media and talking heads are now portraying the party’s involvement as par for the course. This normalization process is the result of the other conservative right parties opening their arms to the Sweden Democrats.