Something has changed. When Donald Trump won in 2016, America shocked itself.
Even those who chose him back then weren’t wholly convinced he’d do it.
The Washington establishment – Democrat and Republican – had not expected a President Trump.
And beyond that, in 2016, there was a reluctance to admit you were for Trump.
Not anymore. Beyond his base – the country-wide grassroots faithful once dismissed by Hillary Clinton as the “deplorables”, there has been a truly fascinating cultural shift in America. And it’s been quick.
The hostility to Trump’s MAGA movement has gone. Part of it is a resignation; the resistance has gone, but it’s much more than that.
From the Silicon Valley tech billionaires, to significant corners of Hollywood, and in the business community, it is no longer toxic to be associated with Donald Trump.
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And across Washington over the past 48 hours that shift has been so starkly clear.
Sections of society that wouldn’t or couldn’t put their name to Trump are now proudly hopeful of his chances to “Make America Great Again”. The MAGA cap is a red carpet fashion accessory, not a hillbilly hat.
All over town there have been glitzy inauguration parties in the city’s finest restaurants and clubs. And it’s not just West Palm Beach and Silicon Valley that’s descended on DC.
It would have been inconceivable in 2016 that I could have attended a lunch full of wealthy Arab-Americans for Trump. Yet this weekend the city’s swanky Ilili restaurant was buzzing with optimism drawn from across the country.
And that optimism was all around in spades last night for Donald Trump’s final victory rally.
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In the city’s Capital One Arena on the eve of completing such a remarkable comeback, 20,000 gathered for the victory lap.
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His opening words, to roars: “We won, we won.”
Written off, prosecuted, convicted, nearly assassinated, twice. I wanted a penny for his inner thoughts at that moment.
Instead we got the familiar rhetorical bullet points.
“I will end the war in Ukraine. I will stop the chaos in the Middle East. And I will prevent World War three from happening… we will end the wokeness. We will get critical race theory and transgender insanity the hell out of our schools.”
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Of course this time it may not be rhetoric. He has the presidential power now to deliver his way, and he says he will, with an unprecedented number of executive orders on day one.
“We have to set our country on the proper course by the time the sun sets tomorrow evening. The invasion of our borders will have come to a halt.”
Speaking to Sky News, senior advisor to Mr Trump Jason Miller said things would change with prescient breaking speed.
“I think he will see some immediate action there inside the Rotunda before the president heads over [to the White House]…”
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It was striking that the person invited on stage, during the victory speech, was not his vice president, but the man they are calling his “co-president”, Elon Musk.
The world’s richest man, with his son in tow, carried an awkward authenticity with him.
Mr Musk now leads a band of America’s top tech execs – from Meta, to Amazon, to TikTok – all locked in behind Trump.
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It’s always been possible to make assumptions about America: its direction, its priorities, its focus. A linear thread has run through the presidency.
It feels now that that’s been severed. It feels like we are set for profound change.
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The show ended with the Village People on stage with YMCA, a song that became the accidental anthem of his movement.
And yet the Village People had wanted Kamala Harris to win. That Mr Trump had them here, and that they wanted to be here, is a reflection of an upbeat unity that America will need in the days and four years ahead.
