On Nov. 7, multiple U.S. American media outlets officially projected that Joe Biden would be the 46th President of the United States. A growing lead in Pennsylvania was enough to give the former vice president its 20 electoral votes and push him over the 270 needed to win the presidency — regardless of the outcomes in Arizona and Georgia. The official declaration prompted sighs of relief around the world and celebrations across the U.S., particularly in swing-state cities like Philadelphia and Atlanta that were crucial to Biden’s victory.

Donald Trump leaving office marks the end of an exhausting and tumultuous four years. It is certainly a relief to no longer have a person in such a powerful position who pandered to foreign despots, threatened to destabilize the world with a single tweet and brought out the worst in people at home and abroad. President-elect Biden’s victory drew such massive celebrations because of Trump’s intrinsic unlikability, not his own character or personality. The bar has become so low that any return to the normal neoliberal order is met with cheers and dance parties.

But the rejection of Donald Trump is not convincing, especially taking into consideration the U.S.’s electoral system. Despite a convincing popular vote lead, had only 45,000 votes swung the other way in Georgia, Arizona and Wisconsin, it would have resulted in a tie in the Electoral College. Political pundits, democratic figures and ordinary people went into this election optimistic that there would be a sweeping “blue wave” and thus a repudiation of Trumpism once and for all. Everything seemed to be stacked against Donald Trump. Amid an economy in shambles, poor debate performances, social unrest and horrendous mismanagement of Covid-19, it seemed like a Trump defeat was almost baked into the system.

The Economist gave Democrats a 97 percent chance of winning the presidency, a likely expansion of their House majority and an 80 percent chance of retaking the Senate. But when Republican-led state legislatures intentionally delayed the processing of mail-in ballots in key states, the ensuing “Red Mirage” with Trump leading on election night made some think we were in for four more years. And the down-ballot devastation for the Democratic Party was catastrophic. After spending hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars trying to take control of key Senate seats, only Arizona and Colorado flipped. Furthermore, the party also failed to pick up any state legislatures.

Many on the left are going to remain fired up and energized well after Trump is dragged out of the White House. But the biggest danger of a Biden presidency is complacency. Donald Trump has harnessed the power of social media and far-right news sources to further spread misinformation throughout his term, and there is little sign that this apparatus will disappear even if he fades into the wind. After all that has happened in the United States over the past four years, Donald Trump received 9.7 million more votes, and counting, compared to the 2016 election. Joe Biden managed to unify a diverse coalition behind the common goal of defeating Donald Trump, leading to a record turnout. But his campaign was able to respond in kind and register many more people to vote, even for the first time. And those voters might not be as easily disaffected.

Biden’s official campaign platform on many issues has moved to the left, but he himself was once a candidate who said “nothing will fundamentally change” to a group of wealthy donors. Biden will do little to stop the international “age of carnage” that U.S.foreign policy has created or the accelerating income inequality. And even if Joe Biden wants to embrace progressive reforms, he is likely hamstrung. Unless Democrats manage to mobilize in Georgia to elect Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff to the Senate, with Mitch McConnel as the Majority Leader, the Senate will likely see a return to the rampant obstructionism that denied any attempt at progress by Barack Obama’s administration.

If Biden can get nothing done, where will the United States find itself in 2024 or later? After Donald Trump, there should be some cognizance that the U.S. can elect anyone at any time. If an unpolished reality TV star — who can’t keep his fingers off of Twitter or his mouth shut — can come this close to re-election after the events of this year, imagine a talented politician who can harness the same authoritarian energies.

What Trump did have, from the day he declared candidacy in 2015, was an ability to play the media like a fiddle. He ran as a populist but was unable to effectively govern like one, which led to his narrow undoing. But the Republican Party still has many tools at its disposal to subvert majoritarian rule. The Senate and Electoral College undermine equal democratic representation through overrepresentation of the whiter and more rural portions of the United States. At the local level, especially after Democrats failed to make any headway in the state legislatures, the Republican Party can also gerrymander to ensure that it stays in power even if its popularity wanes.

With over 70 million people voting for Donald Trump, there was certainly no unanimous rejection of Trumpism. But can a candidate run on Trumpism without the energy of Trump? It’s easy. Someone without the penchant for attacking military veterans and tweeting at 3 a.m. could easily harness the same messaging on “law and order” and “fake news” to bring forth something potentially much more damaging.

It’s not time to take a nap while the Democrats hold the executive branch now or accept American democracy for granted once again. What the Democratic Party has to do is learn to fight back and control the narrative in the way that conservatives have done since the election of Barack Obama. Despite the fact that Joe Biden has been a center-left politician his entire life, Republicans were able to harness the socialism boogeyman to court support among a large percentage of Cubans and many other voters. Amid the ever-increasing polarization of media outlets, the United States has an uphill battle to not face an autocratic Trump 2.0 in the future. It’s time that we acknowledge that possibility and never let up in the fight to stop it.