Trump’s fluke election was such an astonishment that it lent him an almost magical aura, making him seem less an idiot than an idiot savant, a man who could transcend the usual rules of politics.

But Democratic victories in the midterms, in addition to providing a crucial check on Trump, have highlighted what a naked emperor he really is. It turns out you can’t desecrate democratic traditions and insult most of the country with impunity. Trump’s mystique is irrevocably tarnished.

It’s not just that Democrats flipped more seats than they had in any election since Watergate, or virtually wiped out the Republican Party in Orange County, Calif., a birthplace of modern conservatism. While some Trump sycophants — like incoming Florida governor Ron DeSantis — won, in several cases the president’s interventions led directly to Democratic victories. Kyrsten Sinema became the first Arizona Democrat to win a Senate election in 30 years after Trump drove her Republican predecessor, Jeff Flake, not to run for re-election. Trump encouraged a successful primary challenge against the (very conservative) Representative Mark Sanford of South Carolina. The Republican victor then lost in an upset to Democrat Joe Cunningham. In the Kansas gubernatorial primary, Trump backed far-right Kris Kobach, known for his voter suppression schemes. Kobach won that race but lost the general; Kansas’s new governor will be a Democratic woman.

The spectacle of Trump’s political failure unfolded as his policy failures are starting to harm more voters’ lives. Trump’s first two years in office have been rife with debacles, including the botched response to Hurricane Maria and the sadistic policy of snatching undocumented children from their parents. Trump let himself be manipulated by North Korea’s Kim Jong-un. He made the United States a literal laughingstock before the world.

So far, the people most directly affected by this record of misrule haven’t been able to vote in national elections. It was only a matter of time, however, before Americans started feeling the material consequences of Trump’s incompetence.