Yes I Am Already Thinking About 2024

Between COVID ravaging the world and the utter betrayal of America by the GOP, there aren't many silver linings out there right now.  But regarding Trump, it seems to me he's bound to do a lot more damage to his party -- literally his party -- than many people seem to think.

Who knows that sort of legal trouble he'll land in once he loses the shield of the presidency, but no doubt he is going to at least try and run in 2024, which means he'll begin campaigning in earnest in 2022 at the latest.

There are ton of young-ish GOP "moderates" (LOL) who really want to be president -- Rubio, Hawley, and Cotton just for starters.  And their (highly) relative difference from Trump's obvious derangement will be lapped up by the DC media -- "the serious, thoughtful Republican Party is back!"  (The only difference being that when it comes to fucking over poor and non-white folks Trump is willing to say what these other guys think out loud.)

The larger point is that, barring jail or death, the 2024 Republican primary will be an utter shit-show.  It could mean that Trump winds up running as a third-party candidate and actually out-performing the actual GOP candidate.  It could mean Trump, still bigly popular with his base, i.e., actual Republican voters, gets to play some sort of a power-broker role, where Rubio is forced to pick Ivanka or Don Jr. (the less dumb, more evil son) as his running mate.

Obvious death-of-American-Democracy implications aside, it could be fucking hilarious above all else.

I mean, nobody knows.  Biden's health is going to be an issue as well, but I have a lot of faith in Kamala Harris.  At the very least, she doesn't take shit from anybody, and that terrifies many Republicans.

All of this is to say, your Rubio-Hawley-Cottons of the world are obviously much smarter and more polished than Cheeto Hitler.  (Yes, I am damning with faint praise.)  And that could be their downfall, because while any one of them will make David Brooks' heart flutter, they lack the sheer animal cunning and cruelty of Trump.  They lack the ability to channel the vicious, hateful spirit that a solid one-third of Americans, white Americans, harbor for the rest of their country.

Remember that in the last Republican primary, Trump didn't just win, he annihilated his opponents ("little Marco," Ted Cruz's ugly wife, etc.)

No amount of polish will give a pretender that unique Trumpian showman's ability to bring out the hateful id of American white nationalism, and to harness its dark energies into electoral success.

So this isn't a prediction as much as a reminder that Trump will never go quietly into that good night.  No small number of his former "friends" are going to die in jail because of him.

Who's to say the Republican Party can survive him either?