Trump will lose. MAGA will go on, with Trump as its leader until he dies. Then the mantle will be picked up by J.D. Vance or some other Trump wannabe perhaps yet to appear. The Republican Party will split, with traditional Republicans retaining the name Republican and MAGATs going to the MAGA party. Democrats will prevail for a time, but someday a MAGA candidate --- more intelligent, more canny, and more ruthless than Trump --- will be elected to the presidency. At that point it may well be game over for the American experiment in democracy. An isolationist United States will forsake its role in the world and decouple itself from the Atlantic alliance, China will continue its ascendency, and the balance of world power will change dramatically.

Thelonious has spoken.