Our crisis will endure — regardless of who wins in November

The New Republic earlier this year featured an article that suggested a second Trump term would be analogous to the Nazis taking control of Germany in the 1930s. I didn’t read it. I saw the accompanying image of Donald Trump as Hitler, and I knew exactly what it would say. At this point, those essays write themselves. Reacting to the hysteria of the piece, Blaze Media’s Auron MacIntyre remarked on X that “the media is preparing the groundwork for justifying the assassination of Donald Trump.”

Subsequent events proved MacIntyre right. In Butler, Pennsylvania, the former president narrowly escaped the fate of John F. Kennedy by barely one-eighth of an inch. Multiple security lapses enabled the attempt on Trump’s life, making it hard to believe they could all occur simultaneously. In the immediate aftermath, self-proclaimed defenders of democracy, who had spent a decade portraying Trump as an existential threat to be neutralized at any cost, offered half-hearted assurances of their “horror” at political violence.

Trump has left an indelible mark on the GOP, reshaping it into something that cannot easily be undone.

Two weeks later, the incident had all but vanished from media coverage. Despite this, federal agencies responsible for Trump’s safety and the investigation had yet to address many critical questions about what had happened.

The regime’s desperation to avoid a Trump victory knows no bounds. With less than three months before the presidential election, the heat is rising. The 2024 cycle is proving to be just as frenzied and chaotic as 2020, reflected in how both parties and their allies discuss the race in apocalyptic terms.

Regardless of who wins, the outcome will not resolve the core conflict driving 21st-century American politics. People across the ideological spectrum are expressing deep concern, and they have good reason to be more worried now than they were in 2020.

The last free election?

Four years ago, Democrats were highly motivated to end Trump’s presidency, but they had little to lose since he was already in the White House. Had Trump won a second term, his agenda would likely have faced the same roadblocks from the media, administrative bureaucrats, and other institutional forces of the global “Resistance.”

Now, however, a second Trump term is far more alarming for left-wing voters than it was in 2020. Since leaving office, Trump has had time to reflect on what went wrong during his first term and formulate transformative measures that could cripple “The Resistance” from his first day back in office.

Additionally, Democrats’ ongoing and unprecedented legal attacks on Trump have fueled their fear of political retribution if he takes the oath of office again in January.

Many conservatives feel that the 2024 election is even more critical than the last one. In the summer of 2020, we didn’t fully grasp the extent of what we were up against. While we knew the left would go to great lengths to achieve its political goals, many still believed that elections were sacred to our opponents. Given Democrats' constant talk of protecting “our democracy,” it seemed unlikely they would deliberately break laws or violate electoral norms to win.

We were wrong. We miscalculated and paid the price. Many on the right worry that 2016 may have been our last free, (mostly) fair, and lawful presidential election. Conservatives also fret that, since no one faced consequences for the forms of fraud permitted by blue states in 2020, those tactics might be used again in 2024. If that happens and the public and legal systems tolerate it, Democratic control could become permanent.

Democrats have already demonstrated their ruthlessness by staging an internal coup against a beloved president within their own party to avoid losing the upcoming election. And it’s important to remember, Biden wasn’t just any Democratic president. He was the GOAT, the one who smashed the all-time record for the popular vote with 81 million votes in the “safest, most secure election ever.”

So why, just three years later, have they ditched him for a deeply unpopular vice president who never won a primary? The only plausible explanation, aside from doubts about the legitimacy of those 81 million votes, is that Democrats are desperate to win this election. Like a cornered animal, they will act impulsively and do anything to avoid defeat.

For all these reasons, it makes sense that voters across the political spectrum are waiting anxiously to see what kind of calamities and traumas await the nation in the next few months. But it doesn’t need to be this way. That’s because it’s clear that little will change soon — regardless of who wins the election.

No short-term fixes

Imagine the worst-case scenario: a successful assassination attempt on Trump. Leftists clearly don’t realize that such an event wouldn’t end their nightmare — it would only galvanize the MAGA movement further, not dissolve it.

Trump has left an indelible mark on the GOP, reshaping it into something that cannot easily be undone. Ten years from now, the Republican Party, if it still exists, will resemble Trump’s nationalist populism more than the establishment conservatism that has dominated since the ’90s. A second Trump term would accelerate this transformation, but it will continue with or without him.

Even if right-wing voters suffer a devastating loss in 2024, their defeat will only be temporary. Leftists need to understand that even a decisive Harris victory — or a Trump loss — won’t eliminate the real threat to their control: the millions of Americans they dismiss as “domestic extremists” who refuse to submit to a globalist managerial technocracy.

Democrats often say, “We can’t turn back the clock,” but they fail to grasp that the pre-9/11 political status quo will never return.

Conservatives face a similar challenge: Even a decisive Trump victory would not undo a century-long progressive revolution that has infiltrated nearly every American institution. If Trump wins, his final term would last only four years — or perhaps less if Democrats gain control of Congress. Many of the troubles we face cannot be resolved in a single term, by Trump or anyone else.

The immigration crisis, deep structural economic problems like mounting debt, and the shifting global alliances driven by China’s rise are challenges that will span decades.

In short, whatever the outcome of the election, it won’t stabilize our current political turmoil. A Harris win won’t quash the high energy on the populist right, and the enduring victory Democrats crave will remain out of reach. While a Trump win could deal a significant blow to the institutional left, it would undoubtedly escalate resistance in the areas where the left still holds power.

The stakes are undeniably high, and we should fight to win. Political urgency can make it tempting to believe that the ends justify the means, but that’s only true when your goal is within immediate reach. Even if Trump wins, that isn’t the case now. The means matter because it’s possible to sacrifice too much for a victory that would be partial and temporary.

Recognizing this is crucial because framing this election as an apocalyptic battle can lead people to justify extreme measures. Desperate and impulsive actions can create the very catastrophe we aim to avoid.

Those aware of the current moment can sense that we are on a razor’s edge. Sudden movements of any kind can trigger disaster, and calamity might occur regardless. We do not control our fate. However, understanding that all of us — friends, enemies, and everyone in between — will have to live to fight another day is vital to preventing the worst-case scenarios.