So what comes next? Either the populist nationalism politics of Trump will triumph, or it won’t. Its too early to tell yet, it could go either way, but now is the time to reconnoiter the future and start updating our charts. Navigation is going to be difficult. After almost a year, its pretty clear what Trump World will look like, or where it heading. So lets consider some of the other alternatives.
Several major possibilities present themselves. First, the country could swing back to a more conventional Liberal/Democratic/Obama mode, similar to what you might have expected under Hillary. Or perhaps the pendulum will swing even further, overshoot to a Bernie Sanders or Liz Warren configuration.
The alternatives on the Right are much more likely
1) a more traditional “Establishment” Republican mode, a pre-Tea, pre-Reagan or even pre-Goldwater GOP. A country club Republican Party.
2) an oligarchy, not too dissimilar from what we have in Russia today. (essentially the same as 1), only more so.)
3) a hard Right social conservative movement, a church lady and Oral Roberts constituency.
4) Unapologetic neo-fascism, but without Trump as its head, and with a leadership governing under a more benign, and concealed, face.
Several other combinations and variations may come to mind, but all these options leave us with one unsolved problem.
What happens to that 20-30% of the American electorate that voted for Trump (as opposed to voting against Hillary, or not voting at all) and who to this day continue to support Trump, make excuses for him, cover for him, and otherwise see him as their savior. I’m not talking about those who only support the Donald because they see him as their main hope of getting their tax and regulatory policies institutionalized, but those hard core supporters who are emotionally and intellectually wedded to his persona, his personal psychology, and his personality.
When they wake up and see that not only the Left has contempt for them, but the Right as well, they are going to be pissed.