the Pacific war was far from over. Much hard fighting remained, and there were still defeats and setbacks in the future.

The best case scenario is that Trump will lose the election, and further, that the loss will be unambiguous, obvious and uncontested; that is, there will be no post-election litigation, unrest or other shenanigans. Let us also hope that the election is decided by a majority of voters, not some Electoral College anomaly. Let us further anticipate that the interregnum between the election result and the new President’s inauguration goes smoothly, that Trump and his party, judicial and legislative allies cooperate with the transition process and conduct no scorched-earth policy or other sabotage.

Then what? We still will have all the problems we have now, including the ones that were plaguing us before Trump arrived on the political scene. They have continued to fester, unattended, as well as a host of new issues that have materialized since the last election. Even if the Trump Republicans and their legacy of dunces are in disarray with the loss of the election, they will still mount some effort to hamstring the new administration’s efforts. Compound this with the normal adjustment problems of any new administration, continuing Russian meddling, and the general deterioration on the national and international scene. There is the virus, the collapse of democracy throughout the globe, the growing strength and boldness of our adversaries and the deterioration of our painfully constructed defensive perimeter of allies and treaties, the pending economic catastrophe. And of course, there is the REAL elephant in the room, Climate Change.

Biden and the Democrats have their issues too. Their arrival on the scene is neither going to make our problems go away, or magically generate solutions to those problems. We can’t blame Trump for everything, nor use him as an excuse when we fail. And although I hesitate to admit it, we need the Right. Not all Conservative policies are lunacy, any more than all Liberal values are virtuous. I fear that Democratic overreaching and incompetence may generate a Republican backlash, one nostalgic for the imagined halcyon days of Trump. The Donald couldn’t get the trains to run on time either, but no one will remember that in 2024.

After Midway came Guadalcanal.