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I think there’s a broad class of issues relating to alliances and international relations where it’s basically Humpty Dumpty. Trump broke things and even if we elect someone who really loves NATO and international organizations and our alliances, they won’t be able to restore things to the way they were. Once you wrap your Lamborghini around a light pole, taking your foot off the accelerator doesn’t turn it back into a functioning car.

Then there is the damage that’s been done to federal capacity, to trust in government, to scientific research, etc. Here the damage is reparable, but again a change in leadership will not undue what was done. It will take a significant effort of an extended period of time, a decade or more, just to get us back to where we were in 2024.

As far as our basic form of government, checks and balances, and the rise of an explicitly authoritarian central power, it’s possible you are right, but I don’t think these bells can be unrung. If the only reason the president isn’t able to rule as an authoritarian is because they don’t want to, that’s no longer really a democratic republic, and it’s not a sustainable system. I am also skeptical a Democratic president in 2028 (if it happens) will adopt the Biden/Garland head in the sand approach of pretending the last 4 years didn’t happen and everything is fine, as long as they mostly observe traditional norms. The Dem base will want blood, so the political prosecutions and abuses of power to advance party interests are likely to continue and be ratified by bipartisan adoption. [Edit: it’s also the case that any attempt to hold folks from the current administration accountable for criminal acts will be viewed as partisan abuse of the justice system. So you either try to enforce accountability which spins that flywheel faster, or else you give up on the idea which will reinforce the feeling of impunity that encourages abuses of power. This Gordian knot can only be untied if there’s a bipartisan consensus that actions taken were illegal and that the administration should be held accountable. And we simply don’t have that agreement.)

I think it will take multiple constitutional amendments and possibly court packing to restore the government we thought the Constitution guaranteed. And I’m not optimistic we will have the leadership that would be required for that, at least until we’ve gone through a long enough cycle to where everybody has been attacked and oppressed enough to remember why individual rights and limited government are good ideas.

Related to that, the national civic and political culture and society are completely broken and poisoned. Both sides hate each other and think the other side are evil and enemies of the state. Hard to have a functioning democracy given that background.