Gotta admit it. My faith in democracy is badly shaken (though not broken)

[-misanthroptimist]

10. I'm with you; we're far from out of the woods

But I think that there is cause for optimism.

Trump gave voice to disaffected, ignorant bigots in the US. There is every reason to believe that he will continue to do so. However, he faces a slew of legal issues, from taxes to treason, in both Federal and State courts. Should one of those issues result in his imprisonment or even merely disqualifying him from running again, there is a large chance (imv) that the cult breaks up into warring factions. People like Stefanik and Hawley, as well as others, are not stupid. They are cynical. They all want to gain control of the cult should Trump fall. And of course, there is a huge stupid/ignorant cadre in the wings who feel that they should be in control. Unless they can come to some arrangement -which seems unlikely especially with the intelligent ones- then the cult splinters.