A lot of ink and hot air are being expended these days on suggestions for strategies to survive Trump and get back to a normal civilized form of government. Of course they all depend on a clear distinction between “us” and “them”, which renders them futile, since we don’t agree even on that differentiation. Both sides consider themselves “us”.

As a democrat (or, more accurately, a democratic socialist) I regard the Trump-GOP army as definitely “them”, but of course Trumpists and Republicans regard me as “they”. Since “my” side tends to rely on such old-fashioned notions as facts and truth for support and “their” side relies on hand grenades and a combination of made-up numbers and chants and red baseball caps, we don’t seem likely to be able to find common ground any time soon.

What, then, can we look forward to?

It seems to me there is only one obvious scenario. First, we have to hope that the division is not “we” and “they”; it is tripartite.

1. Old-style Democrats, nowadays increasingly the young

2. Old-style Republicans, nowadays holding their noses and counting their blessings, but increasingly skeptical

3. Trumpians, exulting in their newfound power to disrupt the old networks that that believe formerly oppressed them.

There are no obvious reasons that I can see to expect much in the way of wholesale crossovers, certainly not enough to seriously affect the current 50/50 split between the (1)s and the (2)s and (3)s combined. Over time, the lack of willingness to face facts among the (2)s and (3)s is likely to show up in the form of cracks in the body politic itself. (If nation states are to deal successfully with one another they must be able to rely on each other’s promises, and not be subject to overnight “repeal by tweet”; and as grandiose promises of job restoration and economic revival are seen to fail, one by one over time, even the most raucous chanters or financial predators will be forced to admit that there is underneath it all still an incontrovertible “truth”.) This will leave us (1)s to pick up the pieces and try to put the body politic back together again. But we are talking here about a process that will take a long time — probably generations. During that time there is a real danger that frustration will push us (1)s to adopt the know-nothing tactics of the (2)s and (3)s in an attempt to speed up the denouement. This would soften the distinction between the two sides and delay the final confrontation.

But if Trump, being unable to give the (3)s what they want (complete and permanent domination of the government) eventually fails to produce (as he must fail, since he has no program except “Heil, Donald!” and not enough insight to see that he is intellectually challenged) where will his enthusiastic troops next turn? To the bankers and giant corporations who screwed them originally? To the Democratic “Deep State” that represents to them a worldwide conspiracy to take away their guns and their religion? Or perhaps to a new party, more reality-based, but still unwilling to admit that there were no dinosaurs roaming Colorado 4,000 years ago and that the desertification of our little blue planet by human misbehavior is not only possible but perhaps already beyond the point of no reversal?

Is there any chance that the young of both factions might see their youth and energy and better educations as sources of optimism and their numerical strength as a practical asset and form a new political party that would be capable of an end run around the road blocks to reform that the entrenched careerists have until now managed to maintain? If so, who would lead such a crusade? Has our worsening division over the past 40 years left us anyone who enjoys the confidence of both sides? Can the overwhelming power of the moneybags on both Left and Right (the Koches and Soroses) so corrupted the sources of political recruits that no revival of good government is any longer possible?

You and I, dear reader, will in all probability not be around to see how this script plays out. With a certain amount of luck, though, our great grandchildren will. And they will have every right to ask, between black-lung coughing fits, “Where the hell were you when this could still have been stopped?”

Well, where are you?