"However this ends up playing out, reelecting him this fall guarantees that power won’t transfer smoothly in 2029. That’s especially true if a Democrat is elected in 2028: The apocalyptic terms in which MAGA populists routinely frame the prospect of left-wing governance, starting with the “Flight 93” nonsense in 2016 and extending to Trump’s stump speeches today, makes it impossible to imagine him tossing the keys to the White House to, say, Gavin Newsom. Even if he’s disinclined to interfere, the Republican base that he’s spent nearly 10 years radicalizing will demand it. They’re better authoritarians at this point than he is.

Choosing Trump in November means choosing chaos. We all know it, or should know it, by now. We seem resolved to choose it anyway."