海角大神

I recently got a call from a political analyst in Washington. 鈥淭rump is dropping like a stone,鈥� he said, convincingly. 鈥淎fter Election Day, he鈥檚 history.鈥�

I think Trump will lose the election, but I doubt he鈥檒l be 鈥渉istory.鈥�

Defeated presidential candidates typically disappear from public view. Think Mitt Romney or Michael Dukakis.

But Donald Trump won鈥檛 disappear. Trump needs attention the way normal people need food.聽

For starters, he鈥檒l dispute the election results. He鈥檚 already聽warned聽followers 鈥渨e better be careful because that election is going to be rigged and I hope the Republicans are watching closely, or it鈥檚 going to be taken away from us.鈥�

His聽first campaign ad, released last week, features an image of a polling site with the word 鈥渞igged鈥� flashing onscreen less than two seconds after the spot begins.

Trump won鈥檛 have any legal grounds to stand on 鈥� this election won鈥檛 be a nail-biter like 2000 鈥� but his goal won鈥檛 be to win in court. It will be to sow enough doubt about the legitimacy of Hillary Clinton鈥檚 election that he can continue to feed paranoia on the right.

A recent Pew Research Center聽survey聽shows even now, 51 percent of Mr. Trump鈥檚 supporters have little or no confidence in the accuracy of the vote count nationally. That鈥檚 a big change from supporters of the defeated Republican nominees in 2004 and 2008.

Reportedly, Trump is also considering launching his own media network. He鈥檚 already hired two of the nation鈥檚 most infamous right-wing fight promoters 鈥� Roger Ailes, the founder and former CEO of Fox News, and Stephen Bannon, the pugilistic former head of Brietbart News 鈥� who鈥檇 take to such an enterprise like alligators to mud.

According to one聽source, Trump鈥檚 rationale is that, 鈥渨in or lose, we are onto something here. We鈥檝e triggered a base of the population that hasn鈥檛 had a voice in a long time.鈥�

Triggered indeed. Many of them angry and bigoted before his campaign, Trump supporters have only become more so under his tutelage.

The poison has even seeped down to America鈥檚聽children. A Southern Poverty Law Center聽survey聽of 2,000 school teachers recently found Trump鈥檚 campaign producing an 鈥渁larming level of fear and anxiety among children of color鈥� and inflaming racial and ethnic tensions in the classroom. 鈥淭eachers have noted an increase in bullying, harassment and intimidation of students whose races, religions or nationalities have been the verbal targets 鈥� on the campaign trail.鈥澛�

Most likely to remain after Trump are the economic anxieties Trump exploited. Globalization and technological displacement will continue to rip away the underpinnings of the bottom half of the population, creating fodder for another demagogue.聽

The real problem isn鈥檛 globalization or technological change聽per se. It鈥檚 that America鈥檚 moneyed interests won鈥檛 finance policies necessary to reverse their consequences 鈥� such as a first-class education for all the nation鈥檚 young, wage subsidies that bring all workers up to a livable income, a massive 鈥済reen鈥� jobs program, and a universal basic income.

Hillary Clinton hasn鈥檛 proposed anything remotely on this scale, and House Republicans (who will almost certainly remain in power) wouldn鈥檛 go along anyway.

After Trump, our politics seems likely remain as polarized as before 鈥� but divided less between traditional right and left than between establishment and anti-establishment.

Trump will leave the GOP sharply split between its corporate donor class and its working class. Clinton will preside over a party divided only somewhat less dramatically between its own donor class and an increasingly vocal progressive base.

Which raises an intriguing, if unlikely, scenario. What if Trump鈥檚 authoritarian populists join with progressive populists to form an anti-establishment third party dedicated to getting big money out of American politics?

The combination could prove an invincible force for wresting back the economy and democracy from the moneyed interests.

It鈥檚 not impossible. This has been the strangest election year in modern history, partly because such a large swath of Americans 鈥� Republicans, Democrats, and Independents 鈥� have concluded the system is rigged in favor of the privileged and powerful.

Trumpism will continue after Trump loses. The open question is whether anything good can be salvaged from its wreckage.

This story originally appeared on Robertreich.org.