Georgia went blue on the strength of Democratic gains in the suburbs, gains driven by the revulsion that well-to-do suburbanites have towards Trump. If the post-Trump Republican Party goes back to its roots, say in the wake of the former president being convicted of his felony charges, I could see these voters eventually coming home.
I guess the bigger question is whether the Republican Party will evolve past Trump, or if they will instead double down into some sort ultra-MAGA party that exists to pave the way for the occluded Trump to return, like Shi'ite radicals who see their political work as preparing the way for the return of the Mahdi.
That's a great analogy and a good answer to this is to urge you to not ask questions we all know they answers to. I guess this year is the last off ramp if Trump is found guilty of a felony in time for him not to be above the law.
The religious metaphor is tempting, I admit. His base of support is grounded in conservative suburbanites who were swept up in the Evangelical boom of the 1990s and 2000s and have been floundering since 2008. I can certainly see how they could interpret him as a Christ-like figure. If he is convicted and imprisoned, his public career breaks down almost perfectly along those lines:
2016 - Beginning of ministry
2020 - Betrayal
2024 - Crucifixion
I do wonder how his movement would evolve after he ceased to be a political figure. It is tempting to continue the analogy and imagine the MAGA movement reinventing itself as a more explicitly religious tendency. At the same time, I could very easily see his base getting swept up in excitement for another demagogue and, after a decade or so, forgetting entirely about their martyr.
