Politically speaking, history is a pendulum that swings back and forth between the right and the left.  Democracy has a habit of destroying itself through an excess of democracy, while the left destroys itself through an excess of authoritarianism.

It’s difficult to understand how anyone can ever shift away from democracy toward authoritarian rule, given that the policies of the left never fail to make life worse for ordinary people.  Nevertheless, human beings are fickle by nature, and it’s just a matter of time until a majority of people in a democracy revert to voting for leftwing rulers.  It’s happening right now on a micro scale in New York City where people who should know better are pledging allegiance to a childlike Marxist who is promising the ever-elusive fantasy of something for nothing.

Today, conservatives are riding high on the shoulders of Donald Trump, but they would do well to study the history of the political pendulum to avoid overconfidence.  Trump will be gone in less than four years, and perhaps earlier if the violent left succeeds in its ultimate fantasy of terminating his existence.  That, in turn, would put J.D. Vance and his liberal wife Usha on the White House thrones, with Mike Johnson in the on-deck circle!

Whether it’s sooner or later, the question is, will Vance follow in Donald Trump’s footsteps or will he go the route of George H.W. Bush and preach a “kinder, gentler” conservatism?  Or embrace George W. Bush’s “compassionate conservatism?”  Both are euphemisms for giving in to the whims of lawless Democrats.  And if Vance should select Gang-of-Eight Marco as his VP — as Donald Trump is urging him to do — it might very well start to nudge the political pendulum back toward leftwing authoritarianism and the resurrection of the Democrat Party.

It’s true that the Gang of Eight was twelve years ago, but in 2025 Democrats voted unanimously to confirm Rubio for Secretary of State.  You heard that right — unanimously.  When was the last time Democrats publicly showed that kind of love for a Republican?  No question about it, Rubio has inherited John McCain’s mantel of “the Democrats’ favorite Republican.”  Let’s hope Marco has had a change of heart by learning from Trump, because we’re probably going to have to live with him as vice president under Vance — and possibly president after that.

That said, there are plenty of other issues that have the potential to move the political pendulum.  The redistricting hysteria over Texas and California is a perfect example of an issue with that kind of potential.  Democrats have gerrymandered the map to death nationwide to the point that there isn’t much more they can do, although Gavin Newsom is trying to push even further by attempting to bypass the will of California’s voters.  Democrats have always felt they could get away things like this in the past, because they knew they could count on Republicans to be gentlemanly and not push back.

Now, however, they have to contend with a Republican leader who, notwithstanding his many faults, doesn’t hesitant to go on the attack.  So much so that it’s contagious, and even RINOs like John Thune, Lindsey Graham, and John Cornyn have straightened their backbones a bit and tried to flex their muscles behind Daddy Donald, so it’s not likely the pendulum will swing to the left on this issue alone.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict is a bit more threatening, however, because from the day Trump put himself out on a limb and said he thought he might be able to end the war before he even got sworn into office, Vlad the Butcher and Volo the Petulant Child have stood in his way.  Given the difficulties of the situation, Trump has handled things extremely well, but it’s easy for Democrats to attack him by doing what they do best — scream to the electorate that they should not believe their lying eyes and ears, to wit:

“He’s making things worse rather than better.” … “He’s embarrassing the United States with his buffoonishness.” …  “He’s siding with Putin.” … “He doesn’t give a damn about people dying; he just wants to win the Nobel Peace Prize.”  Blah, blah, blah … nonsense, of course, but there are bound to be at least some lobotomized moderates who start pushing the pendulum to the left.  The Sufi poet Jalaluddin Rumi once wrote that even Jesus fled from the fool, saying, “I can make the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame run and raise the dead, but I cannot turn the fool away from his folly.”

If Democrats finally wake up, ignore the lunatic lefties in their party, and nominate moderates like Andy Beshear, Josh Shapiro, and Wes Moore — everything could change for them overnight.  The pendulum would start to move left again, because the human race is saturated with fools, and unless AI finds a way to change that, the political pendulum will always be fickle.  Of course, it goes without saying that should they get back in power, Democrats would return to their same old playbook — lying, cheating, and the destruction of American culture and the American economy, so don’t be fooled.

Sadly, evil never sleeps, so Republicans should be prepared for a fake new Democrat Party, probably not in 2026, but possibly in 2028.