TIME: Trump Loss Could Result in ‘A New Right-Wing Populist Party, Anchored by a Trump-Breitbart-Ailes Media Empire’

From Joe Klein writing at TIME magazine:

Donald Trump will probably lose this election, which is good news. Here’s the bad news: that loss may be just the beginning of Trump’s toxic presence in American political life. Nightmare scenarios are floating through Republican circles. The best cases posit a bitter and continuing Republican civil war between the Trump and “Establishment” factions of the party. The worst cases involve a clean break, a new right-wing populist party, anchored by a Trump-Breitbart-Ailes media empire. The mud generated by this new faction, fed by WikiLeaks and the Russians, could splash across the political spectrum, creating a perpetual fever swamp of conspiracy theories and calls for special prosecutors, crippling a Hillary Clinton presidency. Goth politics may be the new normal.

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So let’s say, for the sake of argument, that Trump wins 50 million votes on Election Day–a losing total, and probably the low end of his expectations. Let’s also stipulate that at least half of those voters are reflexive Republicans who will hold their noses and vote for their party’s nominee. That leaves up to 25 million hardcore Trumpists as the potential market for a new network. There are reports that Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner is trying to find investors. Trump’s campaign orbit–a ridiculous political operation–looks far more plausible as a communications company: Steve Bannon of Breitbart, Roger Ailes and Roger Stone. Even Newt Gingrich is more plausible these days as a performer than as a politician.

Read the rest of the story at TIME.