If so, they should give a rest to the hyperbolic claim that Trump’s second term would be the end of the world.

Absolutely. If you ignore Trump’s hyperbolic demagoguery and focus in on policy, what you find is that he is basically governing as a garden-variety Republican president.

What do Republican presidents do, after all? They lower taxes, they deregulate business, they rattle their sabres, and they talk a good game on cutting the deficit while racking up more debt. They ignore climate change, they try to isolate our foreign policy enemies, they load up on NATO while complaining that Europe isn’t carrying a full load, and they were all pledged to try and dismantle the ACA and replace it with HSAs.

Does anyone think that Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio would have done anything different?

Yes, the tariffs are a new wrinkle — — those are usually preferred by Democrats, not Republicans — and the tete-a-tete with North Korea was new, too. But the tariffs are starting to come off now, and the North Korea thing went nowhere, so what’s to complain about?

So, no…another four years of Trump isn’t the end of the world. It’s annoying for sure, and taxes our patience……but the world will still be here in 2024.