I do wonder, is this going to continue for the rest of our lives. Every election pitched as a life and death world changing event. Yes, we have a public that has been primed to believe things that make no sense and have been buried in lies. Some can't make heads or tails of what is going on because they either are never exposed to or just don't pay attention to the facts. News and facts just are not delivered to people in the same way, and people can silo themselves off, so they only hear what they want. It's more than a little ridiculous that in the age of MAGA people have a hard time agreeing on what a fact is and if the facts matter. Reality is more a choice than a mutual agreement/understanding.

We do have more parties than just the Democrats and Republicans, but they don't make enough headway for them to really become part of the national conversation. We may become a three party country when Trump goes down because he did such an amazing job destroying the Republican party. Totally took it over, his family now has full control of it, so if/when he loses this election, they will face a massive choice, and it won't be easy for them. They sold out completely to Trump and his family, and these people will not cede power easily now that they have it, even if Trump loses. 

So, in the event that he does, the Republicans will have a new battle on their hands. It will be basically between whomever will try to step in to be the new MAGA leader, which won't be easy, and Trump will attempt to control who that is, and whomever is left in the Republican party that wants to return the party to conservatism. Trump and his minions have been trying to drive those people out of the party so they can do a full takeover. They have done an impressive job of this. 

So, the only way I really see us getting to a three party split soon, is if the Republican party splits, basically into MAGA and whatever is left of the conservatives. It will be an ugly spilt, Trump will be vicious to those that go, but they sit at this precipice and allowed themselves to get there. 

I don't know how that would work out in the long haul, but in the short term it would leave the Democrats as the dominant party, facing two smaller parties that are both in a rebuilding mode. Voters would be left to decide in which direction they would want to go, and in a way, the two parties that would emerge from the Republican split would have to define who they are for the public to understand them. One group would obviously be a continuation of MAGA, the other would be trying to rebuild an idea of conservatism. Obviously, in this moment, and probably in the beginning of this new phase, how the media covers this would matter. Trump has been able to take control of the Republican party because the media was so willing to allow him to use it slander and assault his enemies. Either forcing them out or forcing them to bend their knee to him. 

As you mention, the biggest problem we are left with, because Trump himself is temporary, is what has been done to our courts, particularly the state of our Supreme Court. Yes, it is now corrupt and has been taken over by the 6 Republican appointed justices that appear to care nothing about precedent and the law. Their absolute immunity ruling was the first step toward someone, maybe not Trump, being able to do the things laid out in Project 2025. 

The problem this causes is gigantic. It does mean unless we can get our House and Senate to enact some legislation to prevent it, we could, as you mention, see the rise of someone much smarter and much less inept than Donald Trump. If that person manages to win the presidency, in our current state, we are set-up now to become a failed democracy. I don't see us quickly being able to expand the court and chances are, best case scenario is Harris wins, and Thomas and Alito retire, and we reduce the gap on the Supreme court to 5-4.