This article was originally published by George Ford Smith at The Mises Institute.

The case against Clevinger was open and shut. The only thing missing was something to charge him with.—Joseph Heller, Catch-22

Austrians call it high-time preference. In psychology, it’s an area of research called future orientation. Hall of Fame football coach George Allen expressed it as “The future is now.” Almost everyone seems born with it, and a growing number don’t outgrow it.

Today in American politics, it is strongest among one faction in particular: Donald Trump supporters. They want him now. Any delay assures the country’s destruction. Trump and only Trump will clean the house, and the house to be cleaned is barely standing. Following government protocol means it will be a full year before Trump can begin to save us—if he’s elected. That’s unacceptable. Our house will be a smoldering ruin by then.

As all but the ostriches know, the Joe Biden prevaricators are doing everything they can get away with to bury what’s left of the West, including its people, while raising the prospect of nuclear Armageddon. It’s not clumsy ignorance. It’s malice.

Socrates was wrong. Some people do will to do evil.

We see it in their headline attacks on Trump. Keep him defending himself in court—make that courts, plural. Keep him off the ballots. If his name is mentioned be sure to spit on it. Tar his supporters.

Surely, someone as evil as Trump must be guilty of multiple heinous crimes. Keep looking until you find them. Or at least one.

And if you can’t find anything, make it up. Keep making it up until he’s removed as a contender.

Only, of course, it’s not working and seems to be backfiring.

If Trump is still around by November there’s always the old standby, the election. Who’s in charge of the polls? Not me, probably not you. What’s their politics? RINOs will be glad to help for the bipartisan effect. Poll workers welcome late hours. It’s how democracy works.

If everything else fails, there’s always a bullet. Who said that? Cofounder of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project, Rick Wilson. This is how democracy works when certain people don’t like the results.

If they’re looking for a sure solution, that’s the one. Maybe.

If any event could ignite massive political unrest, it would be assassination. Trump supporters tend to be armed, but Biden reminds them he has bigger guns. Manned by whom? Why would any soldier support Biden after his disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal?

The Biden gang knows this, of course. It’s much easier to just turn off the internet. Could it be the ones fearing Trump will flip the switch are actually suggesting Biden do it first?

And If Trump Wins?

It’s possible, given the public vitriol against Biden, especially among young voters, and the broad perception that anti-Trump tactics are politically motivated, that Trump will win. And then?

Simple. Keep kicking and screaming.

The anti-Trump warriors will never concede. It’s not democracy they fear losing since they don’t practice it, but it’s losing the triumph of collectivism called the Great Reset. Embedded in that triumph is the death of capitalism.

Even if Trump manages to undo some of Biden’s damage, how long will it last? If he sends the illegals home, they’ll come back later. The climate change priests will howl until he’s out of office again, even if gas stoves remain on the market.

Some things will be difficult to change, like all the Woke degeneracy. Diversity, equity, and inclusion won’t go away, even if planes start crashing.

Only if he orders all the troops home could he keep the US out of foreign wars. Right now, the US has roughly 750 foreign military bases spread across eighty nations. That’s never been a strategy for peace.

But peace is not the guiding principle. War profits would plunge if the US minds its own business. How powerful is the war lobby? Or the Israeli choke hold? Trump might be strong enough to stare them down. But his successor?

Trump’s changes, as relieving as they would be, will not last in a society where too many people don’t want them.

How about a national divorce? It’s been mentioned but never explained. Would we have the deplorables on one parcel of land (somehow) and the wokesters on another (somehow) abutting it?

The arrangement sounds tempting but is full of holes. Here’s the biggest one: the wokesters need the deplorables to exploit. Since they deplore merit, wokesters need free lunches. On their own, they would discover there aren’t any.

Conclusion

The political class cast our fate long ago by creating the Fed, then abandoning honest money (gold), then running their printing press on champagne—or whiskey. A case can be made that it started earlier than 1913 with the Constitution itself. I think it’s a good case. Nonetheless, the house of cards now standing won’t last.

Those who’ve prepared themselves for the collapse will stand a good chance of surviving, and then rebuilding a sound market economy with the state relegated to history. I expect it to be a long, painful challenge.

Collapse and recovery will ultimately “divorce” the two sides.