Sometimes a writer needs to get out of his comfort zone.

I am a pessimist, as longtime readers know and new readers have begun to learn. I could talk your ear off about why only the most tender suckers might believe anyone stands a chance of displacing Donald Trump in the cult ritual that now passes for a Republican presidential primary.

But relentless pessimism is boring. And besides, the pessimistic take on 2024 has already been written today better than I could have written it.

My colleague Kevin Williamson has an op-ed in the New York Times urging hopeful Trump haters to slow their roll about 2024. Trump remains the favorite for the nomination notwithstanding last week’s results, he writes, because of the quasi-religious bond he’s forged with the base. Part conquering savior, part martyred victim, he hath suffered for the sins of his followers—or so they believe. And the hour of redemption approacheth.