"The report of my death was an exaggeration."
- Actual wording of often misquoted phrase by Mark Twain
Less than a month ago, much of the traditional and new media were writing gleefully about the likely demise of the Republican Party.
"The rats are trying to desert the sinking ship," a submission on FreeThoughtBlogs.com said. "... All that has changed is that the size of his defeat will probably be larger."
"You do not need a statistical model to know that Donald J. Trump is in a lot of trouble," The New York Times wrote last month. " Now it's fair to wonder whether he'll drag down the whole Republican Party."
"Tuesday marks four weeks until the 2016 election," The Washington Post wrote in October. "And the Republican presidential nominee is in the midst of blowing up his own party. It's unclear how badly Trump can hurt his chances or those of his party downballot. But, the disaster scenario - an Electoral College wipeout, losing the Senate and the House - now has to be on the table."
On Nov. 8, a disaster did, in fact, ensue. But it was the Democratic Party that suffered it, losing the Electoral College vote by a wide margin, losing additional governships and failing to gain either the U.S. Senate or House.
This month, the punditry is on the other foot, so to speak.
"Democrats are in meltdown mode and it has nothing to do with climate change," the Daily Signal said.
"While our collective gaze was affixed on the Trump phenomenon," USA Today analyzed, "the real story was the growing disaffection with Democrats, their candidate and their policies."
"The Democratic Party was decapitated overnight," NBC said. "Hillary Clinton's stunning loss to Donald Trump created a power vacuum at the top of the party and a crisis of confidence among its remaining standard bearers."
If you know anything about American political history, even recent American political history, you know we've heard all of this before.
When President Barack Obama got nearly 4 million fewer votes in 2012 than he did in 2008 and still won the presidential election, Republicans were being written off.
"The Republicans used to routinely win presidential elections," the New Statesman declared. "Now the party will have to have a fundamental rethink if it is to win again. The central key to Republican dominance a generation ago was race and demography. The same factors are now the key barrier to the party winning again."
"[T]he message is clear: These Republicans will never rule again," a Huffington Post blog observed the week of Obama's re-election.
Eight years earlier, it was the Democratic Party that was doomed to demise.
"[George W. Bush's re-election win] suggests that by 2004 the electorate contained enough Republicans - and enough independents who lean or will vote Republican - to provide a winning margin," an American Enterprise Institute article suggested less than a year after the election. "If so, it would mean that a realignment of U.S. politics had already occurred, and that the Republicans had become the dominant political party in the United States."
"By any measure," a Washington Post writer said, "President Bush and his fellow Republicans had a good night on Nov. 2. The question now is whether the election results set the GOP up for a good decade or more."
This year, of course, was prophesied to be the death knell for Republicans not only because of whom they nominated but because demographics were against them. Instead, blacks and Hispanics voted for him in higher than expected numbers. Reliable Democratic union voters pulled the lever for him. More women than were ever dreamed to be were in his corner. The demographic downfall never happened.
The takeaway is this. Neither party should gloat for too long over presidential election victories. Elections have consequences, and for at least four years Democrats won't always get their way, the same way Republicans haven't gotten theirs the last eight.
Yet, a world event, an issue at home, a scandal or downright disastisfaction with the party in power may change things. American political history suggests the country's two main political parties may be down at times but are never out. Republicans survived Clinton and Obama. Democrats survived Bush and will survive Trump.
Warts and all, it's not a bad little system we've got here.