Donald Trump was elected president a year ago today, radically scrambling American politics. As we know, he lost the popular vote, and only eked out a victory because a relatively small number of Upper Midwest voters went his way. A victory is a victory, and he won fair and square.

But what if he had lost? What would be going on in the Republican Party? Granted, the GOP is a big mess today because he won, but what would be happening to the party had Trump lost? They would still hold both houses of Congress, and would no doubt be doing their dead-level best to thwart President Clinton’s agenda. Beyond that, though, what do you think would be happening within the party and within conservative intellectual circles?

Because I am genuinely curious to hear thoughtful speculation, I will warn you that I’m not going to publish smarty-pants or otherwise trollish commentary. Give the question serious thought, and let’s hear serious answers.

UPDATE: Gang, please, let’s hear some actual counterfactual speculation, not simply your opinions on whether or not the 2016 result was good or bad. It’s fine with me if you speculate also on how the Democratic Party would be today if HRC had won.