Finally, Trump seems a little less exotic. As Abraham Lincoln said, there’s nothing like getting used to it. His zaniness isn’t as strange or threatening as it seemed at the outset. Trump’s tweets have gone from unprecedented use and abuse of the bully pulpit to something like the wallpaper of our national political debate.

The most plausible (although always ridiculously exaggerated) case that a madman Trump would blow up the world was North Korea. The mutual threats have now given way to what will be the most highly anticipated and watched diplomatic summit since the end of the Cold War, one that is likely to produce a superficial success that will poll very well domestically.

If Republicans manage to hold the House (still a very dicey proposition) and pick up Senate seats (probably more likely than not), 2018 will be to Trump what 1998 was to Bill Clinton — an unexpected midterm victory in which remarkably good conditions in the country trumped the politics of scandal.