The only way to quickly — and surely — return the Grand Old Party to its senses and consign Trumpism to the dustbin of history is by defeating it at the polls — and decisively so. (Trying to get rid of it by impeaching Trump either in Congress or by invoking the 25th Amendment, as some have suggested, will actually do the opposite.) This means that, at the very minimum, Republicans should lose the House and make no gains in the Senate on Tuesday. It will also mean throwing out Republicans in state gubernatorial and legislative races around the country.

If the result is mixed and its message ambiguous, political entrepreneurs — certainly among Republicans but also Democrats — will be tempted to emulate Trump’s formula of racism, immigrant-bashing, and trade-busting for a very long time.

This is the most important election in our lifetimes. Don’t let Trump denialists tell you otherwise.