Of course, the definition of “RINO” has changed. Today, if you are a Republican, you are defined by your loyalty to Trump. This is the litmus test, and part of demonstrating this loyalty is insisting that he won the 2020 election and downplaying what happened on Jan. 6 (the fact that they cannot get their act together on the precise talking point for that infamous date is beside the point). We are all still dancing to the tune Trump keeps cranking out.

This is Trump’s party, just as it was George W. Bush and Richard Cheney’s party not that long ago. But in this aspect of the story, there is a glimmer of hope.

A decade ago, Ted Cruz (and the rest of the Republicans) would have both respected and feared Cheney. If Cheney told them to jump, they would have asked, “How high?” And now, a decade later, Cheney is an aging statesman who is (at best) irrelevant to the Republican Party he once dominated.

If we’re lucky, Donald Trump will end up in that same boat. Maybe we will get lucky, and it will capsize with him in it.