To Rich’s point, in 1976, Georgia’s Democratic governor, Jimmy Carter, defeated the incumbent Republican, Gerald Ford, for the presidency in a post-Watergate, post-Nixon-pardon race that looked like a landslide at first but was decided by just two points. But Democrats absolutely walloped Republicans in Congress, winning the House by more than a two-to-one margin, 291 to 144, and the Senate somewhat less lopsidedly, 61 to 38.

Four years later, Ronald Reagan beat Carter by nearly ten points, carrying 44 states (with an Electoral College majority of 489 to 49). The Democrats’ House majority, which had begun to shrink in the 1978 midterms, further diminished to 242–191, and Senate Republicans rode Reagan’s coattails to their first majority in a quarter century, 53 to 46.

No matter how the 2024 election turns out, the Republicans will be in significantly better shape than they were in November 1976. The suggestion that they are headed to extinction is nuts, even if the next four years would be rambunctious.