Pundits have long believed that public disdain for the Trump presidency would usher in an equally radical leftist to the Oval Office. Thomas Edsall of the New York Times has suggested that since “Trump threw out conventional wisdom,” Democrats may be in the position to “gamble on a similar strategy.” But somehow, Trump may prove them wrong yet again. In fact, the ascent of Joe Biden shows that Trump may just be helping moderate the Democratic primary.

Commentators on both sides of the aisle have repeatedly labeled Trump the ultimate harbinger of political extremism. Like Edsall, Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., in his recent book Them, calls out Trump for stoking extremism and “political tribalism.” In other words, Trump’s unapologetic radicalism will send the pendulum in the opposite direction, setting the stage for a radical socialist to make political headway in unprecedented fashion.