You got what you deserve, Republican Party...

[A Black Falcon]

Here's a thought. Firstly, this election is going to be taught in history classes in 30 years, no matter who wins. How's that lesson plan going to be, and what will kids assume must have been true? "In the year of the clowning, the biggest clown of all ran for president."

It surely will be taught, but thinking \about this question right now, I think that the question can't be fully answered right now. That is because the context of such a lesson will be greatly affected by what happens in the years to come. Is this campaign a sign of bad things to come for America, if the Republican Party continues going down the absolutist, authoritarian road they currently are? If so the Trump campaign will be seen as an important turning point for the worse. Or, after this will their party's internal war at some point lead to the party regaining its sanity, perhaps by kicking out the worst elements? Right now this seems incredibly unlikely, but it's not impossible. In that case, the Trump campaign won't be nearly as important a historical moment as it would be in case #1.

Really though, it is rare for failed presidential campaigns to get much of any mention in history classes. You'll see books about one sometimes for sure, but in a school class? It'd need to have brought up some really important issue or candidate to get mentioned. Offhand, which ones can I think of that matter? William Jennings Bryan's multiple losses perhaps since they were important for that often-ignored era in American politics. Eugene Debs would also be worth a mention, probably, for how he pushed forward socialism in this country. Theodore Roosevelt's 1912 Bull Moose Party run for the presidency certainly, because of how it helped Wilson win. Goldwater is also very important because of how the kind of stridently conservative campaign he ran became their party's standard a few decades later, once Reagan took it on with more success. (That first scenario I outlined above about memory of the Trump campaign would be something sort of like that, but even worse for America.) There may be more, but that's all that comes to mind right now. People actually in power naturally usually are more important in history than those who lose...

Another thought, kids are, all of them, going to assume the old phrase "a trumped up charge" came from famous candidate Trump's historical strategy of making up random charges against his opponents.

I hadn't thought of that, and yeah, that'd be pretty funny if it ever becomes true...