The USA as many of us have known it will be set on the road to ruin tonight. Because a Bernie Sanders victory in New Hampshire (followed by a Bernie-Biden victory in South Carolina on 2.19 — thanks, POCs!) will seriously harm the sensible-liberal-moderate Pete Buttigieg brand, which is the only brand that can beat Trump in November, and therefore a Trump victory will be locked down because Bernie can’t beat him.

Typewriter Joe might be able to defeat The Beast, but after tonight he’ll be all but finished. Michael Bloomberg is the only hope right now because you know he’ll keep spending and pushing — he’s indefatigable. But I’m really not kidding. The transformation of the US of A (as many of us have known it) into Trump Nation between January ’21 and January ’25 will be ruinous beyond words. And the journey begins tonight.

If Pete can nudge aside Bernie in N.H. (which he probably can’t manage), there’s at least a chance. But he won’t. All hail the spirit and precedent of Jeremy Corbyn and Gregg Stillson! The bad guys have this! And I’m not just talking about Bernie bruhs and Trump-worshipping bumblefucks, but also Khmer Rouge wokesters and cancel culture fanatics. Together they comprise a perfect storm of catastrophe.

If Bloomberg can’t manage the next-to-impossible, the only way out is for Trump to drop dead of a heart attack or a stroke. Or for fate to (ahem) otherwise intervene. Who would be honestly sorry to see that animal breathe his last?

By the way: This morning N.Y. Times reporter Reid J. Epstein exposed the paper’s anti-Buttigieg bias by writing that an observation from Buttigieg supporter Kevin Costner “could have been a monologue from one of his sappier films.”

The problem with Epstein’s snide remark is that there’s nothing even remotely sappy in what Costner said.

Epstein: “’He doesn’t compete to be the loudest,’ Mr. Costner said of Mr. Buttigieg. ‘His silences are those of someone who is thinking.’

“Mr. Costner did not implore the crowd to go out and volunteer and knock doors for Mr. Buttigieg. He was just there, he said, to tell them whom he is supporting. And that’s Mr. Buttigieg, he said, because the former mayor is a good listener.

“’One person alone is not smart enough to have all the good ideas,’ Mr. Costner said. ‘One party alone cannot have all the good ideas. So what we have to have is to have a candidate who has the good sense to not care where the good idea comes from. What we have to have is to have a president secure enough to let all Americans benefit without regard for who gets the credit for the good idea.'”