This means that if Trump loses next month, Republicans will not be deposed tyrants ripe for (legal or institutional) retribution. They will be the political opposition in a system that facilitates the
peaceful transfer of power between parties — a process that only functions if each side treats the other as fellow citizens who will be given a fair chance to vie for power the next time around, and if this process itself is widely considered legitimate.
This is a fundamental precondition of democratic self-government that progressives disregard at their peril.