I suggest to hope less.

The world order we knew is upended and it's likely to stay that way. Better to spend energy shaping that into something that is acceptable, then hoping it will all go away once DT is gone.

> "after his term we'll at least return to normalcy and fix things"

We'll only return to normalcy after Trump upon implementing our own Nuremburg-style trials for members of his administration and enacting a number of constitutional amendments to fix the structural failures which allowed it to come this far. Even then, it would take at least a generation before the rest of the world will consider treating the US as a sane, good-faith member of the global community.

Unfortunately, the chances of either reform occurring are near zero right now.

The only way to get enough support for such reforms requires the bulk of the MAGA cult wake from their delirium, which won't happen unless/until things get a lot worse. Loyalists have a pretty large capacity to compartmentalize their dislike of actions taken by Trump separate from their support of Trump the person, even when you can get past the "fake news" mantra that lets them dismiss anything negative which doesn't affect them directly.

The institutions "crumbled" because of the hostile Supreme Council with its "unitary executive" theory (aka sparkling autocracy). The only way we're going to have institutions again is a Constitutional amendment laying out that Congress can charter independent agencies. I'd suggest their heads be directly elected by the People. And of course we've got to get rid of the supplicants on the Council too, and then maybe we can call it a Court again.

Worse than trump are the tens of millions of Americans willing to vote for someone like him. They will largely still be here after Trump is gone.