Donald Trump has conquered the Republican Party. He’ll now take the GOP over the cliff to disastrous defeat. Or be our next President.

He dispatched Low-Energy Jeb, Little Marco and Lyin’ Ted. He turned Chris Christie into a fawning flatterer. Likewise the good Dr. Carson. He beat Carly Fiorina – twice. And Mike Huckabee and Rand Paul…whatever happened to them?

Trump defied and defeated the Republican Establishment. He beat the Koch Brothers and the Club for Growth. He marginalized the religious conservatives. He broke all the rules of how to win the Republican nomination.

He used reality-TV experience, a touch with Twitter and a gift for insult to outfox, outFox and overwhelm the media. Negative coverage and negative ads bounced off him.

Now some Republicans, like John McCain confidant Mark Salter, say they’ll vote for Hillary Clinton. Most others will no doubt find some heretofore-undetected presidential qualities in Trump.

Now we’ll endure endless over-analyzing of How He Did It. The answer is simple: racism, sexism and a contempt for anybody and everybody in politics.

And now Trump faces something he hasn’t faced yet: one opponent. A tough, savvy and battle-tested opponent. With enough oppo research to fill Trump Tower.

Along the way, Trump built a wall between himself and a big chunk of the electorate, especially women, minorities and millennials. Are there enough angry white men left to elect a President?

He scrambles the electoral map. More states, like North Carolina, are in serious play for Democrats. Republicans are worried about historic losses all down the ballot.

But….

Democrats shouldn’t get cocky. A volatile electorate makes for a volatile election. And Hillary is a status-quo candidate in a year when both the left and right want change.

One more thing to ponder: Whoever wins in 2016, there’s liable to be a big swing the other way in 2018 and/or 2020.