Donald Trump decisively won (33%) the South Carolina Republican presidential primary on Saturday, seizing the standard as the G.O.P.’s front-runner. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, as I write, are battling for second and third (with 22% each), while Jeb Bush (8%), John Kasich (8%) and Ben Carson (7%) rounded out the field.

Given the results, Jeb Bush suspended his campaign. The pressure will mount on Carson and Kasich to do the same. Carson remains indignant at the thought, while Kasich is betting on a longer, Midwestern strategy. Republican operatives that fear a Trump nomination, which seems increasingly likely, will lean on both men to emulate Bush’s example.

Every Republican candidate that has won both New Hampshire and South Carolina’s primary contests has gone on to win the party’s nomination. Donald Trump is poised to continue that pattern. Considering the party’s nomination history (Romney, McCain, Bush, Dole, Bush, Reagan), a Trump victory would be a political earthquake, with aftershocks felt around the globe.

Trump, unlike recent nominees, is still plagued with particular problems, which should prevent careful analysts from anointing him just yet. Trump’s vote totals still hover around 1/3 of the GOP results. While those numbers are likely to grow as candidates drop out, will others, like Rubio and Cruz, gain more of that share and eat into Trump’s lead? It seems unlikely that strong Bush supporters would veer toward either Trump or Cruz, but some might prefer Kasich to Rubio. Carson’s voters are a different story. There is good reason to think that a winnowing field hurts Trump. But if the field remains five, and Kasich and Carson continue to earn between 5-10% of the vote each, the likelihood of anyone defeating Trump gets smaller and smaller. Less than a sliver of total delegates have been pledged, but the Trump train’s wheels are turning and the locomotive is gaining speed. At some point, the whistle of inevitability drowns all other sounds. Super Tuesday, where nearly one-fourth of the party’s delegates will be assigned, is only two Tuesdays away. Is that enough time for either Rubio or Cruz to mount a winning strategy in enough states to blunt Trump’s progress?

The narrative thus far has been that Trump is overly reliant on white, under-educated (High School degree or less), blue-collar voters. South Carolina’s entrance/exit polls show something else. Trump won at least a plurality in the following demographic groups: Republicans and independents, males and females, voters aged 45-64, and 65 and over, those with a high school education or less, those with some college, college graduates, those who earn between 33 and 99k/year, somewhat conservatives, moderates, veterans, and evangelical Christians. He only lost decisively with those who have earned graduate degrees, earn 100k or more (both to Rubio), those who are very conservative (to Cruz) and those between 17 and 29 (Cruz won them) and those between 30 and 44 (who were effectively split between all three candidates).

At the same time, Trump’s most visible issue, immigration, was the most important issue for only 10% of the voters in South Carolina. This, it seems, should hurt him, correct? No, because Trump also won among those who claimed the economy and terrorism were the most critical issues. He tied with Rubio and Cruz with voters who thought government spending was most important. It seems that voters think, generally, Trump is a strong leader. Nearly half of the voters want a candidate that will “tell it like it is,” or “bring needed change.” Trump won those voters by more than a 2-1 margin.

All of this is to say, there is little reason to believe the Trump juggernaut is slowing down. His appeal is deep and wide in a way that a front-runner’s should be, at least if South Carolina is any indication.

We will see what transpires. Anyone who claims they have a clear handle on this race is lying. We can make deductions based on the past, but that assumes the past is relevant. In a critical way, it is not. Donald Trump is like no other candidate. There is still a reasonable chance that either Rubio or Cruz can overtake Trump, but one or the other must drop out for that to occur. That seems unlikely.

My personal feelings are clear. I think a Donald Trump candidacy would damage the Republican Party for a generation and it would debase American politics even more than Bill Clinton’s saxophone or intern shenanigans. It would tower over President Obama’s incessant televangelizing on everything from The View to ESPN, and it would make Richard Nixon’s appearance on Laugh-In seem quaint. It would be an unholy melding of reality tv and presidential politics. Sober minded Americans may mark a Trump nomination as the moment we knew the culture was on a glide path toward idiocracy and little could be done to stop it. Momentum–it’s not just for campaigns.

My personal feelings, though, are irrelevant to the facts as they are. Unless a winnowing field is truly decisive, and either Rubio or Cruz is able to perform electoral jujitsu on the Donald, Mr. Trump is indeed bloviating his way into history and we will all have a front-row seat.