I highly doubt it.
Without the promise of an Afghanistan withdrawal I doubt trump would have been elected. Without the drastic shakeup that was the transition from Obama '12 to Trump '16, and the sheer parade of divisive issues that have followed, I highly doubt the situation would be as it is right now.
Would it fix everything? Of course not. But if I wanted to fix everything wrong in America we'd have to go back to the Reconstruction, if not before. I'd just prefer it didn't look like we were staring down the barrel at a powder keg.
I think an Obama or someone like Obama Running and Succeeding …
Would cause 30% of the Republican primary voters to lose their freakin mind, and since that is a large enough block in the Republican primary process, it will become “everyone’s” problem in the Republican Party.
Likewise I do not locate the problem in ‘08 or ‘01 but earlier, it was definitely there in ‘92 with Pat Buchanan (probably earlier than that but let’s focus on the 90s.) That time period where super creepy yet relevant and racists Sam Francis and David Duke we’re creating an ideology of us vs them and how they were paranoid about the Civil Right law Bush 41 signed in ‘91 and the ADA. Pat Buchanan was paranoid this law would cause Racial Quotas and it was the inciting incident of Pat Buchanan running in ‘92 even though he considered running in ‘88. Now what does this have to do with David Duke and Buchanan, well the Paleo Con vibes of Buchanan were similar enough to David Duke that rhetorically Buchanan said he is going to sue David Duke for copyright infringement. (Duke being a former leader of the KKK and almost governor of Louisiana who got 39% of the vote and only lost for Bush 41 convinced Republicans to vote for the Democrats after Duke won the Republican primary.)
I am sorry if this sounds crash and me calling you a “semi-fascist” but without the threat of Communism and the USSR what does unite the Republicans and the Republican primary? Once that “guard rail” as an organising principle is gone, I think it is culture war, and when it is culture war sometimes the most noxious Rs when the primary. [ I do hope there is something out there besides Culture War but I have not seen it in the last 30 years ]
I am not saying the Rs is irredeemable, no I am saying it is a constant struggle that you guys have to vote for, time and again, as a redemptive force*. This includes me who voted in the R primary in 2016 but in later years it is better for me and my state to vote in the D primaries since I am an independent and my state allows me to choose 1 primary per cycle.
*voting is the way we disavow, avow, and unavow (I am not this, I am this, I do not know my brother even if he has my party nominating candiate.) All those words are using “vow” as in belief or creed as a root. Voting itself sharing a language origin with Vow. Voting is our promise, our wish, our desire, etc, etc. It is not the only way to make promises / action / wish / desire though.
=====
I just do not see this the way I did 20 years ago, but hey one form of seeing is believing if we want to go doubting Thomas here 
And yes Tyr I hate it here too.
