It's definitely an uphill battle. Also, it remains to be seen if Trumpism requires Trump himself to remain viable or not (I'm skeptical, but I was skeptical of

It's definitely an uphill battle. Also, it remains to be seen if Trumpism requires Trump himself to remain viable or not (I'm skeptical, but I was skeptical of essentially everything about his candidacy's viability, so what do I know?). If it turns out that Trumpism was more about him than his actual ideas, then McMullin will be less impactful. He's really a fairly generic Utah Republican, so if Trumpism fades, his success will just be pointed to as evidence that the GOP still works. Gary Johnson taking a state would be more impactful, as he'd have operated outside of the two major parties for multiple election cycles (I do not find this likely at all).