SWOT--
I think you are on the right track, and I like your attitude concerning this election, though I don't agree that the Repubs. are split at this point.
My hubby told me long ago that this would be the outcome, though I didn't believe it. He is in the agriculture business, and Iowa has an ag-based economy, so he travels the state regularly, and talks to a wide variety of people in this state, as well as other Midwestern states. Though he never brings up politics, it does get brought up to him in the course of conversations, and the mood was very clear--the Dems had left the working-class, and so-called uneducated, behind and no longer cared, but had disdain for them. They were going to return the favor. And many were life-long Dems.
And rioting and protesting over the results of the election won't help to bring anyone into the party, and will likely turn even more people away.
So, they can learn from this or not, as they see fit, but they can't say they don't know why it happened.
I am an independent who voted for Perot twice (hoping for a real third-party alternative) but I have to say that I feel pretty good right now, and I have hope that the next four years will be good.
And I agree that the time of the Bushes and Clintons are, hopefully, over and we need to move on into the 21st century.