Us vs Us?

I am fast becoming a fan of Bill Svelmoe. His credentials impress me. His use of the English language and ability to paint some clear pictures with his words are skills that I aspire to.  That said, his introduction on Facebook and his essay from ten years ago speak volumes. 

These words make sense to me. Share them as you may. I post them here with Bill's permission. 

Michael Sheehan

1/17/21

 

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January 17, 2021

There has been much talk the past week, including on this page, about Protestant evangelicals. They took a leadership role in Trump's army of insurrection after all. As a consequence I've had a number of questions along the lines of, who are these folks.

So I though I would post a tongue-in-cheek but entirely accurate, if I do say so myself, definition of evangelicals and evangelicalism.

I wrote this ten years ago or so. Back when I had just published a novel set in the evangelical community and was getting a lot of questions. 

 

At the time I was still coming out of the culture myself, having grown up in it. Consequently I was still quite sanguine about the movement as a whole. In my defense, they had not yet sold their souls to Donald Trump. Any definition I wrote today would be much darker. And being so colored by the present might actually miss what this more light-hearted approach reveals.

 

In a post a few days ago, I addressed one of the factors that led white evangelicals to so quickly embrace Trump. The fact that they tend to see the world as good vs. evil, light vs. dark, God vs. Satan. Pointy-headed intellectuals refer to it as a Manichean religion. The world is dualistic. It's either this or that. Evangelicals are "this." The rest of us are "that." A strong man on the side of "this," God's side of course, as they know his desires better than the rest of us, is worth bending the knee.

Tomorrow I will address another factor that I think makes them easy prey for such folk.

But perhaps, in this more gentle description, you will be able to see the cracked door to the dark side.

 

Here is what I wrote a decade ago.

 

"A word about evangelicals. I grew up evangelical and can still pass for one when I have to today. I can speak the language. The term has been in common usage ever since a Baptist farmer from Georgia grinned his way to the presidency. Recent studies suggest that anywhere from twenty to forty percent of Americans are evangelicals, and anyone with any sense of history and current events is aware of the profound influence evangelicals have wielded on American culture. Sociological studies have shown that they're really regular folk, not that different from the rest of you, except that they talk about God ... a lot ... o.k., really a lot. 

 

For those still fuzzy on the concept, evangelicals are Protestants who tend to believe in a literal Bible and who base their faith and practice on that book. Consequently they know the Bible better than most and are convinced they understand it better than anyone. I'd read it completely through five times by the time I was twelve. I may have cheated a bit in Leviticus and Chronicles. I read every word of Song of Solomon. I wanted to be the young lover "like a stag leaping across the mountains, bounding over the hills." I married my wife because her "hair is like a flock of goats descending from Mount Gilead." 

 

Evangelicals feel they have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Where the Puritans tended to talk more about God, evangelicals, at least since the mid-19th century, have gotten on much better with Jesus. God makes them nervous. They write big books of theology to make him behave. But they "come to the garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses" to spend time with Jesus. Often they lay their heads on his breast. Jesus loves them, and they love him back. They express that love in daily "quiet times." Many carry on a running conversation with Jesus all through the day. He tells them where to go to college, who to marry, sometimes even where to eat. He finds parking spaces, fixes flats, heals diseases, and saves souls. He's a very handy guy.

But you have to make Jesus your Lord, your total boss, acknowledge your sin, and pray the sinner's prayer to get in on the good stuff. Most evangelicals know the day and the hour in which they were "born again." I prayed every night of my young life that Jesus would save me and get me born again. I was terrified of his dad, and thought Jesus might just sneak me in the back door. I still think he just might.

 

Evangelicals believe in miracles even if they’ve never seen one. Most think they have seen one at some point or other. At the very least in the transformation of their own hearts. There's a certain kind of evangelical called Pentecostal that believes that God is most definitely still in the miracle business today. They fill stadiums and fall down a lot and send an awful lot of money to guys with funky hair. Sometimes they even talk in languages that nobody knows, not even themselves. Linguists don't believe they're really languages, but then linguists are probably educated and have been infected with secular humanism. 

 

Evangelicals are impressively evangelistic. (The American press regularly confuses the two words, indicating the resilience of the cultural divide in this country as well as the willful obtuseness of the chattering class where religion is concerned.) Indeed virtually the entire current American missionary force has been sent out by evangelical churches. Africa, Asia, and Latin America are rapidly turning Protestant thanks to evangelicals. It's why I spent my formative years in a bamboo house up on stilts in the jungle. Even folks in the jungle, after all, have to be told they're going to hell. And given a chance to choose differently.

 

Finally, although it’s not a hard and fast rule, evangelicals tend toward the conservative, both culturally and politically, although few could offer a good reason why Jesus wouldn’t prefer the Democrats. Liberals and sinners, victims of secular humanism and original sin of all stripes, make them nervous. "Hate the sin but love the sinner" is their frequent mantra, but that doesn't mean they have to actually like such folk. Their most fervent prayer is that God would make them all Christians or make them go away. There’s very little in between. They’re looking forward to the rapture because they genuinely want to meet Jesus, but also because they'd like to get away from the rest of y'all."

 

I might add today that they don't intend to leave the rest of y'all alone. Read the book of Revelation for a preview of what they have planned for you. Spoiler alert. It ain't pretty ...

 

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What will President Biden do?

January 15, 2021

I am a fan of the insights of Bill Svelmoe.  His credentials are worthy.  His style is breezy.. and I like what he has to say.

I'm concerned for my old Red classmates. This is directed to them.  Sadly, I think that Marvin and Kay have deleted me from the email list.  They accused me of "hurting" some of the old folks.  What was upsetting, you may ask? Really?  I simply asked them for whom they would vote, back in November. The epithets and hue and cry were surprising to me.  I didn't campaign for anyone. I DID say I'd vote Blue, which may have been so "hurtful"  that I was just declairing for myself?  And, boy did they tell me off!  'None of yer bees wax!!' That spoke volumes.   The friends who were upset with my just asking were probably (edit) republicans. My old friends who were liberally oriented wrote to me in private and declared themselves.. Denny, David, and some others who had been red but have seen the light. I'm grateful for  their friendship.

The January 6th embarrassing and disturbing insurrection that was promulgated by this president is a stain on our country to the world. That this president  is planning a military send off for himself is ironic, as he never served and, as commander in chief, probably had no clue as to what that meant.   That the nuclear football is secure, I understand, is a bit of a relief. Does anyone else see his resemblance to Mussolini? 

We wonder if 45 will pardon the thugs who crashed the Capitol Building, while ignoring the service of the Capitol Cops who put their lives on the line to face the well coordinated mob? What a class act, to call his loyal lap dog, Pence, a pussy. Of course, 45 knows pussy, as he declared and we ignored. 

Who are the real patriots? Not the vandals, that's for sure.

For you old republicans? Please look in the mirror to see the faces of the people who enabled 45 to do his best to flush the USA down the crapper.  You were fooled.  I forgive you. Maybe you've seen the light? Let me know?

I wish that President Biden would not hold a public Inauguration Ceremony right now.. but he has not responded to my plea.  

Here's Bill's latest essay:  

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Watching Biden's speech last night and then again today, I was reminded that good governance can be dull. Filled with dry and dusty things like plans, facts, details, knowledge of how government works, intricate assessment of problems and how to fix them.

And good governance lacks things like insulting the people whose votes you need, promising fully developed plans in two weeks for projects upon which you have no intention of spending even five minutes, ad-libs that send a ripple of laughter through your audience and shudders of concern from watching psychiatrists.

Biden did more presidenting in an hour yesterday than Trump did in four years.

Presidenting does not need to be flashy. It does not need to produce goosebumps.

In his good days Biden was never a stemwinder. Young people don't cut class to hear him speak. He rarely transports listeners to the mountaintop. He won't bring tears to your eyes. He might even bore you.

But here's what he will do. He'll put in the work. He will read. He will study. He will know his stuff. He will persuade behind the scenes. He will manage the problem. He will get results. He will empathize. He will care.

And here's what he won't do. He won't golf while hundreds of thousands of Americans die. He won't spend all day obsessing about his image on TV. He won't send his aides out with a plan only to undercut that plan with a tweet an hour later. He won't send loving letters to dictators while alienating our allies. He won't suggest bleach as a solution to a deadly problem. He won't leave office as ignorant as the day he entered. And he won't lead an insurrection against his country.

He will accept his defeats as gracefully as he'll deflect praise to his associates.

Biden won't be flashy. But he will be competent.

He won't thrill. Unless thrill is a vaccine in your arm and more money to your name. 

 

You won't obsess over his every pronouncement. But you will sleep better at night ... Bill Svelmoe

 

Eight more days

With eight more days to go until the Inauguration of Joseph Biden as the President of the United States, the actions of an angry mob, goaded to service by the current president.. so sad.. (to coin a phrase).. we wait to see if the leaders of the United States will step up to impeach him..  again.  

Repeated images of the mob attacking the US Capitol building are disturbing in their brutal honesty. If 45 had led the march as he said he would (but did not), it might have been like good old Marty Luther nailing up his complaints. That would have been a classy act. We know 45 did not want that.  He wanted what Rudy Giuliani proclaimed, "Trial by combat!" 

My eloquent pal, Bill Svelmoe, carries on a bit. I respect his views and share them here from time to time because his background as the son of evangelical missionaries lends credibility to his views.  I share them here, especially for my old high school pals who got so upset when I simply asked them, before the election, for whom they'd vote.  Evidently, my innocent question "hurt" some of them. Those who called 'FOUL' may blame me for their being hurt, sadly, it's the person in the mirror where the blame lies.    

I just ask questions... and.. I declare myself proud to have voted for Biden/ Harris. Period.

Here's Bill Svelmoe's latest rant.  I so respect this guy. I  have not vetted his story of the Proud Boys, but Bill is a credible guy, to me.  Direct responses to directortv41 at yahoo  dot com...

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From the NYTimes today: “Before self-proclaimed members of the far-right group the Proud Boys marched toward the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, they stopped to kneel in the street and prayed in the name of Jesus.”

From a Josh Hawley speech: “We are called to take the message [that Jesus Christ is Lord over every inch of creation] into every sphere of life that we touch, including the political realm. That is our charge. To take the Lordship of Christ, that message, into the public realm, and to seek the obedience of the nations. Of our nation!”

There are a number of reasons why this “unity” to which Republicans now seem so devoted is a pipe dream.

For one, Donald “I’ll be with you at the Capitol, no wait, I think I’ll just watch TV” Trump still yammers on about “witch hunts” and “hoaxes.” Why face reality when your Messiah spins such rich fantasy?

Second, when I punch in 1210 on my remote, I still land on FOX News. FOX’s prime time grievance merchants began mocking Biden’s calls for unity the second the words left his mouth. There’s no money for FOX in unity.

But perhaps the primary reason why unity will escape us can be found in Proud Boys kneeling to Jesus and senators who see human freedom as a threat to Christian dominance. The crosses and Jesus Saves signs carried next to American flags and Trump banners were not a call for unity. Unless that unity comes with bended knee to their two Messiahs, Trump and Christ.

White evangelical Christianity has undergirded Trump and Trumpism from the moment it became clear that he would be the Republican nominee. No sooner had the rest of God’s anointed, the Cruzes, Huckabees, Bachmanns of the world, exited stage left than our American Magdalenes fixed their coquettish gaze on their new strong man. Surely a ride on that arm would lead to a crown and a throne.

In fact this is exactly what Trump promised them. “Christianity will have power,” he told them on a frosty morning in Iowa. “If I’m there, you’re going to have plenty of power, you don’t need anybody else.”

And they believed him. And they bent the knee.

And it is not in the nature of evangelical Christianity, indeed in the nature of any conservative religious expression, to compromise, to embrace unity.

As the apostle wrote to the first Christians, “Do not become unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has light with darkness? What harmony is there between Jesus and the Devil?”

Trust me on this my liberal friends. In that little equation, we are the unbelievers. We are darkness. We are the devil.

This is the cancer at the heart of conservative religion, and by extension, conservative politics. The cancer of tribalism. I serve the true god. Your god is false. I know the truth. You live a lie. You therefore by definition serve evil, Satan if you will. It is right and just therefore that your rights are limited. That you are destroyed.

This tribalism is at the core of evangelical Christianity, the foundation of its conservative politics, the driver of its commitment to power at all costs.

Orthodox believers demonize liberals. What is the great liberal sin? Liberals make peace across boundaries. In my youth it was called the ecumenical movement. And no, the ecumenical movement is not what a cannibal has after dining on a Christian, a Mormon, and a Jew. The ecumenical movement was the cherished dream of liberals, that religious believers could find truth in other traditions, points of commonality that would tear down walls.

Liberals sought peace. Peace in unity. And for that crime, evangelicals consigned them to hell.

Note the Man of Sin who haunts the dreams of so many Christians. He is dubbed Antichrist. What is this Antichrist's great sin? He brings world peace. He tears down the walls and unites the world's religions. For this sin the Christian god reigns terrible plagues upon the earth and eventually sallies forth from heaven with Jesus leading a pack of raptured saints to massacre the remains of the human race.

And so a New Testament that begins with such hope, "good news for all people," becomes the most horrific of news for most of those same people.

Note Babel, where a united humanity, building what probably amounted to the first four-story shopping mall, elicits the horror of God, who must come down and drive them apart.

Why? Our gods prefer us, indeed need us, to be tribal. Our gods prefer us loyal only to them, and so we are taught to fear unity with the other. And what power does a priest have whose parishioners indulge other voices?

So we are right to see these current calls for unity from such as these as false flag operations. Now that Republicans have lost, they will call for unity. And if we demand change before unity, dare we call it repentance, they will accuse us of encouraging division.

But we should remember well the lessons from Reconstruction. Our enemies then, defeated on the field of battle, forced into lip service accommodation to the “rights” of others, never gave up their determined opposition to genuine equality. And 150 years later, their bitterness over that defeat continues to fuel insurrection. Insurrection against that illusory notion that “all are created equal.”

This time we must insist that unity does not come simply because the battlefield is empty. Combatants have gone home. No, this time unity only comes after the lie is denounced. Truth embraced. By political and religious leaders.

If Republican leaders want unity, they must address the nation. Tell their supporters that Trump is a fraud. That the notion of a stolen election is a lie. That they embraced that lie, knowing full well it was a lie, for purely political reasons.

And they must renounce the larger lie, the racism and resentments that lie at the heart of so much of conservative politics.

And they must denounce the support of religious leaders who seek to frame our political differences as a battle between light and darkness, truth and error, God and the devil. The toxic combination of evangelical religion and politics that saturates conservatism from the Senate to the Proud Boys must be broken.

When conservatives accept that black football players kneeling during the national anthem, not Proud boys kneeling in the streets, represent the true spirit of Christianity, then perhaps we can have a conversation about unity …

What makes us how we are?

January 8, 2021

Bill Svelmoe rocks his education and his upbringing to help folks who want to get answers.. well...  begin to get answers.  This short essay by Bill was posted on Facebook in the aftermath of the uprising at the U.S. Capitol which was promulgated by the 45th president on Wednesday, January 6, 2021.  It speaks volumes. Just as the ceremony to cast the Electoral College votes to proclaim Joe Biden and Kamala Harris the 45th President of the United States and whatever number Kamala gets.. was underway, all Hell, literally, broke loose in Washington, D.C.  

Why?  Bill's educated take may give us all food for thought.  Thank  you, Professor Velmoe.

I have not vetted the links Bill tacked onto his essay. 

Michael Sheehan

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January 8, 2021

by Bill Svelmoe

I have been following, for the past several months, the various evangelical Pentecostal prophets who were convinced God had told them Trump would serve a second term.

My interest is personal. I grew up in this community. I understand how the internal logic works. And I also have a professional interest, as my academic specialty is American religion. And I tend to gravitate to the more exotic manifestations of that religion. It's one thing to explain the theology of Reinhold Niebuhr to your students. It's quite another to stroll into class and say, "Let's talk about snakes."

Consequently, speaking of exotic, I've been following closely to see how the prophets would deal with the fact that, how to put it nicely, they kinda one-upped William Miller. No return of Jesus on October 22, 1844. And no second term for their boy on January 6, 2021. Just another "Great Disappointment" in a long history of great evangelical disappointments. Jesus seems in no hurry to return, and God seems in no hurry to grant kingly rule to one Donald Trump. As Trump himself might say, Sad!

 

The question remains, however. Are they false prophets? Did they really hear from God? Did God screw up? Did Satan pull a fast one? How to explain this disconcerting turn of events.

I have attached a number of links below. As one might expect, the prophets have varying reactions. Some are holding fast. When the machinations of humans are exhausted, God will still install Trump. Some are slickly redefining how prophecy works. And some are owning up to getting it wrong. Trying to explain how it happened. Even apologizing. I've tried to arrange the various reactions in that order below. If you're curious.

What none do, however, is challenge the underlying presupposition under which they function. Is God communicating to human beings in the manner they expect? Is their theology correct? Isn't it a much larger question than whether they are interpreting that "still small voice" correctly? Might it be that there is no still small voice? Or might it be that the still small voice is self-generated? These questions they never ask. But is this not the most important question of all? Especially for religious believers.

In that regard, I find the following story instructive.

One hot summer afternoon in Mississippi, Sam Bowers, failure in every aspect of his life, drove his pickup down a back road contemplating suicide.

Suddenly Bowers felt "transported by a power greater than he had ever before experienced." Bowers heard the voice of God say to him, "Don't be afraid; everything is all right." He explained, "The living God made himself real to me even when I did not deserve it."

For three days he felt "on air," as he experienced the overwhelming power of unmerited grace. He vowed to spend the rest of his life serving God.

Bowers understood from his reading of Scripture that God was locked in a battle with "principalities and powers" that served Satan. He set out to wage war against the servants of the devil on the side of God.

And so he created an organization to battle the devil and called it the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. Inspired by the prophet Elijah's butchering of the 450 prophets of Baal, Bowers set out to destroy the 20th century Baal prophets -- uppity blacks, the international Jewish banking cabal, and most importantly, "the pagan academy," the intellectual elite who siphoned off good southern boys and girls into the godless "socialist universe."

During Bowers' four-year period of most intense service to God, determined to see all of Christ's enemies "bow the knee," he was responsible for nine murders, including the three Civil Rights workers killed in the summer of '64, 75 bombings of black churches, and 300 assaults and beatings.

Tried a number of times, all-white juries refused to convict him until he was jailed for seven years on a federal charge of violating the civil rights of the three murdered young men. Very late in life he was convicted of another murder, and he died in jail in 2006.

But as late as 2000, he was teaching an adult Sunday School class at his Baptist church.

The moral of the story?! That I leave to you.

But it cautions me to always remember that if history has taught us anything, it's that the voices I hear are likely my own. The gods, it turns out, are created in our image every bit as much as we are created in theirs. We are all Narcissus, gazing into the chalice with a shock of recognition ...

https://twitter.com/RightWingW.../status/1347355973430751233

https://twitter.com/RightWingW.../status/1347554044055871489

https://twitter.com/RightWingW.../status/1347226823269224455

https://twitter.com/RightWingW.../status/1347238475695796225

https://www.charismamag.com/.../47718-stephen-strang...

https://www.charismanews.com/.../83946-pastor-loren...

https://www.charismanews.com/.../83947-jeremiah-johnson...

Svelmoe Strikes Again

Tuesday. Big election day in run offs in the USA! 

Getting to know the sharp wit and knowledge of Bill Svelmoe of South Bend is an education. My poor old republican pals from high school won't appreciate these little essays.  I mention them because I'm learning that their political leanings / sad leanings.. are more important to them than friendship.  What a shame it is that these people can't understand what Smelvoe understands and I am trying to understand: that the success of a society is about everyone in that society being healthy. Again, Bill's rhetoric is not totally in line with my way of expressing things, but I'm not going to edit his writing. 

The success of each of us turns on the success of the whole.  I wonder if these mild barbs might be seen by the old guys and maybe, in their hearts of hearts.. never to be admitted to...  but. THEY may know, that sticking to their party line today is really a losing cause.  Republicans!  Unite for three digit IQ reasoning! 

Thanks to Bill for allowing me to share his work.

Michael Sheehan

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From Facebook January 5, 2021

Trump tweet a few hours ago: "The Vice President has the power to reject fraudulently chosen electors."

Trump at his Georgia rally last night: "I hope Mike Pence comes through for us. I hope that our great vice president -- our great vice president, comes through for us. He's a great guy. Of course, if he doesn't come through, I won't like him as much."

William Shakespeare lend us your quill. We are about to witness one of your classic moments. The hero's fatal flaw manifests. Will it destroy him?

Mike, don't answer that knock at the door. Remember that dark night at the crossroads when you sold your soul in exchange for four years at the seat of power. Well, Ol' Slew Foot has come to collect. Don't open the door.

You tried Mike. Reports are that you and your aides met with Trump just yesterday. You explained to the stable genius that your role tomorrow is ceremonial. You are simply a channel for the will of the people. A voice and a gavel.

But as soon as you walked out the door that great mind simply clicked back into place. You may as well never have opened your mouth. The only voice that mind hears is its own.

Tomorrow you will take your place in the well of the greatest legislative chamber in human history. It will be the end of a long day, a day that will demonstrate to the watching world the moral bankruptcy of your president and your party.

As you raise your gavel, you will picture your president, watching remotely, his itchy tweet finger ready to annihilate any ambition you once held to take his place behind that Resolute desk.

He set you up Mike. He set you up to take this fall. All those MAGA-heads in the streets! They now believe you can rap that hammer in your hand and change history. Change reality. Victory for their hero, they now believe, four more years of owning the libs, simply awaits words from your mouth.

You are alone Mike. The world is watching. But you are alone.

Mother is back in the residence. She can't help you.

Perhaps Jesus will stand alongside you. He'll whisper, "They crucified me once, too, Mike. My own people. Ungrateful bastards. But, I rose in three days, Mike. Three days likely won't help you, but maybe three years, Mike. Maybe, three years."

I don't know what you're going to do Mike. Perhaps you won't know yourself until you let that gavel fall and open your mouth to speak.

But whatever you do, whatever you say, you're going to make a great story ...

Bill Svelmoe

What the heck is "interregnum?"

 When the disaster of the appointment of Amy Coney Barrett to the SCOTUS was burgeoning, this guy in Indiana wrote a scenario that might have been a key to sidetracking her appointment. It went viral.  It was brilliant. 

I wanted to do a brief theatre version of his proposed questions by the Committee... Never happened, but that idea introduced me to Bill Svelmoe.  His take on the way the world is slip sliding one way and another is, at once cogent .. biased!.. and rightly so.. er.. leftly so.. and matter of fact.  I tend to eschew pejoratives, but Bill slips them in sometimes. I won't edit his writing. 

 

Bill has given me permission to share his current thoughts on the "interregnum" we are now well past the middle of (look it up.. it's good for your vocabulary).  His credentials (he's a college professor, published author and theatre guy) are impressive to me.  And, he sails a level course, even in the rough waters that are splashing left and right just now.

 

This from 

Bill Svelmoe in South Bend:

So, I've been pondering this endless interregnum.

Lots of folks commenting how they can't wait till January 20. Seems like it will never arrive.

Let me make an argument for why this particular interregnum may be the most important in our history. And why we should not rush it.

Now part of the argument might simply be how entertaining it is to watch Trump and his band of buffoons lose over and over and over again. We wouldn't have melting Rudy, parking lot news conferences, drunk Michigan lady, etc. without this period. But let's not emphasize that. Such amusements are just a bit of whipped cream on the pie.

The pie itself is the challenge being posed to our democracy. And to the future of the Republican party.

First, the challenge posed to our democracy. That challenge is here. It is no longer hypothetical.Trump has forced the issue. Will we survive as a democracy or will we crumble into authoritarianism? As the enemy is on the doorstep, we may as well have it out now.

This extended period between Biden’s victory and his inauguration provides an opportunity to stress test any number of our systems. So far the states have held. The courts have held. Next week we’ll see what Congress is capable of. What a losing vice president is capable of. We may well see what law enforcement is capable of. If Trumpers can think of any other of our systems to pressure, I hope they do it. Let’s see if we’re worthy of what the founders bequeathed us.

What is already eminently evident is that current Republicans are most unworthy of what their party’s founders bequeathed them. This extended interregnum provides an opportunity for Republicans to destroy themselves. And one thing we can say for certain is that the Republican party must implode and rebuild itself if our democracy has any chance of future health.

And here we mention Josh Hawley’s little stunt. And, although I will likely have something to say about that slick little weasel at a future date, at this point I will register only approval. Democrats should be grateful for Hawley.

As I’ve said before, we have long known the character of House Republicans. There is a reason the founders created the House. They wanted somewhere for regular folk, the great unwashed, to let off steam. They expected the House to be a bit of a disaster.

Hence, the Senate. [And hence the presidential veto for that matter.] The founders needed a lid on that steam. The Senate would be the counter to the excesses of the House. A finger in the dike of disaster.

The founders expected the Senate to be filled with elites. That’s why they didn’t let common folk have any say in who represented them there. [Look it up. It’s true. We didn’t vote for our senators for the first century of our existence.] They expected senators to be educated. Stable. Responsible. Yes, wealthy. Therefore, independent. Sober in judgment.

The Republicans in the Senate ought to be the elites of the party. The best minds of their generation. The heart and soul of conservatism.

Our current Republican senators have managed to keep Trump and his clownish minions at bay for four years. They have bobbed and weaved. Dodged reporters. Refused comment. Tried to manage their ridiculous president. Tried to steer him toward their own ends. Every insider report has noted that they despise Trump. But they are afraid to challenge him.

Well now, thanks to Hawley, they have to play their cards for all the world to see. Stand up for everything conservatism used to represent! Put country over party! Or roll over for the worst president in our history. Put ambition over the health of the nation. Cast a vote against democracy. Your choice Senator Cruz. Your choice Mike Braun. Your choice Little Marco. Your choice Lindsey.

As important as this moment is for the world to see, it is perhaps even more important for Republicans themselves to see. Who will be left to build a genuine conservative party? And who will follow Trump into the dustbin of history?

We need the Republican party to devour itself. For the good of conservatism. For the good of the nation. And this extended interregnum is providing that opportunity.

One more interregnum bonus. Trump is melting down. Fabulously. His twitter feed is an endless fiction. A fantasy. The emotional intelligence of a five-year old pounding out his juvenile frustrations.

Every hour in which he is forced to twist in the wind, dreaming of redemptive victory, while knowing the moment, the moment in which he will be revealed as the biggest loser in presidential history, that dreaded moment is absolutely inevitable. No amount of lunatic raving can forestall that moment.

And that pressure is proving too much for an immature mind to handle. One more thing not to be rushed. One more thing to savor.

And one more thing, I am convinced, that just may peel a few more Trumpers off around the edges. There must be some Trumpers who are mature adults. There must be some who grow weary of the embarrassment. The embarrassment to the office. To the nation. To the human race. To themselves as his supporters. We need to give them all the time they need to turn away. Some of them may help rebuild an honorable conservative party.

I don’t think we should be in any rush to get to January 20. Stress tests take time. If we’re patient, this one will teach us a great deal …