But Perry has done more than expose Trump. Following last month’s church shooting in South Carolina, he delivered the best and bravest Republican speech of the campaign so far. In remarks at the National Press Club, Perry confronted his state’s history of racial violence in the story of Jesse Washington, tortured and lynched by a Waco mob in 1916. By vividly recalling the details of that case — by looking this evil of racism straight in the face — Perry took the U.S. debate on race to a deeper level of honesty.

So, at two turning points of the presidential race — the rise of Trump and the Charleston massacre — Perry emerged as a responsible voice. How to explain it? Some of this is assuredly sound staffing choices, providing him good advice and good speeches. But there is a factor more intrinsic to Perry. He has a history of making gaffes that reveal his decency. During his spectacularly failed candidacy in 2012, Perry defended his state’s extension of in-state college tuition benefits to the Texas version of “Dreamers” — illegal immigrants who had graduated from Texas high schools. If you want to deny them education, he said, “I don’t think you have a heart.”…

Perry’s approach to politics gives evidence of actual executive responsibility. Others can be emperors in ideological fantasy worlds of their own choosing. Perry was governor of Texas. And a good one.