Which brings us to the bigger issue: the left is more accustomed than the right to sacrificing scruples for the sake of power — or at least, it is more used to doing it openly. If your ideological goal is greater government control of the economy (and just about everything else), then wielding government power is an indispensable first step. You have to win before you can even discuss what it is you’re going to do with the levers of power. So it’s no surprise that the left has developed whole theories about gaining, keeping, and wielding power. Saul Alinsky’s “Rules for Radicals” — basically a guideline to dirty tricks, smear tactics, and intimidation — is something that all of the leaders of the left were brought up on. Barack Obama taught these theories as his first job out of college, and a young Hillary Rodham corresponded extensively with Alinsky.

A movement steeped in this power-above-all approach is going to be more inclined to accept a deeply dishonest candidate on the grounds that “he may be an SOB, but at least he’s our SOB.” Or “she,” mutatis mutandis.

But we’re catching up. A lot of people who are backing Trump seem to know on some level that he’s full of it. But they don’t care that he’s an SOB, because they think he’s their SOB. They’re on the verge of accepting a worldview in which there is nothing but a raw scramble for power by strongmen whom we support because they’re on our side, not because of their principles or character.