He’s correct about two basic things. One, that this is a national emergency. If I have to spell out why for you, you’re reading the wrong column and should stick to the gossip pages. Trump is a clear and present danger the likes of which we’ve never seen. Two, that the top priority far and away of decent people of all ideologies has to be to confront Trumpism and to stop it.

The natural response of some partisans on both sides would be to refuse to commit to a project like this because of the past positions of some who might join it. “I’ll never work with Bill Kristol!”, that kind of thing. Well, Bill Kristol’s done a lot of things I don’t like. And I’ve probably done a lot of things he didn’t like, though I have only a fraction of his influence, so I’ve never helped kill a major piece of legislation (Hillary’s health care bill) or push the country toward war. But I’m ready even to forget Iraq. That’s the very essence of Popular Frontism. If Kristol wants to stop Trump and is willing to commit to Wittes’ principles, then we should be too.