It is your job to see this moment for what it is and be serious. It is not your job to be extreme—to pose for Christmas photos with your family including little children fully armed with guns in order to troll the libs, as two members of Congress did. It is not your job to call the events of Jan. 6, the riot in the Capitol, “legitimate political discourse.” That is a lie the cops and their families in the cathedral can see right through, that everyone can see through…

The Republican Party should stand against excess on all fronts—excessive regulation, excessive controls, excessive rejiggering of cultural norms. The Democrats right now are in love with excess—spending new trillions without care, even when that gives rise to inflation.

A great party can’t be a cult. Cults are by definition marginal, not of the majority. Donald Trump brought new voters in, it’s true, and the party would do well to hold them by taking good stands. But don’t forget the votes he lost. He never came close in two tries to winning the popular vote, he lost once-Republican suburbs, in 2020 he lost Arizona and Georgia, dooming Senate candidates and giving control of the chamber to the Democrats. As long as he dominates the scene the party will not succeed nationally.

How sad that would be when the problems we face are piled so high.