But there isn’t any political juice for any up-and-coming Democrat in being not crazy, while there would be a lot of juice in putting Donald Trump in jail and, short of that, in making florid dramatic pronunciations that Donald Trump belongs in jail and would be there if not for some subtle and uncorrectable defect in our legal system.

In a democratic republic, the law is what the people say it is. Writing laws is a careful business and one you want to keep on a short leash: Corruptissima re publica plurimae leges, and all that. But the American problem is prior to the law. We may need better laws, but we much more urgently need better Americans. This is a demand-side problem: Our politics is what we demand it be. What Americans demand right now is . . . this, this hideous dog’s-breakfast of ugliness, stupidity, and greed. And this will persist exactly as long as we allow it to persist.

Eventually, someone will have to stand up and summon up the scorn to call this contemptible spectacle what it is, even though nobody wants to hear it, even though it will win him no votes, even though it will irritate his friends and estrange his allies.

Even at the risk of being a hero.