Decades ago, in the days when The Washington Post allowed her to write things, Sally Quinn penned a column in which she excommunicated Bill and Hillary Clinton from official Washington because of the shame they had supposedly visited upon the city. Quinn was roundly mocked for this article, which appeared under the absurd headline “In Washington, that letdown feeling,” and rightly so. It was a shrill and pompous piece of writing. But the more I think about it, the more I sympathize now with the instincts of this famed journalist and practitioner of the magical arts. There should in fact be a limit to what the rest of us have to put up with, whether we are part of the “nest” that politicians like Clinton and Trump “foul” or not.

Put aside, if you can, the issue of morality, a concession that nowadays is almost demanded when we are talking about politicians. Do you really want to read another news story about the labyrinthine schemes to protect the former host of The Apprentice from the consequences of cheating on his third wife dreamed up by his former real estate partner? I, for one, do not.