Supporters of Brett Kavanuagh may have less in common with Kavanaugh’s foes than Senator John C. Calhoun had in common with abolitionist Senator Charles Sumner. Sure, they differed over slavery, but their experiences of family, faith and culture, and their views of America had more in common than the cultural, religious and political chasm that now divides us.

That’s why Kavanaugh’s second appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee not only shattered the coordinated onslaught of his opponents, but brought sharp focus elsewhere.

Kavanaugh won because he fought back. Kavanaugh won because he was unwilling to suffer from the ritual defamation of the Left. He broke free from the traditional advice administration handlers give nominees — to be deferential and measured to the senators — and went after the Democrats and his opponents for what they are.

Ritual defamation has become the favorite tool of the institutional Left to advance policy. If anyone stands up to the Left’s narrative — whether it be voter fraud, race, life, or the purely ideological role of the mainstream media — they are targeted for ritual defamation by Leftist organizations.

Truth doesn’t matter when power is at risk.

Clarence Thomas experienced ritual defamation decades ago when he shattered the narrative that to be black was to be a race-obsessed liberal. Those of us who catalog and report on voter fraud have been subject to ritual defamation by the Left, who have called us “vote suppressors,” or worse. And nobody has experienced ritual defamation more than President Trump — except now perhaps Judge Brett Kavanaugh.

Kavanaugh represented a robust constitutionalist vision for the Court. That alone qualified him for destruction by any means necessary.

And try they did. Millions poured into the fight, from despicable advocates like the racialist Kristen Clarke of the Lawyers’ Committee to the even more despicable Communist Party USA.

The opposition to Kavanaugh turned into a farce. Screaming rioters, handmaids, and even groups like the League of Women Voters opposed Kavanaugh because he once wrote a brief opposing racial discrimination in voting in Hawaii. You read that right.

Kavanaugh won Round One. So Democrats pushed Dr. Christine Blasey Ford into the limelight. For two weeks we were subjected to increasingly outlandish tales of gang rapes, and even tales of Kavanaugh and an accomplice dragging women into vehicles for attacks.

Ford cataloged to the committee an awful experience. She seemed broken by whatever happened to her. Things were looking bleak for Judge Kavanaugh.

Matt Schlapp even noted on Hannity’s Fox News show that other Republican presidents would have jettisoned Kavanaugh by then.

And then the worm turned.

Kavanaugh fought back.

He took on his Senate detractors without restraint. He pierced their ritual defamation by moving past the lies and going straight at the liars.

Kavanaugh’s win should be a pivot point for the Never Trump gang in the GOP. Kavanaugh won Round Two in the Judiciary Committee because he took the lead of his president and fought back against the ritual defamation. Instead of seeking the acceptance of his foes, he delegitimized them.

That is a sea change of extraordinary import — not just for Brett Kavanaugh, but for the entire conservative-constitutionalist coalition.

The treatment of Brett Kavanaugh removed any lingering doubt that the Democratic Party is willing to adopt Soviet-style show trial tactics to retain power. These are people for whom power is the bread of life, an intoxicant that spools them into a frenzy when it is threatened.

At times during the hearing, I thought I heard Andrew Breitbart. “That’s a phony question,” Kavanaugh told one senator.

Phony questions. Fake news. Ritual defamation. These are the means by which the Left has slowly eroded the American ideal over decades — and Kavanaugh fought back.

It didn’t hurt that Senator Richard Blumenthal — the Vietnam Green Beret who served in the 21st Marine Combat Brigade of Unicorns and Elves — had the audacity to quote the legal axiom, in Latin, “false in one, false in all.”

Democrats on the committee lust for power, and not just power over the gavel. They lust for power over the federal courts. Without federal courts, the American people would never permit the sort of anti-Constitutionalist transformation they seek.

My good friend Michael Graham captured how Kavanaugh’s fight was a part of a wider awakening:

Now do you understand why people like my evangelical parents and longtime “principled conservatives” tossed their principles and backed a rude, foul-mouthed fighter­ like Donald Trump? They knew how ugly the fight was going to get.

Hopefully Bill Kristol is listening.

The Democrats have also become the new Puritans. Voters should take note, though I doubt Hollywood will.

Thirty years ago, while Judge Kavanaugh was sharing “skis” with his football buddies, Hollywood told us it was the right, the GOP, that were the scolds. Movie after movie, from Footloose to others, had church-going Republicans as the enemy of fun.

Yet Senate Democrats went on the attack, demanding details about beer, parties, farting, beer, sex, drinking games, fun. “Have you ever passed out? Did you ever play quarters? Did you have sex in high school?”

What good are Puritans without a witch trial? And Dr. Ford flew across the country to provide testimony against the accused.

That’s also how Brett Kavanaugh won. America saw a sad, broken woman who obviously suffered some sort of trauma in her life. The problem was her story stood alone without any supporting facts and with plenty of holes, holes wide enough for Susan Collins and even some Democrats to walk through.

Put aside the fact that Ford’s story had multiple inconsistencies — it had other problems. For example, who remembers that they only had “one beer” at a party 36 years ago? The sole beer count I can remember from high school is because the number consumed was so extraordinary.

Then, how did Dr. Ford get to and from the house where the attack allegedly occurred? It was eight miles from home — if you live in Washington, D.C., you know eight miles might as well be on the other side of the moon.

Something may have happened to Dr. Ford, at some time, but it wasn’t Brett Kavanaugh who did it.

Kavanaugh won because the evidence cut in his favor, but also because his appearance galvanized Americans exhausted by decades of the deconstructive tactics of those trying to destroy Brett Kavanaugh and his family. His performance didn’t bridge any divides, but it gave us confidence we can now stand our ground.