Bret: As you know, Gail, I wasn’t exactly Barack Obama’s No. 1 fan when he was in office. But after watching Trump’s performance on Sunday, I went back and watched Obama’s 2011 announcement of Osama bin Laden’s death. It was dignified and eloquent. And then I watched George H.W. Bush’s February 1991 announcement of victory in the Persian Gulf war, when he said this was “certainly not a time to gloat.” What a contrast these two presidents provide! What depressing reminders of what presidential behavior used to look like!

Gail: We’re witnessing the birth of a new, 21st-century bottom line for presidential performances. Imagine the most awful loudmouthed bully in your high school. If it’s better than that it’s achieved the new minimum.

Bret: I’m as glad as anyone that al-Baghdadi is dead, and glad also that he was killed thanks to American action. I’m also sorry he murdered three children in the bargain. But whatever we accomplished against ISIS with his death we undermined with our withdrawal from northern Syria, which has jeopardized the continued imprisonment of thousands of captured ISIS terrorists.

Gail: Truly the bottom line rule of this administration is that no news is ever going to be really good. D.J.T. will always find a way to make it awful.

Bret: May I switch the subject, though? As bad as things are going for Trump, I fear they are going worse for Democrats. The presidential field is just a mess.

Gail: So glad you asked. When I’m out on the road, everybody asks if there’s any problem having these political arguments, given that you and I clearly get along so well. I always say that the main difficulty is fighting with someone who despises Donald Trump even more than I do. Then I add that if things get too convivial, I just bring up Elizabeth Warren.

Bret: Thank goodness for that.

Gail: I don’t find the field all that disheartening. I think Warren could be a very good president. I do worry about electability. But she’s getting to be a better campaigner every day. And if Biden demonstrates over the next months that he can hang in there and take care of business, I’m fine with him. Buttigieg is too young and green, but if the primary voters don’t care, I’m good with him as president. The only serious candidate I have real reservations about is Bernie Sanders, who does not seem to play all that well with others. But compared with Donald Trump, he’s Franklin Roosevelt.