The horrific tax plundering that took place in their tax bill is now an open, gaping wound in sane governing. The hemorrhage of money is augmented by the slicing of broad new loopholes and games for the financially well-advised to exploit, at the same time that IRS enforcement efforts are defunded. It is now open season on the federal treasury, and it won’t be pretty. And neither was that picture of the Republican-led Congress stacked up around Trump like vertical cordwood, except with insanely proud grins on their faces, to be part of the Trump degeneracy holiday display.

Could the craven capitulation to the man they understood full well as a threat to the country and even their party be any more abject than it was? I guess. They all remained fully clothed at least. But other than that, the surrender was complete. The final details to be worked out at the end of the negotiations were just what their price would be. They all had one: Tax cuts for themselves and their donors.

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Did it end there? No, of course not. Selling out never does. They were pretty much pre-sold-out on the question of donor-servicing, but they hoped to do it in a slightly more dignified context than a known lying maniac. But if a known lying maniac is all they’ve got, a known lying maniac will do just fine. And it doesn’t end there either. Next up on the sellout agenda is the rule of law. That’s right. Now that they are joined with Trump at the hips, so to speak, they are suddenly losing their previous fervor to protect Robert S. Mueller III’s independence. And so it goes. One step of corruption follows another. Legal, illegal — who’s to say? Trump gets to say. He’s their star. They will let him.

If there is an upside to this downward spiral of debasement and depravity, it is this: clarity. In fact, it could not be much clearer now. Both in content and contour. There is no distinction of importance remaining between Trump and what is now unmistakably his party.