The most singularly disgusting thread in the history of the electric Twitter machine occurred on Wednesday when Ari Fleischer, the onetime spokesman for the court of C-Plus Augustus, decided to mark the 16th anniversary of the disastrous war his old boss launched in Iraq, the one that was based on cooked books, stove-piped data, and outright lies. Fleischer's concern on the anniversary was not for the dead and the maimed on both sides, or for the completely predictable—and completely predicted—chaos that resulted from this bloody misadventure.

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His basic concern seems to be to defend himself in the gaze of old friend Clio, Muse of History, also known by her Marvel superhero identity, The Proclaimer (!). She, of course, excused herself, and moved off to discreetly vomit behind an olive tree.

A substantial number of the most prominent Never Trumpers were involved in the selling of that war, both officially (David Frum, Bill Kristol) and unofficially (Max Boot). In this, they are complicit in one of the most grotesquely immoral actions ever taken by an American government. And any attempt to dodge that complicity inevitably turns out to be sad and comical. (The worst one, and the one that Boot tried to run on people who know better, is the notion that "everybody" was supportive of the effort because of those damned Iraqis and their clever misinformation. Hundreds of thousands of Americans who were in the streets have different memories of that time.) At least there's a restful consistency about the folks who pitched the bad war, and who have continued to be hacks who are wrong about everything.

David Frum speaks at the ’Now What, Republicans?’ panel during Politicon at Pasadena Convention Center on July 30, 2017. Michael Schwartz Getty Images

For example, there's Victor Davis Herodotus Hanson, a pundit who has slid smoothly from defending one disastrous presidency to another disastrous presidency*. He contributed a real beauty to CNN.com. The first two items on his list are minimally arguable. The rest of the items belong in a zoo. This is my favorite.

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Trump may come across as callous to some, but to others at least genuine. He does not modulate his accent to fit regional crowds, as did Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden. He does not adopt particular outfits at state fairs or visit bowling allies to seek authenticity. Like him or not, his Queens accent, formal attire, odd tan, and wild hair remain the same wherever he goes and speaks. Voters respect that he is at least unadulterated in a way untrue of most politicians. Big Macs convey earthiness in a way arugula does not.

In related news, the president* had some thoughts he decided to share with an audience in Ohio on Thursday. From the Washington Post:

At a White House event at a tank manufacturing facility in Lima, Ohio, on Wednesday, Trump lashed out at McCain, saying, “I endorsed him at his request and I gave him the kind of funeral he wanted, which as president I had to approve.”

“I don’t care about this,” Trump continued. "I didn’t get a thank you. That’s okay. We sent him on the way. But I wasn’t a fan of John McCain.”

Callous...to some.

Scrap this party and start again.

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