I thought I'd pass along this smart and readable analysis from Bill Otis (Ringside at the Reckoning); as I've mentioned before, he and his coauthor Paul Mirengoff are my go-to people for hardheaded, pragmatic, but principled conservative views. They are probably on balance more conservative than I am, but I always much enjoy their legal and political commentary. An excerpt:

In an election where overwhelmingly the preeminent issue was affordability — in other and more candid words, the increasingly obvious decline in the standard of living huge numbers of people are feeling — what has Trump been occupying himself with? Here's a partial list: Building the White House ballroom (from which, in a tone deaf rendition that defies description) he gave his election post-mortem; re-doing the East Potomac Golf Course to make it a "premium" experience; building a Triumphal Arch no one asked for or thought about when they elected him; demanding prosecutions for imaginary vandalism at the Reflecting Pool; invading Greenland; making Canada the 51st state; re-naming Lake Ontario; re-naming the Gulf of Mexico; and perhaps most prominently, making sure his name gets put on the Kennedy Center even though he had nothing to do with its creation. Then there are numerous other items: Trump passports, Trump one-dollar gold coins, and "commemorative" $100 bills, to name three.

Exactly what does this Adventure in Narcissism seem like to the voter — actually, the millions of voters — who feel like they're being stretched thin? You don't need a florid imagination to answer that one. They gave their answer last night.

It's not like Trump has had no successes. He's made three excellent Supreme Court appointments. He has tackled corrosive and unjust racial preferences like no one else had the guts to. He declines to bow to transgender bullying. Objective economic data show that, whatever "feelings" may be, the economy grew at a healthy clip just this last quarter. He used force with Iran when, for nearly 50 years before him, Presidents were content to kick the can down the road as the mullahs got closer and closer to getting the atomic bomb.

These are considerable and important achievements, not less so because Trump often acts like an oaf. But his character flaws throw a wrench into nearly everything he does. It's less that he's an oaf than that he's a child, far too often content to do what's quick and easy while leaving to adults what's messy and hard. The catch is: He's supposed to be the adult. The main thing behind the failures that got Trump his butt-kicking last night is not his classlessness, his carefree attitude [toward] the truth or his gargantuan self-absorption.

It's his immaturity….

The whole thing, as usual, is much worth reading.

The post "The Time, the Opportunity, and the Need to Reclaim the Republican Party from Trump and Trumpism" appeared first on Reason Magazine.