Sheesh, cousins, you had me worried there. The prospect of Donald Trump leading Ronald Reagan’s party was almost too dreadful for words. Quite apart from the implications for that party’s credibility, it would have made me look like a complete idiot. For 15 years, I have been campaigning for the introduction of U.S.-style primaries in Britain. Just as I was starting to get somewhere, opponents began to come back with a devastating three-word putdown: “Yeah. Right. Trump.”

Well, thanks Iowa. And thanks, in particular, to Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse, who campaigned alongside Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Carly Fiorina, three genuine patriots, in a successful attempt to move the Republican party beyond the Donald. Alarmed by Trump’s readiness to forget about states’ rights and the powers of the legislature, he tweeted him a series of questions. “You talk A LOT about ‘running the country’ as tho 1 man shld ‘run America.’ Will you commit to rolling back Exec power & undoing Obama unilateral habit? These r sincere questions & I sincerely hope u answer rather than insult.”