On his way out the door, Donald Trump made sure he would never lead his party again. He stood in the breach last Wednesday morning and uttered the worst words ever said by a president of this country when he urged the mob that had gathered to disrupt the certification of the November election. As with Pickett’s Charge, it involved a march across open ground at a fortified bastion of union authority, and like Pickett’s Charge, it fizzled completely. It was the high-water mark of a rebellion against the Constitution and the system of government that it had created, fueled by a losing president’s inability to accept reality.

Also urging on the mob was Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, who until last week had a future in politics. Now, even his book contract has been canceled because he now at least appears complicit in Capitol deaths and injuries. Most people in business (publishers being among them) tend to take pains to avoid being associated with such things.