One of the virtues of the political insurgencies of this presidential campaign has been that they have forced both parties to confront difficult questions that most mainstream politicians have preferred to ignore. On the domestic policy front, the unavoidable issue is the plight of the working middle class. On issues of foreign policy, the gorilla-in-the-room question is what to do about the Middle East, a question that is inseparable from the unresolved debate about the wisdom of the Iraq War.

Even though Donald Trump raised the shade of Iraq in typically bullying fashion, accusing former President George W. Bush of lying about Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction, he put a finger on a point of neuralgia for Republicans. Indeed, until conservatives can drive this Banquo’s ghost from the table, they will remain haunted, divided and unable to offer a governing alternative. As Michael Warren has observed, Trump’s is a “Code Pink” version of the Iraq War.