The convulsions of last week leave us with a great deal to unpack. But one thing they must surely do is to illustrate, in the starkest of terms, the distinctions between conservatism and the populism which masquerades as it.

President Trump has always embodied the latter, borrowing enough of the former, usually in a reductionist rhetorical form, to make the pretense complete. And it was successful in many ways — bringing about tax and regulatory reforms that revived a lethargic economy, providing for a more restrained and constitutionally astute judiciary, and permitting the relocation of America’s Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.