Here’s a quick thought experiment: Can you imagine Chris Dodd, Evan Bayh and Byron Dorgan saying in 2009 that Barack Obama was debasing the country? Or Fred Thompson, Phil Gramm and Jesse Helms saying in 2001 that George W. Bush needed adult day care? Or George Mitchell, Sam Nunn and David Boren going on CNN in 1993 to call Bill Clinton a congenital liar?

Of course not. In fact, it’s inconceivable. As Flake said yesterday, this is not normal. None of it: not Trump’s behavior, nor the reaction to it.

That’s why the mainstream media cannot cover the back-and-forth like a remake of “Mean Girls.” It’s so much more than just another Trump Twitter feud. Objectively, this is an extraordinary moment in our nation’s history.

- James Hohmann