In the House Judiciary hearing last night the politics of resentment and grievance were on full display as GOP House members turned the impeachment of Trump into a concocted attack on Trump’s supporters. More than one said that it was an attempt to nullify their 2016 vote. They did it with a full mix of lies, demagogy, sheer invention, and plenty of outrage.

But I wonder if it resonates much beyond Trump’s loyal supporters. My guess is that it doesn’t. But maybe that isn’t its purpose anyway. Maybe it’s to confuse and wear out the rest of us. Maybe it’s to make us throw up our hands in despair and retreat into our private lives where we can find some happiness and solace from the storms and recriminations in the public world. My only advice to this abusive and sustained onslaught is to repeat what a much older friend would invariably tell me (in Latin no less) upon finishing our occasional lunches together: Don’t Let the Bastards Grind You Down!