I do not trust emotional reactions to events. In my experience, visceral reactions are a poor guide to action, and when I recognize that I’m responding emotionally to events, I step back and consider what facts are better brought to bear on the issue than are my immediate feelings. In fact, I’m not alone in thinking emotional reasoning is a kind of cognitive disorder.

Watching the impeachment theater (or rather reading about it to save time and avoid being influenced by the hypnotic effect of television) I’ve concluded that the congressional Democrats and their base live in a postfactual “inner child” world  of fact-free enthusiasms and conniption fits. In their world, a Republican president they cannot manipulate to their will must be impeached and removed from office. That a Republican president must be stripped of his clear constitutional right to shape foreign policy instead of Democratic…