Reading Sir Charles Cookeโ€™s excellent piece on Donald Trump and his fans, I had a memory of 2000: People mocked my man George W. Bush for saying, or implying, that nothing in his life really counted until he reached the age of 40, when he had a profound conversion experience. โ€œWhen I was young and irresponsible, I was young and irresponsible,โ€ he would say.

Trump is about 70. According to his fans โ€” cult? โ€” we are not to count anything he believed, said, or did even earlier this year!

P.S. Former conservative position: Socialized medicine would fundamentally transform America, for the worse. New โ€œconservativeโ€ position: Meh. Immigration! Plus, look how nasty he can be to that left-wing Megyn Kelly! Cool!

P.P.S. Used to be, when the Right said โ€œestablishment,โ€ it meant the Trilateral Commission, the New York Times, and Skull and Bones. Now the โ€œestablishmentโ€ is Fox News, John Boehner, and โ€ฆ National Review? Weird times.