Now they are remonstrating and harrumphing feverishly because Trump called out Washington's monumental conceit about "American exceptionalism".

As it happened, Fox News' #1 bloviator and all around jackass responded to Trump's eminently sensible suggestion of cooperation with Putin in the campaign against ISIS with what amounted to a verbal sucker punch:

O'Reilly: "But he's a killer though. Putin's a killer."

Trump shrugged the comment off, saying: "There are a lot of killers. We've got a lot of killers. What, do you think our country is so innocent?"