(Open borders? "Sanctuary" for illegal aliens who've raped children? Encouraging schoolboys to use "transgender" bathrooms, to "identify" as girls and compete on the girls' wrestling team? It all went over great with our focus groups in Greenwich Village and San Francisco! Let's roll it out nationwide!)

Both houses of Congress had already fallen into Republican hands by 2014, with the majority of the state Legislatures and governors' mansions following suit. The electorate was clearly just waiting for someone to articulate the agenda promoted by Donald Trump.

But predictably, all too many conservatives — long accustomed to playing defense -– have been caught without much of an offensive game plan.