I suspect many of you are just like me in that life is busy, and your interest in politics has waned–especially as there seems to be no one to root for, only someone to root against. So the temptation is to either be numbed by the continuing dysfunction and just settle in for the ride, or to disengage and just not want to pay attention. I confess I often alternate between these two poles, but this week was different–what a week! So here are my quick reflections on the events.

Iowa is the still unfolding disaster–nothing new here to add, but Mr. Trump could not have received a bigger present from the Democratic party. The party that wants to take your medical insurance with Medicare for All, replacing it with a government run health care plan which is your only option, can’t build and execute an app in a relatively small state. The gross incompetence of this will not fade. I like the way Peggy Noonan hit it in her column today:

Iowa made them look the one way a great party cannot afford to look: unserious. The lack of professionalism, the incompetence is the kind of thing that not only shocks a party but shadows it. They can’t run a tiny caucus in a tiny state but they want us to believe they can reinvent American health care? Monday night when the returns were supposed to be coming in, it was like the debut of ObamaCare when the website went down.

From a sportsmanship sense, I also feel bad for each of the Democrats who worked months to push their candidates, and to what end? And more so for the campaign staff that dreamed that they might be part of history. They are now, of course, but not in a positive sense. But Iowa has really put a dent in Mr. Biden, and the top three I do not believe will be electable in the end.* Certainly the Democratic party is in near melt-down over the possibility of Mr. Sanders at the top of the ticket–as they should be. His expected win in New Hampshire is only going to increase the pressure. Mr. Biden’s support in NH is plummeting and being picked up by Mr. Buttigieg, but I can’t help but think Mr. Buttigieg is going to be particularly weak in the south on super Tuesday. And with the Democratic Party now possibly changing rules to allow the billionaire who made his money in finance on Wall Street, this could be an implosion going into the fall as Mr. Sanders is on the attack. And you thought Republicans had problems?

SOTU: The enemy of my enemy is my friend, and in the Republican Party, everybody’s friends these days (with the exception of Mitt Romney, more below) as the Democratic Party has fully embraced the extremism of their base that they are always accusing the Republicans of doing. This was never more clear than the State of the Union, when the Democratic party led by Speaker Pelosi looked petty and small, no better exemplified than Speaker Pelosi’s symbolic tearing up of Mr. Trump’s address. When the Democratic party has to stay seated in disapproval of ICE, they are screaming they care more about their progressive politics than they do about ordinary Americans that suffer from their sanctuary policies.

And yes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend too. I found myself almost cheering Mr. Trump on the back half of the speech (after we got through the nonsense about how terrible NAFTA was and how great the new trade deal is). Mr. Trump was brilliant in calling the Democrats out for their outrageous positions:

But as we work to improve Americans’ healthcare, there are those who want to take away your healthcare, take away your doctor, and abolish private insurance entirely. One hundred thirty-two lawmakers in this room have endorsed legislation to impose a socialist takeover of our healthcare system, wiping out the private health insurance plans of 180 million Americans. To those watching at home tonight, I want you to know: We will never let socialism destroy American healthcare!

The reality that large numbers of the Democratic party think they have the right to force you into their preferred health care system is outrageous. And when Mr. Trump called them out on that, I was thinking, “about time.” He also nailed them for their particular votes against school choice and endorsing sanctuary city/state policies that leave Americans unprotected with sometimes tragic results. I think this is why many conservatives stick with Mr. Trump–he is willing to get in and fight. He is certainly not always right, but he’s not afraid of the arena.

But even better, Mr. Trump is going after the minority vote, and that’s a good thing. We need a two-party system for all races, and this is both good policy and good politics. Mr. Trump’s repeated overtures to African-Americans, in a way that was not pandering, highlighting what his policies have done for real people, was powerful. School choice, criminal justice reform, strong job growth and employment gains for African-Americans–Mr. Trump can rightly say, you may not like me but you ought to like my policies. Go, Mr. Trump, Go!

Impeachment. I was surprised here. I suspected several Democrats would not vote for impeachment, but they did in lockstep. I suspect some have signed their political death warrant. And if they did so knowingly and with personal conviction, I salute them. Reasonable people can disagree, but no one should buy either Mr. Trump’s line, it was “beautiful” and “perfect,”” or Democratic theatrics that Mr. Trump is the end of Democracy. I would not have voted to convict Mr. Trump, like Mr. Romney, but his behavior on the call was wrong. Let the American people have their say on whether that wrong is wrong enough to deny four more years–November isn’t that far away.

On a politics of this, it seems impeachment hurts the Democrats more than the president, and it certainly hurts Mr. Biden. America will know more and more, if he is able to come back, that his son was given enormous amounts of money just because his dad was the Vice President. And while we don’t know whether that money influenced VP Biden’s actions in Ukraine or elsewhere, it is ludicrous to think that Mr. Biden was not aware of what his son was doing and the benefit he was receiving. Further, the Democrats could have politically wounded Mr. Trump if they hadn’t demanded their pound of flesh with impeachment. If they would have voted to censure Mr. Trump instead, there would have been some level of bipartisan support. Instead, Mr. Trump gets to hold up headlines “Acquitted!” Extremism comes at a price.

I’m ready for a calmer week ahead, how ’bout you?

* Barring an implosion from Mr. Trump, which of course is entirely plausible given his lack of self-control.