“This is the business we’ve chosen.”
—Hyman Roth, to Michael Corleone

The business is politics and the rules of the game are set out in The Constitution. Within those constraints, the only reasonable strategy is to play to win.

I admire the Democrats for their willingness and ability to play to win. They showed that when they derailed Robert Bork’s nomination. Again when they mounted a last minute attack on Clarence Thomas that almost succeeded. They played to win when they all voted for war in Iraq, and then spent the rest of George Bush’s administration blaming him for it. They played to win when they suddenly found a suitcase with the three-hundred votes Al Franken needed to win his senate seat, and thus allow Obamacare to avoid a filibuster and pass without a single Republican vote. They played to win when they almost destroyed Bret Kavanaugh’s career and reputation. They played to win when they framed Michael Flynn, when they lied to the FISA court multiple times, when they tried everything in their power to take down a legitimate president with a hoax conspiracy. They played to win when they cooked up a bogus impeachment. And they’ve been playing to win by leveraging the COVID outbreak to piggyback their entire wishlist onto emergency Aid bills.

This is the business we’ve chosen, this is the game we play, and for most of my life, those on the right have been unwilling to play to win. Malign the left’s ethics, call out their illegal actions, accuse them of trying to destroy the Constitution, but one thing you can never say about them is they don’t play to win.

Trump understands winning, and in Mitch McConnell he’s found a surprising ally who’s been willing to play the same game as the Democrats, with the same focus on winning. Starting with his refusal to allow a vote on Merrick Garland, he’s followed the rules to win after win, allowing Trump to remake the judiciary.

They hate him for it. It’s wasn’t supposed to be this way. The left is always supposed to win. So now we’ll see if they’re willing to knock over the chessboard in the face of defeat. I say they are more than willing. Will the Republican wilt? We’ll see, But it all comes down to this.

It’s Armageddon time.