I often get the feeling that Republicans think of the US with a Democratic congress and president the way that, in the movie The Searchers (1956), Ethan Edwards (John Wayne) thinks of little Debbie (Natalie Wood) after she’s captured by Comanche. His idea of “restoring” his niece’s “honor” meant killing her.

I don’t mean this as a glib comparison. I really do think that movie understood American conservatives’ psychology both in the 50s and today.