I’d like to reach out to the Trump supporters here, and I’d like to do it with respect.  If you’ve read the position and policy papers on his website and you find that you agree with them, then this isn’t for you. You’re an informed voter, and you’ve obviously done your due diligence and still feel that Trump is the best candidate for your interests.  I can respect that and I wish you the best.

This is for those who are voting for Trump, or any other candidate for that matter, because you’re mad as hell and you’re not going to take it anymore.  If you’re supporting Trump in the primaries because you want the Establishment, in whatever form you want to describe it, to feel pain for their past transgressions, this is for you.

Here we go:

Mission accomplished.  Time to declare victory and go home.

Bush, the favorite candidate of the Republican leadership, is out of the race.  Yes, Rubio is snuggled up pretty close to the welcoming bosom of the party elites.  But the Establishment has had its nose broken in the schoolyard fight that is American politics, and the guy they all stood behind and cheered has taken his ball and gone home.

Now, if you’re still angry and want to keep making that statement, more power to you.  At least you’re going to the polls.

But before you pull that lever, fill in that circle, or press that button, please think about a few questions, because the things I’m going to ask about are probably going to happen in the next four to eight years.

What will President Trump do

1. When some whackjob turns a school or office building into a killing field?
2. When the stock market tanks and the official unemployment rate starts heading north again?
3. When Justices Ginsberg and Kennedy leave the Supreme Court, for whatever reason?
4. When China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran stop playing games and directly challenge us and our allies?
5. When there is a terrorist attack or large-scale civil disturbance on American soil?

Please, think about what he will do, not what he ought to do, or what you think any President should or should not do.  Consider the man’s history, both in actions and words, over the course of his entire, and quite well documented and publicized, life, and be honest with yourself about how you think he will handle these events.

If they give you pause, if you can easily think of ways that he will react to these events and harm you and your interests, then I ask you to do some more thinking.

And once you’ve done that thinking, please vote for the candidate that you think will do what you would want a president to do when these events happen, be it Trump or not.

I noted, as I imagine most of you did, the sad passing of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia the other day.  President Reagan appointed Justice Scalia to the federal bench in 1982, then to the Supreme Court in 1986.  Since then, he has been a staunch conservative voice on the Court.  I can’t say that I agreed with him at all times, but he always forced those who opposed him to think, and was responsible for several landmark rulings in the past few decades.  We are lessened by his absence.

I’d like to say that the passing of such a great man gives us an occasion to pause in our attempt to rip out each other’s throats and to come together as a nation to honor him.

Unfortunately, I can’t.

We are left with two bad choices.  Either President Obama appoints another Supreme Court Justice, upsetting what little balance there is on that body, or we go for over a year without a 9th Justice.

The President has the power to nominate whomever he wishes.  The Senate, however, has the power to either reject that nomination or to not even bring it to a vote.  Squabbling on whose power is of greater importance and how unprecedented it is for a Senate to swear off any Supreme Court nominations until after an election streaks across the news, and the rest of us are here in the middle wondering where we go from here.

So, it’s time to get in touch with our political servants once again, and it’s time to start paying attention to the presidential election.

If you believe that President Obama should nominate someone soon, and the Senate should vote on that nomination with all due speed, reach out to your Senator and tell them.

If you believe that the Senate is justified in refusing to bring up any Supreme Court nominees until after the election, reach out to your Senator and tell them.

Either way, we all need to tell our servants our wishes, or they will go off on their own and make an even bigger mess of things.