Ultimately, only one real banner-carrier of what we're looking for

In early December I did a year-in-review podcast, mostly covering the enraging, despair-inducing, frustrating, disgusting and embarrassing developments on the cultural, economic, legal, political, and world-affairs fronts. To be sure, I included a few uplifting gems. Who wouldn't, given how conspicuous they are in such a grim twelve-month period?

I said that there would surely be more developments as the last two thirds of December unfolded, and indeed there have been. The regime that currently has its grip on the throat of post-America seems completely disinclined to do anything about Iran's two sanctions-violating missile tests this fall. ISIS is making and handing out fake, but extremely authentic-looking, passports to the jihadists embedded in the flow of migrants from the Middle East to Europe. Paul Ryan has shown himself to be afflicted with Reasonable Gentleman Syndrome, and hence as utterly worthless as his predecessor as House speaker, or his Senate counterpart. The Republican party is busting up all over the place. Franklin Graham has left it. Bill Kristol is seeking support for a third-party run by a conservative if Squirrel-Hair gets the Pub nomination. Perhaps most frustrating of all is the conflating, in some quarters, with concern about S-H with some kind of Establishment displeasure at both Cruz and S-H, when that is not what is going on at all.

Then there is that mouth of Squirrel-Hair's, out of which fly seemingly randomly generated attempts at responses to political developments or direct questions from interviewers. There is, of course, the little dust-up over "schlonged," which consumed the better part of the most recent news cycle. And then there is his observation on Hillionaire's absence from her podium at the latest Freedom-Hater debate. Said absence was a number of things - self-centered, imperious, maybe even the kind of occurrence that could raise questions about continence issues - but, for crying out loud, on what basis was it "disgusting"? (Jonah Goldberg has the best take I've seen on this so far: "Mr. Trump has aides that go to the bathroom for him; he's that rich.")

But the one that concerns me most is his response to a question from Joe Scarborough over the mutual-admiration society that seems to have been formed between S-H and Putin. When Scarborough asked if the fact that Putin has had people killed bothered him at all, S-H replied "There's a lot of killing that goes on in the world. We do a lot of killing.")

No one seriously takes this as an indication that S-H has gone all Howard Zinn. I'd say there's a decent chance he's never even heard of Zinn. (And when that Marxist "historian's" life and work were explained to him, he'd no doubt say: "Zinn's a dummy. And this People's History book of his, terrible, terrible.")What it is, though, is an indication of the recklessness he'd bring to the office of President.

Two sober voices in recent weeks - former Congressman and current talk-show host Joe Walsh, and Democrat pollster Pat Cadell - have openly floated the possibility that post-America is on the verge of revolution.

So we are situated in a once-great nation in which totalitarians, narcissists, unabashed opportunists, and skinny little wonks without the first molecule of fierceness or urgency (stemming from the fact that the principles comprising the cores of their worldview are inadequate to a world as dark as ours) hold sway and champions of that which is immutable and unfailingly good appear to have no power at all.

Which brings us to the fact that this is Christmas Eve. It raises the question, as it has every year for over two thousand, just who is adequate, in all circumstances, no matter how daunting, to be that champion? Who is immune to ever getting confused, or succumbing to intimidation, or having his judgement clouded by short-term self-interest?

There is only One. You won't find Him on cable news, or onstage at a summit of the relatively right-minded, or at an Iowa coffee shop, or on the pages of any opinion journal.

And LITD lifts up a heartfelt prayer to Him: Heal this chaos, Lord. Let us see the possibility of a world with more light. If it be your Father's will, may we be spared the fate that looks most likely to befall us.

Amen.