It's going to go this way for the duration

You surely know by now about Khizr Khan's speech to the DNC.

And probably Squirrel-Hair's boneheaded, self-referential, recklessly speculative response:

Standing on a stage in front of America, Khizr Khan slammed Donald Trump, saying his son sacrificed his life for the Constitution. "You've sacrificed nothing," he said directly to Trump from that stage. Donald Trump has responded to the speech and of all the ways to respond to something like that, he took what was arguably the most Donald Trump route possible.

Speaking with George Stephanopoulos, Trump seemed to try to empathize with Khan before going on to say that Khan's wife had nothing to say and may not have been allowed to say anything (he cites "several people" who have written that claim because sure why not), as though that might be reason enough to completely disregard what Khan had to say. Stephanopoulos asked him if he had sacrifices, and this happened:

Pressed by Stephanopoulos to name the sacrifices he’d made for his country, Trump said: “I think I've made a lot of sacrifices. I work very, very hard. I've created thousands and thousands of jobs, tens of thousands of jobs, built great structures. I've had tremendous success. I think I've done a lot.”

And then there was the counter-response.

I wasn't sure whether to even blog about this. If I discuss every little "barstool eruption," as Charles Krauthammer calls them, that is gong to occur between now and November, I'm going to be very busy indeed.

But the point of any and all of them is that they allow Hillionaire to assume a position of credibility she would not have were she being opposed by a sane, grown-up candidate. She'll be able to point to each one and say, "I say not only to my base, but to Republicans, even conservative Republicans, can you even remotely consider making someone like this as president?"

And she'll be right.

Here's the deal: Those conservatives - and "conservatives" - who are so resigned to - or, in the case of the "conservatives," actually enthused about - Squirrel-Hair's candidacy that they feel compelled to try somehow to portray him a a great, if perhaps flawed, man are going to have to be more honest about how awful he is. If their point is to persuade any still-undecideds to not vote for Hillionaire, they're going to have to match the credibility she has when she points to him and says, "Can you believe this buffoonery?" And that's going to start with acknowledging that S-H is at least nearly as horrifying a prospect. Yay-rah sugarcoating will look phony, more so the more of these that pile up.


o