Are the shills still going to make fun of the insistence on some modicum of character?

Cue the apple-falling-near-the-tree cliche:

Years before Vanessa Trump filed for divorce from Donald Trump Jr., their marriage was rocked when — around the time she was pregnant with their third child — he cheated on her with a contestant from “The Celebrity Apprentice.”

Page Six has exclusively learned that Don Jr. — then a so-called “adviser” on the NBC show — fell for busty Danity Kane star Aubrey O’Day while filming “Celebrity Apprentice” in 2011.

Sources say that Vanessa — who filed for divorcefrom President Donald Trump’s eldest son last week after 13 years of marriage — was devastated when he told her that he planned to leave her for O’Day.

Vanessa was pregnant with their third child, Tristan, around that time.

Don Jr. “pursued [Aubrey]. It was him who chased her,” said a source familiar with the situation. “He told her that his marriage was already in the process of dissolving.”

Now, having an affair per se is a particular kind of stinky behavior. Don't stand up in front of family and friends and promise God to form a sacred bond with somebody if you think that, even if you mean it now, you might consider it jive down the road.

But lots of human beings do it, and a lot of them have other aspects of their lives that constitute undeniably positive contributions to public life or culture.

But consider that DJT Jr. had a professional role at Celebrity Apprentice.  This was a major aspect of the family business before DJT Sr. was elected president. Like Trump Steaks, Trump Vodka, Trump casinos and everything else with the tawdry Trump logo on it, it was gauche and devoid of dignity.

Consider also that Jr. grew up in a family ethos that basically said, "Yes, your dad busted up this family, but you stay close to him, because that's how you're going to assure yourself of a cushy 'work life' when you come of age." An ethos of opportunism, in other words.

What it amounts to is an ethos that, Ivanka's current stature notwithstanding, makes second-class family members out of Trump women.

The water-carriers are on ever-thinner ice with this attempt to mock an insistence on some character.

We wouldn't have had to be saddled with this soap opera, and we'd have had at least as many laudable policy accomplishments.

Can post-America ever hope to again have a presidency that is neither tawdry nor leftist?