I just returned to Washington after three enjoyable weeks in one of America's NATO allies. Practically everyone I enountered was gobsmacked at how quiet we Americans are, as our institutions are being trashed. The State Department officials who have been shown the door are among the best our country has produced. This isn't the space to ramble on. But when our Department of Justice fires prosecutors for prosecuting insurrectionists, and investigates former heads of the CIA and FBI for doing their jobs honestly, well, even that old rascal Joe McCarthy might be amazed and astounded at the audacity.