Somewhat ironic, or at least disingenuous, for Jonah Goldberg to lament "partisan squabbling" when he makes a comfortable living ensuring that all events, past, present or future, are seen through that lens. Since he places himself firmly on the conservative side, the liberal left receives its customary lashing and is to be seen as "unpatriotic" and "hysterical." Systemic racism is a "bogeyman," the threat to free speech "a left wing obsession," liberals are "hecklers." Goldberg remains the calm conservative voice at the center of the storm dishing out historical facts and platitudes like treasured sweetmeats. He ends with a self-deprecating verbal flourish lamenting the "solipsistic tendency of American politics." Whatever that means. Simply put many Americans from both sides of the aisle are lousy at understanding history and foreign politics and when understanding is in the hands of a President who has to watch the polls carefully, grave mistakes and misunderstandings are made which can result in the deaths of thousands, sometimes millions. History is littered with our mistakes. If war itself is the failure of politics, America does not do well. We fight too many of them.