Those parochial Democrats. Those globalist Republicans. Last week, when US forces struck Houthi rebels in Yemen, some congressional left-wingers objected to the action itself or to the lack of legislative consent for it, or to both. Meanwhile, the Republican leader in the Senate and the Republican chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee just wished that Mr Joe Biden had gone harder, earlier. In a line that could have come out of the liberal Eden of the 1990s, Mr Mitch McConnell said America must uphold “international commerce” against rogue actors.

There is a lesson here, but it tends to come around often, and there is no chance it will be heeded this time.