The press says Mr. Trump is pushing the battle of the national anthem because it plays to his base. I suppose it does. But here’s what galls even non-Trumpians about this kneeling kerfuffle: We live in a world soaking in partisan politics. Then one day you wake up ready to relax with NFL Sunday, and you discover that “The Star-Spangled Banner” has become totally politicized. Any normal person, including liberals who won’t admit it, would have a three-word reaction to this spectacle, and the first two words begin with “w” and “t.”

So what else is new? Today, if someone has a grievance or beef, first thing they do is look for something to attach it to—the anthem, the Pledge of Allegiance, 19th-century American fiction, Mom’s apple pie—anything that will draw the world’s attention, meaning the attention of the viral plague called social media.

I got an email this week from San Francisco flogging “Artists Get Political Ahead of Midterms.” How? By embedding political messages in everyday objects, such as bus kiosks, hand towels, bedspreads and toilets.

Then, even now, the people who voted for Hillary still claim to be shocked and stunned that an electorate beaten down by the politicization of everything in life voted for the guy who makes a mockery of all that.

Worth noting is that there were no serious college commencement protests this year. Is this progress? Maybe. Or maybe the answer is that in the social-media era, when no thought lasts long, the commencement shout-downs and anthem kneelings burn themselves out as the protest zeitgeist moves on to find yet another platform.

Also there is this: The graduations of 1968 included Bill Clinton (Georgetown), George W. Bush (Yale) and Donald J. Trump (Penn).

A choice driven system would be great - and is likely too much change to pass , post Obamacare

Here’s what I mean by asymmetrical: If I’m at Walmart and I’m told there’s going to be a six-hour delay at check-out, I flip the metaphorical bird to Walmart CEO Doug McMillon, drop my purchases where I stand, and mosey on down the road to Target or AutoZone or Academy or whichever store it is that has what I want.

// ha ha ha ha ha. I have done exactly what he describes! (although I try to be less of a jerk about it these days)

Kristol has become a singularly focused bore. I'll still take most of what Goldberg has to say more seriously than most of the Federalist kiddos, tho