The first rule of politics, they say, is to show up. I spent last weekend obeying that rule.

Montana tourism continues to thrive this summer. In July visitor spending in Whitefish alone reached a record $15.65 million. In the hope of sparing some other unsuspecting visitor my pain, I share my last tourist experience there.

In the three-ring circus of Montana’s current senate race, the Republican candidate’s messaging reflects a philosophy ascribed to P.T. Barnum: “There’s a sucker born every minute.”

Scholarly surveys, discussions and polls have consistently revealed a clear consensus: the leadership capacity of the founding generation — Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Franklin, Hamilton and Madison — is unrivaled by any subsequent coterie of American statesman. It is true that these same academic conversations reflect agreement that Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt stand atop the list of America’s greatest presidents, with founding chief executives such as Washington and Jefferson closely on their heels, but there is, it seems, no generation of political leaders across 250 years that is comparable to those who launched the American Revolution, drafted the Declaration of Independence and wrote the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Donald Trump has never been known for his command of history, but even by his standards, signing this Iran memorandum at Versailles is breathtaking.

I was a sister wedged in birth order between two brothers. All my cousins my age were boys. All the neighborhood kids my age were boys. So my childhood game wasn’t house. It was baseball.