I understand the impulse to take some of the rage you are feeling and direct it at Democrats for failing to stop this.

But the sad, hard truth is that once McConnell locked down 50 votes (which he did within 3 days), there was literally nothing the Dems could have done.

The fact is that with a committed 50 votes in the Senate, anything is possible. Things can move very quickly with 50 votes. Rules can be adjusted with 50 votes. Opposition can be ignored with 50 votes.

That's a lesson the Democrats will hopefully learn and soon apply.

This doesn't mean the Dems handled this perfectly, to be clear. They gave more legitimacy to this process than it deserved. And there may have been more ways to gum up the works and make it more painful.

But at the end of the day, with 50 votes, this was going to happen.