Donald Trump’s character matters because character is not decorative. It is not a ribbon you pin on after the work is done. Character is the machinery inside the man. It is the hidden engine that drives judgment, loyalty, impulse, patience, pride, and restraint. And when a man sits in the Oval Office, that engine is not his private business. It becomes public property.

The modern trick is to pretend character is old-fashioned, almost quaint, as if it belongs to schoolbooks and Shabbat sermons, not to the hard business of power. We are told to ignore manners, overlook honesty, shrug at temperament, and focus only on outcomes. Nonsense. Outcomes do not float in the air like weather. They come from a person’s habits of mind. A leader who lies casually will govern casually with the truth. A leader who loves applause more than principle will trade principle for applause. A leader who is ruled by ego will eventually make the nation pay for his ego.

Trump’s defenders often say that critics are obsessed with his style because they cannot stand his victories. There is some truth in that. The establishment did not merely dislike Trump’s character; it feared what his character made him willing to do. He........

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