I’m betraying my age by admitting that I watched Bugs Bunny cartoons during my childhood. (I should say reruns of Bugs Bunny cartoons; I’m not that old). Bugs was generally a peaceful get-along sort of rabbit; that is, until Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, or Wil E. Coyote got him mad. Once you raised the hackles of the hare, you were in a mess of trouble.

Democrats today are in the business of hackle-raising, and they’re doing a fine job of it. With eight years of Obama court appointees in their pocket, the anti-Trump strategy of death by a thousand judicial cuts is progressing nicely. Their legal (wrong word, perhaps) successes have left open the immigration floodgates, and it’s just the beginning: Wait until the courts get their hands on a border wall. One environmental impact lawsuit about the wall’s effect on the yellow-bellied swamp porcupine and…well, you get my drift.

The Left’s media machine is in high gear, as well, with each “news” story more outrageous than the last. It’s all engineered to leave conservatives war-weary and demoralized. It’s an effective strategy. How’s waking up to daily Leftist outrage working for you?

Some conservatives, like those in the House Freedom Caucus, respond to the incessant vitriol by circling the wagons. Unfortunately, their ideological purity makes it a sin to work with their party’s own leadership, including the president. The moderate end of the GOP spectrum responds by showing how compassionate they are. They imply to the public that it’s those other Republicans that are mean-spirited, not them.

There has to be a point when the average citizen, like Bugs Bunny, asks “What’s up, Doc?” We know what’s up with the Left. Their strategy is single-minded and transparent. Instill doubt. Divide and conquer. Make a secure border or any other conservative idea synonymous with fascism. Teach hate for traditional values in every school.

But what’s up with conservatives? That’s the mystery. They are wasting a once-in-a-generation occurrence: The rare, cosmic conjunction of a GOP House, Senate, and Presidency. If they can’t set a conservative course for the country now, then when?

For a brief moment in time, Leftists don’t have the power to further cast the US in their mold. Their contingency plan calls for a culture war that pits American against American; indeed, a second Civil War.

It’s time for conservatives to realize that war means war; someone will win it and someone will lose it. Who’s winning the culture war? So far, the Left. Look no further than North Carolina’s repeal of the “bathroom bill” to find out. Look no further than the bulletin boards at your local community college.

Republicans must unite if they are to steady the ship of state, but where to start? Why not answer Harry Reid’s 2013 nuclear strike regarding the appointment of federal court judges with the GOP’s own salvo regarding Neil Gorsuch’s Supreme Court nomination? If the federal courts are going to skewer President Trump’s agenda, then make sure that the highest court in the land has the ability (and will) to overturn obviously partisan rulings. Then get going with appointing judges in the more than 100 vacancies around the nation.

Conservatives must understand that the stakes are so high that ideological purity has to go out the window for now. Deny it if you will, but there is more than one form of conservatism, and any one of them is better than the liberal path we’ve taken for the last eight years. President Trump and GOP members of Congress must realize that they are on the same side; declarations of war against each other is exactly what Democrats want.

The Democrats ruled for years as if the U.S. were a dictatorship with only one acceptable direction: Leftward. The Republicans now have a chance to slow the juggernaut and make a right turn or two, but it won’t happen without conservatives banding together.

Republicans, here’s the ball: Run with it. The next four years won’t be nice because the Democrats won’t let them be nice. They won’t be bipartisan because Democrats won’t let them be bipartisan. They won’t be fair because Democrats won’t let them be fair. Decide that, whatever your plan of action, you’ll agree to push it as one.

You won the election; act like it. It’s the only way anything will get done in today’s toxic political climate. Chuck the smiley faces and declare, loud and clear: “Of course, you realize this means war.”