The other day I listened to the 538 podcast, a show that injects data and analytics into political coverage. The four participants war gamed different strategies that the Republicans might follow in dealing with the possible impeachment of President Trump.

They tended to color inside the lines though they accused each other of not doing so and of being ridiculous.

After the show, my mind wandered, and I came up with my own strategy for the GOP to follow.

The 53 GOP senators announce en masse in a group appearance that they are voting for impeachment and that they are hoping to bring 14 of the 47 Democrats in the Senate along with them. That would embarrass the Democrats and steal their thunder.

Probably the next step would be a group walk down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House where they would symbolically knock on the front door to tell the President to resign.

Obviously, the President would not resign, and he would be convicted 100 to 0 in the Senate after a 10-minute trial. In addition, he would be forever barred from holding public office, and all cases against him would be referred to the appropriate prosecutors.

If those cases resulted in the president going to prison, the Republicans would take the lead by saying that the United States was not the first country to put a leader in prison and would not likely be the last. Sometimes, it is a political vendetta, which is not a good thing, but sometimes it is for corruption and that is a good thing.

The Republicans would then turn over a new leaf and decry the incivility of partisanship. They would then emulate Christ and the moneychangers by tossing the most odious political consultants out of contention for any future campaign business.

They confess to egging on Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity and urge them to stand down or face a boycott by all GOP guests. They cease to send daily talking points to all hosts who fuel the partisan flames.

As a final step, the GOP tells all the populists to take their business elsewhere. Their contributions are no longer welcome either. Treat the contributions of those who seek power by exploiting fear the same way museums treat the contributions of convicted child molesters.

The Republican Party declares itself the party of responsible capitalism and that those who do not subscribe to that are free to find another one because they are no longer welcome in the GOP.

The Republican Party then becomes the home of boring but effective government beginning first with changing the regulatory philosophy from rules based to outcome based (as in England), and embarks on a plan to reduce federal rules by 90% without diminishing necessary protections.

• It designs an apolitical tax system rather than one based on political payback.
• No deficits, repay the debt.
• No politicized science.
• A business plan for the country. If you don’t know where you are going any road will get there.
• Proper accounting for government funds.
• Audited financial statements together with statements of assets and liabilities and cash flow statements.
• Full disclosure including securities law liability for all bills, notes and bonds issued by the United States treasury.
• Securities law liability for any misstatement of material facts in the offering of government debt.
• Either demolish the Federal Election Commission or re-cast it to remove all the political cronies. Give it jurisdiction over all political crimes not merely violations of election laws.
• Repeal of all special rules that apply only to Members of Congress or Senators thus ensuring that they have the same kind of healthcare and pensions as everyone else.
• Independent non-political review of all laws, rules and practices that govern the business of elections and politics.

Of course, this would be a devastating blow to newspapers and cable news, which no longer have the imagination to cover anything other than political infighting. Who cares?

Then I woke up. It was a short dream that left little time for any number of other useful ideas, but I suspect there is more sleep in my future.

Note to those addicted to political power: there are more people in the middle than on the edges.