Sen. Jeff Flake took to the Senate floor Wednesday morning and spoke for many in a capital that seems to have veered down a new and dark alley of partisan bitterness: “We have lit a match, my colleagues,” he said. “The question is, do we appreciate how close the powder keg is?”

Mr. Flake was referring, of course, to the battle over the Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh, which has now equaled and surpassed the epic drama of Justice Clarence Thomas’s confirmation 27 years ago. It reaches some kind of climax Thursday, when both Mr. Kavanaugh and a woman who has accused him of sexual assault appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The Kavanaugh fight folds in the anger of the #MeToo movement, the bitterness between President Trump’s supporters and Trump haters, and the profound concern that liberals and conservatives alike feel about the impact the Supreme Court on the society for decades to come.

But there is no chance that the debate ends with that hearing, or with a committee vote, or with a vote of the full Senate—or even with a Kavanaugh withdrawal, if one were to occur. The ramifications of this mess will live on for years to come, regardless of its outcome.

The question is, why this fight? Washington, after all, has been the locus of loud, angry, even anguished debate on a daily basis since the earthquake of the 2016 presidential election. Yet this debate has taken all that to a new level, and making what is left of the conventional political system go haywire in the process.

Keep reading Gerald Seib's column in the Wall Street Journal.