In 2020, when President Trump commuted his prison sentence, Rod Blagojevich said something interesting. You remember “Blago”: a governor of Illinois (Democrat) who tried to sell a vacant U.S. Senate seat. Anyway, when Trump sprang him, Blago said, “If you’re asking what my party affiliation is, I’m a Trumpocrat.” I begin my Impromptus today with this, and the question of political labels. (What’s a “conservative”? What’s a “liberal”?) Among other topics, I have Michelangelo’s David and New York’s Flaco (a late owl). Go here.

In my previous column, I spoke of Trump’s stolen-election lie, and its adoption by the Republican Party in general, and the reverberations of this lie unto today.

I received mail from three camps, basically. First, Trumpers: “The election was stolen.” Second, anti-Trumpers: “The lie has indeed been a curse on our country.” And third, ’tweeners, or anti-anti-Trumpers: “Yes, our side did not behave well, but neither did the Democrats in 2016. Both parties have trouble accepting election results.”

For three and a half years, I have heard this from Republicans: “Yeah, but the Democrats did it too, in 2016.” I have never understood this.

We all saw Hillary Clinton concede the election — as is normal. The day after, she said to her supporters, “Last night, I congratulated Donald Trump and offered to work with him on behalf of our country. I hope that he will be a successful president for all Americans.”

The next day, Thursday, we all saw the incumbent president, Obama, greet the president-elect, Trump, in the Oval Office — as is normal.

On January 20, we all saw the outgoing president attend the inauguration of the incoming president, symbolizing the peaceful transfer of power — as is normal. Moreover, the losing candidate was sitting on the dais, as a former first lady. That could not have been easy. But these are American traditions.

And in 2020? Trump did not concede the election. He still has not. He did not greet the president-elect in the Oval Office. He did not attend the inauguration.

Note that the vice president, Mike Pence, did. That is another of his heresies against Trump, for which America as a whole should be grateful.

But there is a lot more. Trump and his people tried to overturn the election. We all heard, thanks to a recording, the phone call that Trump placed to Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia secretary of state. “What I want to do is this,” said the president. “I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have, because we won the state.”

That was on January 2. Trump had long had Raffensperger — a Republican and an honest official — in his sights. On Thanksgiving Day, in the White House, the president said of Raffensperger: “He’s an enemy of the people.”

We all saw January 6. A lie-fed mob attacked the U.S. Congress for the purpose of halting a constitutional process — which they succeeded in doing for several hours. Today, Trump and his people celebrate the rioters as “heroes” and “patriots.” They refer to the rioters convicted of crimes as “hostages.”

So, no: I don’t think that 2016 and 2020 are equal cases. That would contradict the evidence of my own eyes. That is a rug I will never be sold.

I do think that the two major parties are equally guilty of several things. They will do nothing about the federal budget deficit or the national debt. They are dishonest about entitlements and the need for reform. They are thickheaded about international trade. They are essentially big-government parties.

But those topics require other posts . . .