The man who wouldn't be king and the 'bombastic buffoon' who probably would

By MARSHALL WARD

“It was inappropriate for this president to ask a foreign leader to investigate his political opponent and to withhold United States aid to encourage that investigation. But the Constitution does not give the Senate the power to remove the president from office and ban him from this year’s ballot simply for actions that are inappropriate.” -- Lamar Alexander, the cowardly, retiring Tennessee Republican senator and best friend of Mitch McConnell.

Alexander, McConnell and every other GOP senator except Mitt Romney voted to acquit Donald Trump.

“President Trump is functionally a monarch at this point. If the king does it, it’s okay," explained Jon Meacham, a Vanderbilt University historian and frequent guest on MSNBC. "That’s what we’re seeing unfold in Washington right now. And I think all Americans should pause significantly and think about the long-term implications of having a president who is above the law.”

We watched Mitch McConnell bastardize the institution of the Senate, saw a chief justice preside over an impeachment trial vote which rejected our nation’s judicial norms, and witnessed the first impeachment trial in U.S. history that did not include witness testimony as part of its proceedings. 

George Washington must be spinning in his grave.

Today, to many Americans, Washington is an old painting on the wall - impersonal and distant - or the subject of childhood stories.

Washington's greatest biographer, James Flexner, called him the "indispensable man" of the founding of our Nation.

Washington’s decisions and practical wisdom were crucial to the success of our founding. As our first president, he set the precedents that define what it means to be a constitutional executive:

• strong and energetic,
• aware of the limits of authority

The current president is absent any virtue or high moral standards. Washington is the antithesis of the corrupt, immoral, lawless, bombastic buffoon, Donald J. Trump.

Perhaps Washington's most important legacy came when the lure of power was before him.  

After the Revolutionary War, there were calls for Washington to claim formal political power. Some of his officers suggested that America should establish a monarchy and that Washington should become King George I. An angry Washington immediately rejected the offer as both inappropriate and dishonorable, thus the man who would not be king.