George Washington’s lesson for Trump’s America

With the finished Mueller report potentially on the horizon, President Trump’s allies and aides may face a crucial decision: do they continue to indulge his behavior, which often displays little understanding of our principles and laws? Or do they follow the lead of maybe our most important statesman: George Washington?

At a moment when the nascent American republic teetered on the brink, Washington’s understanding that our form of government requires the sacrifice of power to principle and law saved the new nation from a potential disaster. Washington faced officers willing to use their weapons to intimidate Congress, and recognized that any such turn to force and will over principle and law would destroy the republic. If Trump himself does not understand this, those around him must.

During the Revolution, even as the soldiers and officers of the American army fought against the British, a crucial question remained unanswered, and perhaps unanswerable: How would they get paid?