A massive historical story
By Philip Rucker
Feb. 2, 2020 at 9:00 a.m. EST
... “It’s a dispiriting moment for an American system that in many ways was founded on the insight that, because humankind is frail and fallen and fallible, no one branch of government can have too much power,” said Jon Meacham, an American historian and author. “The president’s party, instead of being a check on an individual’s impulses and ambitions, has become an instrument of them” ...
“The United States political scene is as deeply polarized along partisan lines as it has been for at least a century,” Galston added. Noting Trump’s high ratings among Republican voters, he said, “It would take a very brave Republican indeed to break ranks with the president under these circumstances” ...
“The Republicans have embraced a theory that permits future abuses of power,” Naftali said. “The outcome of acquittal was predictable .?.?. but I’m afraid that this process in the Senate is more enabling of an abusive president than expected” ...
“It is not hyperbolic to say that the Republican Party treats Donald Trump more like a king than a president,” Meacham said. “That was a central and consuming anxiety of the framers. It is a remarkable thing to watch the party of Lincoln and Eisenhower and Reagan and the Bushes become an instrument of Donald Trump’s. That’s a massive historical story.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/a-massive-historical-story-trumps-impending-acquittal-could-have-profound-ramifications-for-future-presidents/2020/02/01/e314c6d2-4484-11ea-aa6a-083d01b3ed18_story.html
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