All checks, no balance: the dangerous education of Donald J. Trump

The progression of Special Counsel Mueller probe on President Trump's possible grounds for impeachment has unveiled new and troubling evidence with his personal lawyer's confession.

After months of campaigning publicly against the Special Counsel's "witch hunt", Trump has been rendered legally mute. Illegal conspiracy to hide evidence of unethical behavior that might have affected the election's results has been exposed. 

The most disturbing element of the new developments are not the accusations and probes but the fact that even those defending President Trump are assuming in fact that he has committed crimes such as to be impeached if his associates "turn on him" and reveal what they know. Or -to be more precise- what everybody already knows (conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and collusion with Russian agents) mostly because the same candidate Trump announced it during the campaign. 

This is not a horror but a suspense story. Spectators know who and how committed the crime, they just watch the unfolding events waiting for the next shoe to drop. Some with fear, other with joy. All carried away by two years of endless and mindless antagonistic and hyper-partisan politics fueled by the President that might end being victim of his own showmanship.  

As with chess, in constitutional law there are also "checks". Like in chess, constitutional checks -like a Special Council probe- announce impending doom for those who trespassed their consitutional limits and their office duties. 

As in chess, the next stop can be another check, a loss or the ending of the game.

The Constitution of the United States was specifically designed to check those in power and prevent them from abusing their offices. In 250 years, it has been tested by several former presidents and worked effectively.

James Madison wrote the famous Federalist 10 explaining that:

"No man is allowed to be a judge in his own cause, because his interest would certainly bias his judgment, and, not improbably, corrupt his integrity.

With equal, nay with greater reason, a body of men are unfit to be both judges and parties at the same time"

Madison warned that:

 When a majority is included in a faction, the form of popular government, on the other hand, enables it to sacrifice to its ruling passion or interest both the public good and the rights of other citizens.

And proposed institutions to check majorities (always circumstantial) and factions (always self-serving) from breaking or bending the law: 

To secure the public good and private rights against the danger of such a faction, and at the same time to preserve the spirit and the form of popular government, is then the great object to which our inquiries are directed. 

Those who think that social media and showmanship can trump (no pun intended) the Constitution have met their first check. There are evidently plenty more down this road. 

Madison had "obnoxious presidents" in his mind when he wrote: 

Men of factious tempers, of local prejudices, or of sinister designs, may, by intrigue, by corruption, or by other means, first obtain the suffrages, and then betray the interests, of the people.  

And conceived an intricate -yet not unassailable- set of rules written in the Federalist papers and then into our 1787 Constitution. The new form of government was not a democracy -democracy was already 2000 years old and had time and again turned presidents into Caesars- but a republic, a system with checks and balances between three separated powers.

Come November, the balance of power in Congress can -and probably will- swing to the opposition party, making more likely President Trump's impeachment. 

The next check can become a check mate.

We haven't had time yet to look at the consequences of a premature end of Donald Trump's presidency.

We should.

Time for a visit to The Presidents Club?

The recent funeral of former First Lady and First Mother Barbara Bush was a good opportunity to watch civility in action among the families and clans of all political persuasions in Washington -from former Presidents to their grandchildren-.

One after another, the speeches given by Bush's family  members, friends and political foes rivaled each other in respect, grace and self-deprecating humor. They turned the majestic cathedral and the pain of the circumstance into a celebration of American political traditions at their best.

Those who dress down their own appointees in public and double down on personal attacks  seem not to understand that Americans like candor and kindness and are turned off by bluster and arrogance. For Americans, courage is showing grace under pressure. And the Bush family showed what courage looks like in parting with their beloved matriarch.

Those who don't appreciate our Constitution and its institutions call them instead the "deep state".

If there is a "deep state" in our United States , Fareed Zakaria remarked in an insightful article, that "deep state" is the state of the rule of law. 

That "deep state" also has a long-standing tradition: a "Presidents Club", that was informally instituted by Jefferson and Adams when they asked their predecessors for advice. 

Harry Truman established it formally at Eisenhower's inaugural and Herbert Hoover was its first manager. Richard Nixon presented the Presidents Club with a brownstone building as a permanent lodging for its members, who have been using it regularly for the last 60 years.

There is also a tradition of the annual White House Correspondents Association dinner. Every year,  presidents are "roasted"  in public and forced to show they can take and make jokes about themselves.

A tradition that First Ladies also enjoy publicly lambasting their powerful husbands:

Last year, for the first time in almost 60 years, the sitting president declined to attend the dinner.

Mr. Trump's absence at Mrs. Bush's funeral went beyond a lack of humor.

Declining to show up to Mrs. Bush funeral is a further step downhill -from the shining city of civility on top of it we look up for leadership to the swamps and moats that surround it and Mr. Trump promised to drain-. It is so because it demonstrates Mr Trump fears the embarrassment of facing Mrs. Bush's family without apologizing for his past insults than the embarrassment of sending his wife to do his job.

Harsh words are normal currency during political campaigns, even during the arguments and political fray that come before and after.

Even boxers shake hands after butchering each other 12 rounds on the ring. And show respect once the match is over apologizing for the insults and vulgarities they threw at each other to sell tickets for the show.

The word "President" means among other things, to "preside", to lead by example and set the tone of public discourse and public behavior. This is way below the office that George Washington left warning against extreme partisanship. 

The Trump administration will pass.  

Mr. Trump will then also become a former president. 

He can chose to be a former president like Richard Nixon and fade in disgrace or to adopt the civility of the other four former presidents who showed up at Ms Bush funeral and who sat near his solitary wife.

There's still time to join the Presidents' club, Mr. President.

It would be good not just for you, but for the institution you currently represent and your successors. You might find some experienced friends as well.