28 November 2023

“Man of low moral character”. . . the “honorable men of the Senate” would vote to convict and remove from office a president caught selling pardons.

James Madison, “the father of the Constitution” and also a Virginian present at the Convention, asserted his version of Hamilton’s assurance that the Electoral College would prevent a “man of low moral character” from holding the highest office in the land and that, if such a thing were to happen, there was always the remedy of impeachment:

“There is one security in this case to which gentlemen may not have adverted: if the President be connected, in any suspicious manner, with any person, and there be grounds to believe he will shelter him, the House of Representatives can impeach him; they can remove him if found guilty.”

At that time, no political parties had emerged and the idea that an entire party could be corrupted by a demogogue and his billionaire buddies was inconceivable. So, of course, they thought, the “honorable men of the Senate” would vote to convict and remove from office a president caught selling pardons.

Sadly, and obviously, it hasn’t worked out that way.

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Yesterday’s New York Times has a fascinating article about Trump pardoning a major drug dealer and violent loan shark; it’s titled “A Troubling Trump Pardon and a Link to the Kushners.

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