Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair

As Benjamin Franklin was leaving the Constitutional Convention in 1787, a woman asked: “Well Doctor, what have we got a republic or a monarchy?” Franklin’s retort has been passed down through history: “A Republic, Madame, if you can keep it.”

Fast forward: A hundred years ago, H.L. Mencken observed:

“As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”

As it turns out, both statements were prescient.

Donald Trump’s administration is a graveyard of failure, misconduct and broken promises presided over by a demented, totalitarian monarch-wannabe.

His cabinet is a ship of fools—a junk drawer full of cronies, by one description–sailing onto the shoals of illegality and........

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