The hottest competition in Washington, D.C. these days is not any political race nor is it the ridiculous “grand prix” that bumped its way across the city’s potholed streets this week as the latest entertainment to soothe Mr. Harp, our president.

No, it’s the ongoing contest among Trump’s Cabinet members to demonstrate who is the worst among them. When Trump spoke of “the worst of the worst” during his campaign, not everyone was clear on the fact that he was referring to his future stable of advisors.

Those in hot pursuit of the “distinction” of being the most corrupt, most incompetent, and most dangerous can be comforted by one fact: No matter where they finish among a group that seems dedicated to finishing off this country, each will very likely end up being the worst ever to hold their particular post.

That is no small distinction. We have had some bad Cabinet secretaries in our history. Remember Don Rumsfeld? Remember Nixon’s Attorney General John Mitchell? What about former Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall, who was at the center of the Teapot Dome Scandal? He was the first Cabinet secretary ever to be convicted of a crime and sent to prison. How about A. Mitchell Palmer, Woodrow Wilson’s atrocious attorney general who drummed up Steven Miller-like hatred for foreigners and oversaw mass arrests and deportations during one of America’s first Red Scare eras? Let’s go back further? Grant’s Secretary of War William Belknap resigned just before he was impeached for receiving kickbacks.

Bad as all these guys were, their scandals and failures were merely a prelude to Team Trump’s disastrous tenure. When they stole, they stole less. When they hate-mongered, they did it at a smaller scale. When they sought to obstruct justice, they were just setting the stage for the real wholesale debasement of our justice system that we are seeing today.

Before we go on, I want to make it clear: I’m not drawing these conclusions lightly. I’m not making a big bold statement for dramatic effect. I’ve written many books and articles about presidents and their cabinets. I’ve studied them for years. I’m sure that other historians, over time, will validate my conclusion. Just as they already recognize Trump as the worst president in our history, they will see his Cabinet as the worst ever.

This is not a mere matter of my not liking their politics, although candidly, championing fascist white nationalist authoritarian corruptionalism (and make no mistake, even if it is not a word, the biggest “ism” that defines their “movement” is “corruptionalism”) is........

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