On June 4, President Trump issued a memorandum directing the White House Counsel and the Attorney General to investigate former President Biden and his aides to see if they “abused the power of Presidential signatures through the use of an autopen to conceal Biden’s cognitive decline and assert Article II authority.”

“This conspiracy,” the order says, “marks one of the most dangerous and concerning scandals in American history.”

Democratic politics invites citizens and political leaders to leave the past alone, except in extreme cases like genocide or apartheid. It requires victorious parties not to try to rewrite it to suit the fancies and fantasies of the moment.

However, Trump seems unable to resist casting his eye backward to denigrate and impugn his predecessor. His memorandum called “Reviewing Certain Executive Actions” is just the latest example.

The president’s Joe Biden-focused memorandum comes from the same place as his election-denialism. He wants to discredit everything Biden touched and sweep the last four years into the dustbin of history.

Readers of literature may recognize this impulse. George Orwell’s classic novel, 1984, offers a startling and imaginative rendition.

In that book, Orwell describes a political party bent on........

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