This election is the moment of truth. In The Atlantic’s final cover story ahead of the election, staff writer Tom Nichols lays out why “the votes cast in November will be more consequential than those in any other American election in more than a century”—because every essential norm and duty that George Washington established for the U.S. presidency could come to an end if Donald Trump is reelected. Trump is “Washington’s Nightmare”—the tyrant the first president feared, and one more capable now of finishing the authoritarian project he began in his first term.
Among Washington’s countless accomplishments and heroic actions, Nichols also focuses on what Washington would not do: “As a military officer, Washington refused to take part in a plot to overthrow Congress. As a victorious general, he refused to remain in command after the war had ended. As president, he refused to hold on to an office that he did not believe belonged to him. His insistence on the rule of law and his willingness to return power to its rightful owners—the people of the United States—are among his most enduring gifts to the nation and to democratic civilization.” The 44 men who succeeded him in office adhered to Washington’s example and those norms—all except Trump.
Nichols writes: “Trump and his authoritarian political movement represent an existential threat to every ideal that Washington cherished and encouraged in his new nation. They are the incarnation of Washington’s misgivings about populism, partisanship, and the ‘spirit of revenge’ that Washington lamented as the animating force of party politics. Washington feared that, amid constant political warfare, some citizens would come to ‘seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual,’ and that eventually a demagogue would exploit that sentiment.”
Nichols writes that America stands at such a moment with this election: “Trump has left no doubt about his intentions; he practically shouts them every chance he gets.” He continues, “As we judge the candidates, we should give thought to Washington’s example, and to three of Washington’s most important qualities and the traditions they represent: his refusal to use great power for his own ends, his extraordinary self-command, and, most of all, his understanding that national leaders in a democracy are only temporary stewards of a cause far greater than themselves.”
Nichols concludes: “Washington’s character and record ensured that almost any of his successors would seem smaller by comparison. But the difference between Washington and Trump is so immense as to be unmeasurable. No president in history, not even the worst moral weaklings among them, is further from Washington than Trump. Washington prized patience and had, as Adams put it, ‘the gift of silence’; Trump is ruled by his impulses and afflicted with verbal incontinence. Washington was uncomplaining; Trump whines incessantly. Washington was financially and morally incorruptible; Trump is a grifter and a crude libertine who still owes money to a woman he was found liable for sexually assaulting. Washington was a general of preternatural bravery who grieved the sacrifices of his men; Trump thinks that fallen soldiers are ‘losers’ and ‘suckers.’ Washington personally took up arms to stop a rebellion against the United States; Trump encouraged one.”
Tom Nichols’s “Washington’s Nightmare” was published today at TheAtlantic.com. Please reach out with any questions or requests to interview Nichols on his reporting.
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