Washington and Trump: A valid comparison

I would like to suggest that Professor Michael Meyerson get a little more of his knowledge of history from works by actual historians and less from Broadway plays (“Donald Trump, meet Alexander Hamilton,” July 29). First of all, no one has greater admiration for President George Washington than I. But, like President Donald Trump, he saw himself and was, indeed, a business person. Enough so that a book about him is titled, “First Entrepreneur.”

The professor is correct that General Washington was considered to have impeccable character. But the fact is that he invested in properties in the newly defined District of Columbia with hopes of making a profit. He also supported the building of a “National Road” which would open up the western wilderness to development — where he just happened to own properties he hoped to develop.

President Washington believed that what was good for America was also good for him. And vice versa. The most significant aspect of his personality, however, was his patriotism once the course was set to revolution. The only other president to decline the presidential salary is Mr. Trump.

Mr. Meyerson, in his all-knowing insight into President Trump’s motivation, has decided that the president’s avarice and ambition must be reined in by the Congress. May we say that he sees no possibility that Mr. Trump’s motivation in running for president might have been patriotism? His concern about avarice and ambition in politics does seem a bit lacking with his complete indifference to the subject of both of the Clintons. And his disinterest in discussing the need for Congressional oversight in regard to President Barack Obama’s agreement with the Iranians and those pallets full of cash also strikes me as curious.