Mr. Trump outfoxes saps who founded our country

In the eyes of President Donald Trump, the Founding Fathers were saps.

The old boys created a system of government that supposedly has checks and balances, but only if everyone agrees to behave in a certain way. Only if everyone agrees to play by the rules. Only if everyone agrees to follow their sworn oaths. Only if everyone has honor.

Saps.

No gaggle of politicians proves Trump’s genius better than Arizona’s Republican congressional delegation. To a person they act less like members of House and Senate and more like members of the cult of The Donald.

For George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and so on, a sense of personal honor was real. These guys actually believed it. If they swore to do something and then didn’t do it their lives were over.

So when they wrote the documents and passed the laws that became the government of the United States of America they were operating under the wildly mistaken notion that future politicians would have the same sense of honor as they had.

Saps.

Sure, there have been politicians over the years who seemed to look at things they same way the founders did, who actually meant it when they swore to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States” and to “well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office.”

But nowadays?

Not so much.

Give Trump credit.

He saw through the ultra-thin veil of protection afforded by our so-called checks and balances

He decided that by ignoring the checks he could tip the balance to himself. He figured out that if you break all the rules, and recruit or intimidate enough politicians to go along with you, then all that hoity-toity stuff about checks and balances goes right out the window.

Consider the reaction of someone like Republican Rep. Debbie Lesko.

Is there anyone in Arizona who believes Lesko or the other political Oompa Loompas in the state’s Republican delegation actually read the Mueller report before dismissing it? Is there anyone who believes Lesko or any of the others would approach a hearing on that report or on Trump’s actions with the open mind of someone sworn to uphold the Constitution?

Concerning the most recent congressional hearing Lesko told Fox News, “All it is…is trying to influence the 2020 presidential election using taxpayer dollars and the influence of House committees. That’s all this is. And it’s ridiculous.”

Really?

As opposed to 2017 when Republican House majority leader Kevin McCarthy said of the Benghazi hearings aimed at presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, “Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right? But we put together a Benghazi special committee, a select committee. What are her numbers today?”

The Constitution relies on honorable elected officials staying true to the notion of a separation of powers. The founders believed that honorable elected officials, sworn to protect the Constitution, would first and foremost perform their duties as members of Congress or the courts, and not as members of a political party.

Trump knew better.

At least that’s how it’s going so far (aside from Michigan Republican Rep. Justin Amash.)

The Trump version of a separation of powers is not between three branches of government but the two political parties.

When members of Congress accede their authority, when they roll over and play dead for the president, there is no separation of powers. There are no checks and balances. Particularly when he also stacks the courts.

Trump says to ignore the subpoenas of Congress and they’re ignored. Trump says don’t cooperate and they don’t cooperate. Trump’s attorney general chooses to defend Trump over the Constitution and Republicans in Congress go along.

Unless things change, game over. Just this week, when asked if he would accept help in winning an election from a foreign power (which is against the law) or immediately turn over the information to the FBI Trump said, “It’s not an interference, they have information — I think I’d take it. If I thought there was something wrong, I’d go maybe to the FBI — if I thought there was something wrong.”

The Founding Fathers believed in rules, in honor. They believed that future elected officials would hold the same beliefs and would serve the Constitution above all else.

What would Trump say to that? Saps.