Washington was beloved by many for giving away power he could have kept. Trump is reviled by many for snatching power he isn’t entitled to. One was methodical and judicious, hoping to consult with the Senate more than the Senate even wanted him to. The other is driven by whims, co-opting legislative powers on tariffs and war. Washington actively avoided, as president, interfering in congressional races. Trump meddles in primaries to exact revenge and test fealty.
Chernow reflected on Trump’s astonishing grifting in office. In the first year of his second term, Trump collected $1.4 billion from his crypto ventures. (He made a fortune, even though the meme coin he hawked to his supporters is worth astronomically less now than it was when he took office.) Overall, his first year in office netted him at least $2.2 billion. “George Washington was a man of such unimpeachable integrity — there was not the faintest hint of scandal during his presidency — and he was always very reluctant to accept any kind of gift because he was afraid people might interpret it as a bribe,” he said. Washington agonized before accepting shoe buckles from David Humphreys, his aide-de-camp during the Revolutionary War and speechwriter during his presidency.
“Trump can make all this money off cryptocurrencies and meme tokens, and there’s nothing in the Constitution specifically preventing that other than the president’s own sense of shame and integrity — and those don’t seem to apply with very great force to our president,” Chernow said. “Trump is very good at finding these holes in the system. He seems to have a sixth sense.
“Our founders did worry a lot about the future emergence of a demagogue,” Chernow said. “Their fear was what used to be called, in the 18th century, the man on horseback — the idea that after a bloody revolution, the victorious general would parlay the victory into power and become a dictator.”
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