America’s visionary founding father Alexander Hamilton held an abiding fear that our young democracy could easily fail, if it were to be placed in the hands of a president with dictatorial tendencies.

Hamilton’s fear led him to help build the foundation for the impeachment process, as an essential remedy for the threat that such an overreaching president might bring to our democracy and our country.

And today, with our country in the hands of a president whose instincts and behavior are undeniably autocratic, Hamilton’s expression of his fear seems all the more prescient.

Weighing Hamilton’s words, expressed in his Aug. 18, 1792 note to President George Washington (in bold below), against the actions of President Trump (in italics below), it is not an overstatement to say that we are now enduring the realization of exactly the worst-case scenario Hamilton envisioned:

"When a man unprincipled in private life”

Trump has paid hush-money to women to silence them about his affairs with them.

“…Desperate in his fortune”

Contractors who have worked for Trump have spoken about how he simply refused to pay them, then used lawsuits that they could not afford to further avoid paying them.

“…Bold in his temper”

Trump strikes out like a bully in the vilest of ways whenever anyone criticizes him or disagrees with him.

“…Despotic in his ordinary demeanour”

Trump creates fear of immigrants, fear of the ‘deep state,’ fear of ‘liberals,’ and fear of ‘science.’ His despotic behavior creates fear to control the masses, then Trump claims that he alone can save the people from that which they fear.

“…Known to have scoffed in private at the principles of liberty”

Trump is actually brazen enough to ‘scoff’ in full public view, criticizing the intelligence communities, the judiciary, Congress, news organizations, and all who oppose him.

“…When such a man is seen to mount the hobby horse of popularity”

Trump’s popularity is in fact with a minority of Americans, but that very vocal minority, spread through a preponderance of rural communities, allowed Trump to win the electoral college tally despite losing the popular vote.

“…To join in the cry of danger to liberty”

Trump at his rallies has encouraged such chants as ‘Lock her up!” This same tactic has been on ugly display in autocratic countries like Russia -- where President Putin imprisons his opponents -- and was used in Hitler’s Germany, where mob justice was encouraged to defy the rule of law.

“…To take every opportunity of embarrassing the General Government & bringing it under suspicion”

There is universal consensus among our own U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia interfered in our 2016 election to benefit then-candidate Trump. President Putin conceded on camera that he did indeed want Trump to win. Yet President Trump insists on ‘bringing suspicion’ to our government by calling the Russian inquiry a “deep state hoax.”

“…To flatter and fall in with all the non sense of the zealots of the day”

The Republican-controlled Senate has been forwarded many pieces of legislation passed by the House that would help the poor and middle class in America, and would protect our planet and our elections. But Trump lapdog Mitch McConnell will not bring the bills to the floor for a vote. And the rest of the senators (minus Mitt Romney), through abject fear of Trump, have chosen to ignore Trump’s corrupt actions requiring a foreign leader (and U.S. ally) to announce investigations of a Trump political rival in order to receive Congressionally-approved U.S. aid.

These bootlicking Republican senators are Trump’s army of ‘zealots’ who have violated their oath of office – to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States” – and instead have chosen to support a President who has lied to the public more than 16,000 times (by the Washington Post’s tally) since he’s been in office.

“…It may justly be suspected that his object is to throw things into confusion that he may 'ride the storm and direct the whirlwind.’”

Trump’s idea and execution of ‘governance’ is indeed the sowing of confusion and fear, thereby creating a ‘whirlwind’ of mistrust to help him achieve his own dark selfish designs.

Ultimately:

When Trump directs our prosecutors to ignore the law and look kindly on his convicted friends;

When Trump defames our judges;

When Trump destroys trust in our intelligence communities;

When Trump vilifies news organizations that uncover his criminal behavior;

When Trump encourages hatred of anyone whom he and his base deem ‘different;’

When our Senate is filled with Trump’s Republican sycophants; and

When every day Trump exhibits a new and flagrant disregard for the rule of law, thus creating chaos and mistrust in our system of democracy;

Our democracy is lost.

Alexander Hamilton saw Trump coming from more than two centuries away. The burden now falls upon all of us -- to rise up in a unified, patriotic voice -- to oppose President Trump’s lawless insurrection…before it is too late.