“Give me liberty or give me death.” Patrick Henry, 1775.

“Get over it.” Mick Mulvaney, 2019.

My, how far we have come. The acting White House chief of staff acknowledges that President Trump may have committed an impeachable offense, then in the same breath tells the media and the American people to “get over it.”

Mulvaney said flat out that the decision to hold up military aid to Ukraine was linked to Trump’s demand for that country to investigate a conspiracy theory that the Democratic National Committee and Ukraine, not Russia, tried to rig the 2016 presidential election.

When I heard Mulvaney’s line, I promptly thought of my good friend John Burton. He was a lion for liberal causes during his long career, but he didn’t always play by Robert’s Rules of Order.

When reporters hit him with detailed and damning findings of their various investigations, then puff up their chests and ask for comment, Burton would just shrug and say, “Yeah, so what?”

The dumbfounded reporters would be left stuttering about the ethics of his moves or some such thing, and Burton would keep saying, “Yeah, so what?”

It took the wind right out of their sails.

I’m not sure the tactic is going to work for Trump, but it has earned his lackey a place in history.

However brief it may be.

Debatable: Elizabeth Warren’s turn in the tumble dryer at the Democratic presidential debate did not go well for the Massachusetts senator, who quickly found herself on the spot for refusing to come out and say that taxes would have to rise to pay for her fantastically expensive Medicare for All plan.

It was our first look at Warren under pressure, and she came off as brittle and dodgy.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders proved to be as cantankerous as ever in his first post-heart-attack appearance. The only change was that his unruly hair was slicked down. Not a good look.

Former Vice President Joe Biden continued with lifetime habit of mental slips and slides when it comes to names, dates and places, but with all the attention on Warren, no one seemed to notice.

The two winners of the night were Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar. They both sounded reasonable and in command.

Both are looking good for the vice presidential slot.

House that Hearst built: I took a ride down to San Simeon the other day for a wedding and pool party at Hearst Castle. The long drive down the coast was just the start of what turned out to be a 12-hour day.

At the welcoming center, you’re treated to a 40-minute movie about the castle, its architect Julia Morgan and William Randolph Hearst, the man who built it. Then it’s onto a bus and up the mountain on a road that looks like little more than a goat trail.

All worth the trip. The castle really is a California treasure, albeit an odd one.

Former Assemblyman Jack O’Connell booked it for his wedding and managed to gain access to one of the castle’s swimming pools. After the ceremony, guests actually jumped in, although it being October, the smart ones came with wetsuits.

Down south: I hear former San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón will announce he’s running for Los Angeles County district attorney on Oct. 28 or thereabouts.

Gascón spent most of his life in Los Angeles and is a former L.A. cop. He’ll be running as a progressive prosecutor and is expected to get a lot of big-money help from billionaire George Soros and the rest of the judicial reform crowd.

It’s going to be an interesting race. The incumbent, Jackie Lacey, is an African American law-and-order type.

Lacey’s critics, and there are many, will probably hit her over the police mistreatment of Latinos and her lock ’em up policies, which have alienated many black leaders.

Many L.A. elected officials, however, may wind up watching from the safe distance of the bleachers.

Movie time: “Joker.” As my friend Lynn Segal said, this movie isn’t a comic book story, it’s an opera.

This is not, I repeat, not another Batman film. Joaquin Phoenix does a great job of playing the comic turned killer, and I’m not sure he was acting. Nobody could fake that role. He deserves both the Academy Award and a strong dose of mental care.

No translation needed: Supervisor Aaron Peskin and I presided at the Chinese Hospital’s annual fundraiser the other night.

The Chinese Hospital is where former Police Chiefs Fred Lau and Heather Fong, Supervisors Norman Yee and Sandra Lee Fewer and a whole host of other prominent San Franciscans of Chinese descent were born. Peskin was most persuasive at getting people to open their wallets, and he did so in Mandarin and Cantonese, using one word in each.

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Want to sound off? Email: wbrown@sfchronicle.com