Trump’s America –Episode #148 – Protecting Hamilton

By Arthur Piccolo

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. Nov. 22, 2019 I consider my duty to defend Alexander Hamilton from abuse.

As do others, notably Rand Scholet and the national organization The Alexander Hamilton Awareness Society …

So, when I discovered in the current issue of The New Yorker … that Ron Chernow, YES, Ron Chernow, the author of the most famous Hamilton biography, had abused Alexander Hamilton in The Washington Post back on October 18th with an op-ed article titled: “Hamilton pushed for impeachment powers. Trump is what he had in mind.”

I had to put aside my previous draft for this week’s episode titled “Barack Obama Exposes Himself” as a status quo junkie.

And zone in on the issue at hand and Ron Chernow.

GIVE ME A BREAK Chernow. Hamilton was not that stupid.

I am as much a critic of President Donald Trump as anyone and no doubt so would Alexander Hamilton had he been alive; but you have gone OVER the line in falsely recommending Hamilton would have favored impeachment.

What were you doing? Auditioning for a position on CNN/$$$$$?

Hamilton had far more integrity than to engage in cheap destructive political tricks. If he had, he certainly would have favored impeaching Thomas Jefferson rather than playing an instrumental role in his vicious critic becoming President.

Even as much as Hamilton despised evil Aaron Burr, there is absolutely no evidence Hamilton would have favored impeaching Burr if he had beaten Jefferson in the election of 1800 and become President.

Why Ron Chernow? Because Hamilton understood removing an elected President for anything but the most egregious offenses, was dangerous to the very future of our nation. Hamilton understood very well the flawed character of humans and most of his fellow Americans including Presidents.

Hamilton understood as much how gangs of political radicals who were only interested in more power for themselves at any cost could subvert our fragile government using any tools, they could get their hands-on like …

IMPEACHMENT – realizing all they needed was majority in the House of Representatives to create havoc for a President of the other Party rather than having to bother beating him (now possibly her too) at the next election.

SORRY, since most of my readers just as I probably did miss Chernow’s piece in The Washington Post last month and in fairness to Ron Chernow here are some highlights from his op-ed:

“President Trump has described the impeachment proceedings as a ‘coup’ and his White House counsel has termed them ‘unconstitutional.’ This would come as a surprise to Alexander Hamilton, who wrote not only the 11 essays in “The Federalist” outlining and defending the powers of the presidency, but also the two essays devoted to impeachment.”

Well, Chernow got one thing right Hamilton’s two essays on impeachment. Too bad Chernow then went on to turn them into Fake News!

Then some more truth from Chernow that he uses to misuse Hamilton.

“There seems little doubt, given his writings on the presidency, that Hamilton would have been aghast at Trump’s behavior and appalled by his invitation to foreign actors to meddle in our elections.” CORRECT so far then …

THE BIG LIE …

“As a result, he would most certainly have endorsed the current impeachment inquiry. It’s not an exaggeration to say that Trump embodies Hamilton’s worst fears about the kind of person who might someday head the government.”

REALLY Ron” That is not Hamilton speaking, that is ONLY you. You make a dangerous leap without providing any justification. Why hasn’t Adam Schiff called you as a “witness” (sic) yet? Maybe he was too busy with his cabal trying always to seize power and he did not have time to read your op-ed piece.

Let’s hear more from Ron Chernow SPIN Master …

“Among our founders, Hamilton’s views count heavily because he was the foremost proponent of a robust presidency, yet he also harbored an abiding fear that a brazen demagogue could seize the office.”

How about brazen demagogues seizing the impeachment process?

Sorry Ron; it is not the way you then go on …

“That worry helps to explain why he analyzed impeachment in such detail: He viewed it as a crucial instrument to curb possible abuses arising from the enlarged powers’ he otherwise championed.”

This would not have Hamilton trying to MISUSE impeachment to remove from office every bad President he encountered. He knew better you either don’t or you are demagoguing it like Schiff and his gang.

Alexander Hamilton would not have been flustered or worse by Donald Trump. Rather, as a master strategist, Hamilton would have thwarted Trump and his excesses using the normal processes of government and politics; not fabricating an impeachment scenario based on a few words in one conversation in which Trump did the kind of unethical things Presidents do all the time but don’t get impeached for; they get strongly criticized maybe.

I don’t see you or Schiff or Pelosi arguing President Johnson or President Bush should have been impeached and thrown out of office for blatantly LYING us into major wars where thousands of Americans were killed and maimed for no good reason at all and where trillions of dollars were wasted.

By the way, if Ukraine is not the most CORRUPT place on Earth and it might be it is certainly in the Top 10 on Earth. If we did not use it as a foil against Russia the U.S. government would have nothing to do with Ukraine.

BACK to Ron Chernow who writes …

“History will teach us that . . . of those men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people; commencing demagogues and ending tyrants.”

So why does this apply ONLY to Trump and no other Presidents or the Schiff cabal? WHY? Because it does not fit Chernow’s false narrative.

Here is a RADICAL idea Chernow, how about not hiding behind a false narrative about Alexander Hamilton and speak for yourself?  I know NO one would listen and even The Washington Post would not have published your op-ed if you did not conjure up the great Alexander Hamilton.

Sorry, Chernow groans on and on inserting Alexander Hamilton’s name here and for false “legitimacy” (sic) to try and keep readers awake. I don’t have time for it so I will cut to this final paragraph for my readers …

“People must be willing to play by the rules or the best-crafted system becomes null and void, a travesty of its former self. We are now seeing on a daily basis presidential behavior that would have been unimaginable during more than two centuries of the American experiment.”

What planet does Ron Chernow live on? Certainly not Planet Earth.

Then Chernow ends with THE BIG LIE … “Hamilton anticipated — at least in its general outline — the chaos and demagoguery now on display in Washington. He also helped design and defend the remedy: impeachment.”

(This series dedicated in honor of the late Liu Xiaobo & Jamal Khashoggi)

EDITOR’S NOTE: About The Writer: Arthur Piccolo is a professional writer and commentator and often writes about Latin America for New Americas.