A criminal in the White House? Patrick Henry predicted it

“Give me liberty or give me death.” » Of all the phrases attributed to Patrick Henry, one of America’s founding fathers, this is the most famous. But there’s another one that’s getting attention today: “Forget your president! We will have a king. » Journalist The New York Times Peter Baker remembers her Article There he discusses the fears expressed by the Virginia politician and orator.

A Speech Delivered in 1788, Henry predicted that the system would not be restrictive enough to prevent a criminal from occupying the White House. Remember that this system allows the president to be impeached by Congress if he is impeached and convicted of treason, corruption, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. And then the practice of not excluding criminal proceedings.

However, this impeachment procedure failed twice in the case of Donald Trump. Also, since Congress has not prevented him from running for president again, there is now a good chance he will return to the White House as a criminal, leading him to believe that no rules or laws apply to him. That was what Patrick Henry was afraid of.

Baker gleaned this idea from Cory Brechtneider, a professor of history at Brown University and author of a forthcoming book on Henry: “His idea is that if such a criminal president came to power, he would capitulate, realizing that there were some means of stopping that. That said, such a president would claim the throne of a king.” As far as he goes »

Other founding fathers undoubtedly considered the possibility of a convicted felon running for president. But according to another historian quoted by Baker, “they would have found it astonishing and ultimately discouraging” that he was a viable candidate.

PS: During a condescending interview with Fox News on Sunday, Donald Trump told one of his biggest lies ever, denying that he said “lock her up” about Hillary Clinton.

“I’m not saying ‘lock her up'” — Fox & Friends and facing jail time, Trump tries to distance himself from his rallies with the ubiquitous “lock her up” about Hillary Clinton. pic.twitter.com/r1YPIbOqkn

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 2, 2024

(Library of Congress photo)