A warning from history

The transition of Rome from republic to empire required no constitutional change. No existing institutions were abolished. No new ones were established. No laws were passed. An existing office of state was subverted during a period of crisis. A commander-in-chief accumulated privileges and deferences unrecognised by statute that allowed him to act above the law.

Similarly, the concentration of power in the hands of the general secretary of the communist party of the Soviet Union was achieved by Stalin without any radical legislation or revisions to the constitution. Responsibilities were gradually assumed until an emergent authority was informally recognised which was only subsequently ratified. Then new constitutions could be drafted.

Dictators assume power de facto, not de jure. If you wait to resist their rise until they seek to formally codify their position in law it is already too late. Their authority is not conferred by arguments submitted to courts or parliaments. They develop favourable "facts on the ground" first, and then trump reason with a fait accompli.

Regardless of your opinion of the policies of which it has from time to time been an instrument, the office of President of the United States of America has commanded respect around the world. Individuals who have occupied it have subordinated themselves in service to the democratic ideals it represents. Their various flaws have left the seat itself untarnished. The reputations of those that would have otherwise been considered less than illustrious have benefitted from the general aura of clemency that radiates from the opportunity to think and act on behalf of something bigger than themselves. Their most vehement critics have nevertheless respected the task to which they have applied themselves.

This office is now being turned into a joke.

In a few days it will be occupied by someone who constantly astounds us in the extent to which he is unsuitable. I do not need to reiterate here the litany of actions and utterances with which he continually compounds his disqualification. I expect at some point this will generate its own field of study - trumpology - in which his multiple derangements are described in tones of darkly humorous horror.

But beyond the individual, the office of President itself is subverted by his occupancy of it. American democracy is subverted, with implications for all of us.