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Mount Vernon is 21 miles from my home. Lately I can almost feel the tremors from the nation’s general-turned-first-president spinning in his grave there.

George Washington, who set long-followed precedents by voluntarily giving up first military and then civilian power, and who built the foundation of the nation’s wall between its military and partisan politics, would by all historical evidence be appalled by successor Donald Trump’s escalating efforts to tear down that wall in his drive for unprecedented dominion. But Washington likely wouldn’t be surprised. In fact, he warned America about the likes of Trump.

In his farewell address , Washington cautioned against political part

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