By Phil Huber, ADVANCE COLUMNIST
George Washington ran the country without a constitution. Donald Trump runs the country as if there isn’t one. Same absence, wildly different outcomes.
Let’s set the scene. In 1775, Washington took command of an army with no constitution, no rulebook, and no paycheck guarantee. He just had a horse, some bad teeth, and a very strong sense that quitting was for other people. There was no Article II to hide behind. There was no Supreme Court to blame. There was just George, freezing at Valley Forge, inventing the job as he went.
Fast forward two and a half centuries. Trump inherited a fully operational Constitution—laminated, searchable, sold at every gift shop in Philadelphia—and treats it like a founding document he’s still waiting to read. Washington built the plane while flying it. Trump has the manual in the seat pocket and insists the plane flies itself.
Here’s the part that should embarrass every American equally: Washington had every excuse to become king. Officers begged him to. Congress couldn’t pay its own soldiers. The whole experiment was one bad Tuesday from collapsing. He said no. He handed his sword back to Congress and went home to plant cabbages. King George III reportedly said that if Washington did that, he’d be “the greatest man in the world.” Washington did it twice—once with the army, once with the presidency. Two exits, zero sequels.
Trump, by contrast, has a document explicitly telling him what he can’t do, and treats every “can’t” as a personal insult. Term limits are a suggestion. Emoluments are a rounding error. When asked point-blank if he needs to uphold the Constitution, he said “I don’t know,” which is the first honest answer anyone’s ever gotten out of a defendant. Washington resigned from power nobody could take from him. Trump contests elections nobody can give back to him.
Consider the paperwork. Washington’s Farewell Address warned future presidents against “the spirit of revenge” and “ill-founded jealousies.” It reads like a man leaving detailed notes for the next tenant. Trump’s Truth Social posts read like a man setting the house on fire on his way out and blaming the smoke detector. One left a nation instructions. The other left a nation Caps Lock.
Money’s another good contrast. Washington turned down a salary at first—Congress had to talk him into taking one, because a president working for free set an alarming precedent. Trump turned the presidency into a licensing opportunity, selling everything from sneakers to Bibles to digital trading cards of himself as a superhero. Washington’s face is on the dollar bill because he earned quiet reverence. Trump would like his face on the dollar bill, the hundred, and possibly Mount Rushmore, preferably lit from below.
Then there’s the matter of checks and balances. Washington deferred to Congress so consistently that historians describe him practically asking permission to breathe. He created the precedent of an executive who executes laws, not one who invents them. Trump treats the separation of powers like a merger he hasn’t closed yet—Congress is a subsidiary, the courts are a rival firm, and the Constitution is the noncompete he’s contesting.
Even their retirements tell the story. Washington went home to Mount Vernon, farmed, and reportedly missed being told what to do. Trump went home to Mar-a-Lago, kept the boxes, and reportedly missed being told what to do even less. One man returned classified secrets to history. The other returned classified documents to a storage closet.
The wildest part is that Washington’s restraint wasn’t required by any rulebook—he simply decided that unchecked power was bad for the species, including his own. Trump has an entire rulebook telling him exactly that, footnoted and ratified by three-fourths of the states, and treats it as a rough draft open for notes. Washington proved a constitution wasn’t necessary for a good man to behave like one. Trump is proving daily that a constitution isn’t sufficient if the man doesn’t want to.
So, here’s the actual joke, and it isn’t funny: the guy with no constitution invented restraint. The guy with a constitution is trying to return it for store credit. Washington could have been king and chose not to. Trump can’t be king and keeps applying anyway. In 1789, America ran an experiment to see if power could be handed back voluntarily, and it worked—so we assumed the result was permanent and stopped checking. Two hundred and fifty years later, someone unplugged the smoke detector just to see if the house still burns. It does. We already knew that. We just forgot, and this time nobody signed a waiver.
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Phil Huber is a retired Army Reserve colonel, federal civil servant and consultant who writes on civic education. He lives in Fredericksburg.
Love this!