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George Washington took the oath of office 236 years ago this month to become the first American president. Since then, 44 other men have earned that privilege. Some of them were great; almost all of them were flawed in one way or another; and plenty of them were both. They steered the United States, and more recently also the world, through good times and bad.  While some strayed further from the nation’s founding ideals and its laws than others, they all generally upheld them.

It’s been a good run… and it had to come to an end at some point.

Donald Trump took the oath of office for a second time 83 days ago, and, right away, he left no doubt that, this time around, he would become the nation’s first un-American president. 

He is not great in any way — but flawed in all of them. 

After poorly managing the only major emergency he was confronted with in his first term, he is now creating one crisis after another. In the process, he is not just abandoning the nation’s founding ideals; he is betraying them all.

Perhaps it is fitting that an endeavor that began with truly exceptional historical figures coming together to change the world now ends with a mentally ill manbaby and a cult of ignoramuses destroying their epic achievement.

Still, any actual patriots, i.e., not the red hat-wearing, orange fascist-worshipping people who think they are “real” Americans but only love their country on their own terms, should be feeling profoundly sad at this moment.

This sadness and sense of loss are not only felt in the US but also by America’s allies, for whom the United States was more than a partner — it also symbolized an ideal to aspire to.

Of course, it is not yet too late for these true patriots to do something about it. However, just like when some plucky colonists fought a mad king 250 years ago to achieve independence, this is an “all hands on deck” moment… but too many of the people who are in a position to fight back aren’t treating it like that at all.

Congress, the Supreme Court, law firms, institutions of higher learning, the media, and many others are either willingly bowing down to Trump or bending the knee because they are looking out for their own personal agendas and pocketbooks and not for their country and its values.

So let this be a reminder of what they should be fighting for and whom they should be fighting against.

Trump is a menace.

And, for now, let’s forget about some of the big things, like his trade war that will upend the lives of countless Americans and other people around the world, or his imperial ambition to acquire Canada and Greenland. Yes, he is usurping the authority of the legislative branch, but congressional Republicans also keep eagerly handing him more power with which he can wreak havoc across the globe.

Let’s also set aside that he is exactly the kind of person the Founding Fathers wanted to keep out of the White House: a sleazy conman and bully with dictatorial ambitions who is only worried about himself and does not care one bit for the American people — especially not those who don’t worship him.

They would have recoiled at the idea of someone like Donald Trump becoming president. In fact, the entire system is designed to safeguard against such a person coming to power. But even the Founders could not have envisioned that the American people would elect anybody so utterly corrupt and contemptible in every way.

There is simply too great of a gulf between the kind of men that they were and the man that he is.

Instead, we want to focus on some of the small things that demonstrate that Trump has no grasp of the values that America represents, and neither have his flag-waving followers.

Not a day goes by when he and his henchmen don’t violate the Constitution — both in letter and in spirit. He wields his power like the kind of tyrant that the Founding Fathers fought against (and tried to protect the budding nation from).

Compared to all of the other things going on, this might seem minor; but a perfect example of Trump’s un-American behavior came this week in yet another executive order.

This one is entitled, “Addressing Risks from Chris Krebs and Government Censorship.”

If you are unfamiliar with Krebs, you may be wondering who he is and what kind of a threat he poses to the country.

Well, he did not key a Tesla or engage in similar terroristic activities. Instead, he committed a much graver offense: As head of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Krebs attested that the 2020 election was “the most secure in American history,” which landed him on the president’s retribution list after Trump ramped up the Big Lie and incited a mob to break into the Capitol in an attempt to prevent the Senate from ratifying the election results.

Now, back in the White House, Trump is taking revenge on Krebs, a Republican, for having dared to speak the truth, and he is using the full might of the presidency to do so.

Essentially, the executive order directs top government officials, including the attorney general, to retroactively review Krebs’s performance as a federal employee and to suspend the security clearances held by “individuals associated with [him].”

In other words, Trump is trying to make Krebs’s life a living hell — all because he now wants to rewrite reality, i.e., that he lost the 2020 election.

The president even says as much in the executive order.

“Krebs, through CISA, falsely and baselessly denied that the 2020 election was rigged and stolen, including by inappropriately and categorically dismissing widespread election malfeasance and serious vulnerabilities with voting machines,” it states.

That is not only crazy but should be offensive to any Americans.

Just because Trump is unwilling to accept reality, he is trying to ruin the life and business of somebody who made a statement that is not contradicted by any facts.

Another example of the president trying to change reality came on Friday, when it was revealed that he wants to put an end to the government’s climate research as though that would stop global warming.

And that’s not all.

On Friday, Trump announced that he would authorize the US military to take over federal lands across the border with Mexico (which the president says he has secured). It is surprising that he did not also order the equivalent of the quartering acts and require Americans to provide housing for these soldiers. 

To a startling degree, Trump’s actions in the 83 days since he took office run counter to what makes America America.

He wants to do away with due process for some of his subjects, muses about deporting US citizens to a prison in El Salvador, ignores court orders, punishes people for things they wrote in a newspaper, imposes tariffs that serve as a tax on Americans, and abuses the power of the government to settle personal scores.

Ironically, a lot of these actions resemble those that King George III took 250 years ago and that ultimately resulted in a rebellion, the Revolutionary War, and the founding of the United States of America.

And these United States are now once again imperiled by an authoritarian ruler… but this time the threat comes from within.