Thomas Jefferson Meets Donald Trump In The Oval Office

And concludes:

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The deeper we get into this [ever-widening] morass of corruption and criminality, the more people are going to confront their own future legal liability and worry about what happens if and when Trump leaves office. . . .

What happens when the music stops playing? We all saw how Trump basically had to win the presidency last year in order to avoid jail time — and the damage that has come from that decision. A recipe where desperate people — sometime very powerful people! — need to stay in office if only to forestall their own possible prosecution and prison time is a terrible and dangerous recipe for America’s future — and one that we should be thinking a lot about.

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And now . . .

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THOMAS JEFFERSON:

Mr. Trump. I’ve read your speeches. Watched your conduct. Heard your calls for loyalty—not to the Constitution, but to yourself. Tell me plainly—do you believe in a government of laws or of men?

TRUMP (smirking):

Look, Tom—can I call you Tom? Here’s the deal. The people love me. Nobody’s ever had support like I’ve got. We’re restoring order. Power was too spread out—too many weak people in the way. I’m just doing what works.

JEFFERSON:

What works in the short term often destroys the long term. Power unchecked becomes tyranny. We saw it in kings. You are not crowned, Mr. Trump—you are elected. And you serve only by the consent of the governed.

TRUMP:

Consent? I got 74 million votes. That’s consent. And when the system’s rigged, when the media lies, when judges don’t play fair—you better believe I’ll take control. The people want strength.

JEFFERSON:

The people also wanted Caesar. And they lost their Republic.

When fear and faction replace truth and principle, democracy becomes a performance—just a stage for the loudest voice. That is not strength. That is spectacle.

TRUMP (leaning forward):

What’s wrong with spectacle? You think anyone remembers quiet leaders? No—they remember winners. We’re making America great again. Strong borders. Strong economy. Strong leadership.

JEFFERSON:

Greatness without virtue is just empire. We declared independence to escape strongmen who mistook authority for righteousness. I wrote those words so no future ruler—elected or not—could forget the limits of power.

TRUMP:

That was 250 years ago. Things are different now. We’ve got enemies everywhere—inside and out. You’ve got to fight fire with fire. The press is the enemy. Judges don’t listen. Congress? Useless. You think your little parchment still applies?

JEFFERSON (coldly):

Yes. And if it no longer applies, then the Republic is already lost.

You speak of enemies, but you divide your own countrymen. You praise autocrats. You mock reason. You stir up mobs and silence dissent. You do not preserve the Union—you fracture it.

TRUMP:

I know loyalty. I know winning. You’re too idealistic. This isn’t the Age of Reason anymore—it’s the age of survival.

JEFFERSON:

And in trading liberty for survival, you will have neither.

I did not risk treason against a king to see my country fall under the rule of another—in a red tie instead of a crown.

Power must always serve the people—not bend them to its will.

TRUMP (standing up):

You had your time, Tom. You wrote your fancy words. I’m doing what has to be done.

JEFFERSON (softly, yet fiercely):

And I wrote those words for moments exactly like this.

When the flame of liberty flickers low…

When truth is drowned out by volume…

When one man seeks to become more than the people who gave him power…

That’s when patriots must rise—not with muskets—but with memory. With courage. With principle.

Because tyranny never knocks—it slips in through applause.

⸻

[The room falls silent. A storm brews outside. One man believes he is saving the country by dominating it. The other knows it can only be saved by freeing it.]

[unknown*]

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