"A republic, if you can keep it"

The story goes that, as Benjamin Franklin walked out of the Constitutional Convention, a crowd awaited him. Elizabeth Willing Powel, a prominent figure from the era, approached and asked the question everyone wanted answered. Would the new United States be a monarchy or a republic?

At the time, Franklin’s answer probably sounded like nothing more than a witty quip: "A republic, if you can keep it."

But, today, it sounds like a warning we didn’t heed.

Trump has said, "I can do whatever I want as president," claiming it says so in the constitution. It doesn’t, of course.

But if congress and the judiciary go along, the constitution might as well have been written with disappearing ink.

Today, he’s withholding more evidence—claiming national security, perhaps to break up the claims of executive privilege that he’s used, to date, to keep incriminating documents and witnesses away from his impeachment hearing and senate trial.

"I've read that testimony," Democratic House manager Zoe Lofgren said Wednesday on the Senate floor. "I'll just say that a cover-up is not a proper reason to classify a document."

If those to whom the constitution gives the power to constrain him won’t do so, Trump’s right: he can do anything. And Ben Franklin wasn’t kidding. 

- Anita Bartholomew