“We make men without chests and expect from them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst.” —C.S. Lewis
When Donald J. Trump established himself in the president’s office in January 2017, one of the first things he did was hang a portrait of President Andrew Jackson in the Oval Office. That was a signal.
Andrew Jackson was an irascible war hero known for his blunt manner, explosive temper, and inclined to physical violence. He was elected President in 1828, his second attempt, as a reformer who promised to clean out the “deep state” corruption of his day.
By that time, our country’s founders had passed on, and power had been inherited by a motley group of inheritors and cronies (Hunter? Is that you?) who established a cozy kleptocracy to ensure their continued access to the public trough. Unsurprisingly, ordinary citizens were very unhappy to the point where southern states, led by Sen. John Calhoun (S.C.), Jackson’s future vice president, threatened to secede via federal “nullification,” while northeastern elites, represented by Daniel Webster, worked assiduously to enhance federal control over the United States and its riff-raff citizenry.
Despite much howling, unceasing personal attacks, and violent opposition from the deep state of his time, Andrew Jackson persevered, fixed it…and was re-elected in 1832. Andrew Jackson, in other words, was a disruptor.