Sylvester Stallone—-the legendary “Rocky Balboa” of cinematic fame—-has recently compared Donald Trump to George Washington. https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/14/politics/video/newsnight-stallone-compares-trump-to-george-washington-tonight Apparently he wasn’t kidding.  But he should have been.  And his  comparison offers Trump a clear challenge—-to renounce any plans for a third term, or for making himself a dictator, or for using state power to assault those who criticize him.   George Washington was a towering leader….with huge contradictions.  He became a mega-legend by renouncing absolute power—-first when he resigned his command of the victorious revolutionary army, then by refusing a third presidential term.   By contrast, Trump says he wants to be a “dictator.” Supporters like Steve Bannon already advocate that he assume a third term in the White House while getting “retribution” against those who dare criticize him. Washington was a notorious killer of Indigenous Peoples, known by the Ho-de-no-sau-nee (Iroquois) as Conotocarius, “destroyer of villages.”  He was also a slaveowner. But as President he insisted on signing treaties with Indigenous tribes when many Americans refused to acknowledge their legitimate existence at all.  Washington warned that to break any of those treaties would stain the “honor” of the new government.  (Sadly, every treaty the US has signed with Indigenous peoples has since been dishonored). Washington may have been the only President to personally free a slave he personally “owned,” liberating his long-time servant “Billy.”  George’s final will freed other enslaved people after the death of his wife Martha, but there’s controversy over that and how he treated his “human property” during his lifetime. There’s no doubt Washington was an incomparable military leader.  His endurance in sustaining the rag-tag revolutionary army that defeated the British changed the world.  His astounding surprise attack on Hessian mercenaries at Trenton (see The Crossing with Jeff Daniels) remains one of history’s greatest wartime triumphs.
But above all, Washington hated monarchy.  He administered the federal government with deep respect for free speech and democracy, devoting his presidency to unifying the nation without acrimony or faction.  He TWICE stepped down from power when he could have become an absolute ruler.   Though the post-colonial press mercilessly slandered him with a ceaseless stream of often grotesque insults, Washington never suppressed a writer, a newspaper, or called for “retribution” in response to a personal attack.   George was also gay-friendly, allowing his aide Alexander Hamilton to shack up with fellow officer and likely lover John Laurens (Alex later sired eight children with a wealthy heiress).   After hiring the openly gay Prussian Baron von Steuben to train our troops, George forcefully re-assigned his under-age male “assistant”…but otherwise kept von Steuben on the job. A master of the barnyard epithet, Washington was a Bible-carrying (and hard-drinking) Christian, but advocated tolerance for the many religions.  He scrupulously refused to personally profit from his presidential power.  Along with Thomas Jefferson, he was among America’s biggest hemp growers.   Donald Trump defames Washington’s legacy by promising to declare himself dictator, as have followers like Steve Bannon, who already call for the third term Washington refused.  George abhorred the idea of using state power to avenge critics or to personally profit from the presidency, as Trump seems poised to do. If Sylvester Stallone and other Trump acolytes want to compare The Donald to George Washington, they’d best insist he honor the first President’s actual beliefs and deeds.   ——————————————Harvey Wasserman’s History of the US was introduced by Howard Zinn.  He co-hosts the weekly Green Grassroots Emergency Election Protection zooms (www.grassrootsep.org) and Pacifica Radio’s California Solartopia Show (KPFK.org).