In my several visits to Germany, I have written in admiration of that country's strenuous efforts to face its past and make amends.

Trump is in the White House, fulminating on Twitter, messing up foreign policy, mistaking critics for enemies, refusing to immediately and unequivocally condemn neo-Nazis, racists, and other assorted goons - and, in general, failing to provide the nation with a scintilla of moral leadership. This will last until it can't any longer.

Pence is the very personification of the career politician. With the exception of a few years doing talk radio and television shows, he has done nothing but run for office, winning all but the first two times.

Trump's overriding accomplishment is plain: The Republican Party can no longer be shamed.

Politicians in Washington work in a small, sheltered world where they lurch from crisis to crisis that they create, nurture and use as ideological triggers in their selfish pursuit of re-election.

I had worked in politics with Johnson and Nixon before becoming a historian and biographer. I kept discovering these dirtier, murkier threads in American politics that led back to Vegas' gambling interests and criminal connections.

Saddam's ouster will not necessarily lead to the same result, since Iraq lacks democratic traditions. Democracy doesn't just consist of holding elections.

The Constitution grants only Congress - not the president - the power 'to borrow money on the credit of the United States.'