Rubicon

 Can I say something else about the Roman Republic/Empire?  I'll be short.  Feel free to move on if you're not into it.  

The fall of the Republic and the establishment of the Empire happened over a span of many years.  Rules were bent; favors were given, political boundaries crossed.  The very structural and cultural foundations of the Republic were disassembled and discarded, little by little.  The guardrails were removed.

And then, in BC 49, Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon.

This was the one clear, defining moment when the Republic died and the Empire was born (that's why the phrase "crossing the Rubicorn" still has significant meaning today).  Caesar was the Governor of Cisalpine Gaul, and had just finished a military campaign with a standing army.  No Governor was allowed to bring a standing army beyond the borders of his province.  Caesar did, against the orders of the Roman Senate, for a number of interesting reasons, and began his campaign to take Rome by crossing the river, the southern boundary of his province.  Once installed in Rome, he became dictator for life, appointed his adopted son Octavian (later Caesar Augustus) as the first true Emperor, and the Republic was dead.

So all of this is to ask the question:  What will be Trump's Rubicon?  His administration, like the late-stage Roman Republic, is ignoring rules and law, encouraging corruption, and dismantling the guardrails.  What will it look like when he drags the unwilling American people past the point of no return?  

I believe that he will see the river, stride cockily up to its banks, strike its surface with his staff, and declare himself the master of the river and promise that he will lay waste to the other side.  Then he'll turn around, wander off and do something else.

You heard it here first.