I asked an esteemed colleague, a rather seasoned and nuanced lawyer with a large body of experience in administrative law, about elections and succession and those who try to hold on to power, in 2016. Henry had an interesting take. He pointed me to a Columbia law review article about how roughly half the time, in reasonably solvent/modern/first world democracies, a leader will try to hold on to power if they either lose an election, or will overstay their welcome past when term limits kick in.

Half. That was rather astounding, but there it was, laid out in a large list of examples. And we're not talking DPRK or Idi Amin type stuff.

I'll be at the big protest in DC this weekend. I worked in the Bush and Obama WH. Though I had a reasonable level of policy disagreements with both men, neither was an ignoble scum. Neither appointed boot-licking toadies without a modicum of merit to the Cabinet.