The day Trump took up residence in Loserville

THE rules for doing business in Washington, DC, were written in the 18th century by highly educated and well-to-do men who wore wigs - they would be described today as an "elitist" bunch of guys - and who were essentially quite conservative in terms of their personal temperament and political orientation.

This was what President Donald Trump learned last week about the Founding Fathers and the constitutional system they helped create and which they left to their political descendants in the 21st century.

To put it simply, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton, among others, did not like political disrupters, angry populists who try to mobilise the masses against their leaders, demagogues who create national divisions, and who insist on rocking the boat until it sinks.