REMINDER: All modern American presidents exercise power that is morally and constitutionally illegitimate.

Also, the U.S. has no nobility or official ranks, and over-the-top state funerals and public mourning for retired leaders are more reminiscent of monarchies than redolent of the principles of a constitutional republic. Before the growth of the modern federal behemoth, we had funerals like Grover Cleveland’s, “marked by simplicity and absence of pomp.” Carry on.