Elizabeth Drew: America more on edge than any time since Civil War in 1860

Elizabeth Drew, a Washington-based journalist, argues that the capital is more on edge now than at any time since the Civil War in 1860 as Donald Trump tests the constitution in unprecedented ways

President Donald Trump, who has tested positive for Covid-19, has refused to say if he will accept the outcome of the presidential election. 

America’s capital is more on edge now than at perhaps any other time since the eve of the Civil War in 1860. 

The city was tense during Watergate, of course. But as much as Richard Nixon tested the constitutional system, as a lawyer who had served in government for decades, he recognized that there are limits that even a president dares not transgress.