Trump support for Jan. 6 rioters is bad. But another former president was worse.

It’s important to keep in mind that Trump is not — yet — the worst ex-president in U.S. history. Trump has made a serious effort to dishonor his post-presidency, of course. He likely has encouraged future insurrections by vowing to pardon the rioters who sacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. And he’s stashed boxes of top secret documents at his home at Mar-a-Lago, raising serious national security concerns.

But John Tyler, a Whig who held office from 1841 to 1845, was even worse. Tyler actually tried to destroy the Union by joining the Confederacy’s war of treason in defense of slavery. Tyler’s treachery is worth remembering as a warning about the real danger a former president can pose. 

But this history is also a good example of how principled political leaders can stand up to a rogue president, even at the risk of damaging their parties’ prospects. During Tyler’s presidency, the Whigs actually expelled him from the party when he violated Whig principles. After the party ultimately splintered over the issue of slavery, Abraham Lincoln and William Seward stood fast for the Union that Tyler betrayed. 

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., took a small step in their direction when he announced Tuesday that he would back the Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act, which aims to prevent future efforts to subvert elections like those at the heart of the Jan. 6 insurrection. The decision put him at odds with Trump but strengthened the chances that the bill will pass.   

Unfortunately, it’s not clear that all Republican lawmakers will follow McConnell’s lead. And beyond that legislation, Republican leaders have mostly continued to enable Trump’s reckless conduct, as they seem unwilling to defend democracy against his “big lie.” 

Although Trump may never disgrace the presidency as thoroughly as Tyler did, the stain of his actions will mar the legacy of all of his fellow Republicans if they don’t try to stop him before he comes closer. Members of the party of Lincoln would serve themselves and their country best by demonstrating allegiance to democracy rather than to Trump.  

Tyler, like Trump, was a somewhat unexpected president who didn’t originally belong to the party that elected him. A slaveholder from a prominent Virginia family, Tyler began as a Jacksonian Democrat. He broke with the Democrats during the nullification crisis of 1832-33, when President Andrew Jackson threatened to forcibly impose tariffs on the state of South Carolina. In a portent of his later conduct, Tyler believed that so-called states’ rights took precedence over federal law. 

Tyler was nominated for vice president on the Whig ticket in 1840 to provide regional and political balance for Ohioan William Henry Harrison, who was sometimes suspected of abolitionist sympathies.

With the Democrats in disarray after the economic panic of 1837, the Whigs handily defeated the incumbent, Martin Van Buren. But Harrison died one month after his inauguration, making Tyler the first vice president to succeed to the…