Donald Trump, the foundering father of the US

I called my brother, Kevin, to ask if he would spend Independence Day with Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and me.

- Maureen Dowd

Monticello has a new tour focusing on the fond and fractious relationship of Jefferson and Adams, which culminated in 158 letters in their last 14 years of life.

Historian David McCullough deemed this attempt of the fiery Bostonian and reticent Virginian to overcome their political feuds and understand each other “one of the most extraordinary correspondences in American history.”

My favourite anecdote about Adams and Jefferson, who both loved Shakespeare and used the bard’s psychological insights as inspiration when they conjured the country, concerned their visit to Shakespeare's house in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. As Abigail Adams recalled, her husband cut a relic from Shakespeare's chair, while Jefferson “fell upon the ground and kissed it.”

Kevin laughed when I told him about the invitation.

“I'm amused,” he said, “that we are the example of modern-day comity and civility.” Americans are at one another's throats, living in a world of insults, coarseness and cruelty — a world where Donald Trump and JD Vance excel.

At Monticello, we talked to Ken Burns, who was giving a preview of his upcoming PBS documentary on the American Revolution. He is finishing it in the nick of time, given Mr Trump's attempts to slash PBS' federal funding.