The anti-Trump fever really is interesting from a historical and constitutional perspective. It's clear a lot of people want bills of attainder, ex post facto laws, and the impeachment of private citizens--all things known in England and barred by the Framers.

When you learn about these things in Con Law or history class, they seem like very unlikely dangers. Is Congress really going to try to pass a bill of attainder? But at times of extreme political passions--like now--it suddenly doesn't seem so far fetched.

It's an important lesson, I think, in the value of having a written constitution with formal limits on the power of the federal government. Otherwise, it's possible that when passions run high, "unwritten rules" against such abuses would fall by the wayside.