What is it about Vermont and hypocrites?

The first American political party to hold a Presidential nominating convention was the Anti-Mason Party, which convened in Baltimore in September 1831. Their candidate in the 1832 election was William Wirt, who was — ironically — a Mason. (His ticket carried only the state of Vermont in the election.)

There was a bit of Trump in that guy:

When American public opinion expressed disappointment with President Theodore Roosevelt’s inability to get Japan and Russia quickly to sign a peace treaty at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the President set out to divert the nation’s attention. He ordered the Navy’s tiny submarine U.S.S. Plunger to Long Island, where he boarded it in a gale. By thus becoming the first President to dive beneath the sea in a sub, he was able to make waves that grabbed the headlines away from the peace-making snarl. The treaty was signed later in the year, and T. R. subsequently was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

— Isaac Asimov’s Book of Facts