WASHINGTON — Former Presidents Donald Trump and Richard Nixon share a cell in presidential history hell.

Their arc is apt, 50 years apart, from June 1972 to June 2022. No matter how much time they do down there, the damage their deeds did to American democracy lives long after them.

Trump and Nixon, first-class haters who viewed the world through an “enemies” prism, especially the press, sat at the center of conspiracies to hold onto power at all costs.

They were ruthless destroyers of the dream that Abraham Lincoln called “the last best hope of earth.”

If Nixon’s 1972 Watergate tale disillusioned a generation of children like me, with lost faith in government, think what Trump’s barrage of trash-talking tweets, lies, insults and boasts has done to children on his watch — or children watching him.

The first 12 years of my father’s life were with President Franklin D. Roosevelt, a jaunty voice and trusted leader in a world war and Depression.

Presidents matter, for better or worse — or worst.

On Thursday night live, the magnitude of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol will unfold for the first time, in a House Select Committee hearing.

This town is on edge about reliving the Capitol crime committed in broad daylight. It’s still the stuff of nightmares for some witnesses.

Incited and invited by the president, a mob of 10,000 stormed our marble beacon, aiming to hold Congress captive and disrupt the ritual of certifying the presidential election.

Never before has the peaceful transfer of power come under deadly siege. The Trump mob had a list of who they wanted. First: Vice President Mike Pence, the only one of the president’s men who defied the scheme to steal the election.

Pence’s handsome head was in grave danger. Trump also wanted revenge on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the only leader who ever confronted him to his face, ripped up a speech and led an impeachment (on Ukraine.)

Jan. 6 was carefully chosen.

Trump knew lawmakers would be fully present in the House and Senate chambers that date, chosen by the Constitution. With Inauguration Day two weeks away, it was his last chance. He invited supporters to travel here. The word spread among his base with lightning speed.

The Proud Boys and other extremist groups made travel, hotel and weapons plans openly on the internet. They made no secret of their plans, but the FBI missed the plot. Again. Another massive intelligence failure, this one on their doorstep.

You wonder what they do all day.

Proud Boys leaders were just charged with seditious conspiracy.

At the same time, we look back on the June night Watergate break-in and burglary, a crime ordered by the Nixon White House to penetrate the Democratic National Committee.

Some suspected from the start that the coverup led straight to the top. But Nixon refused to give way until he finally resigned under pressure from his party on Aug. 8, 1974.

For once, Nixon spoke a knowing truth to the American people that last day: “Those who hate you don’t win unless you hate them, and then you destroy yourself.”

I remember my father telling me the Watergate news when he picked me up from tennis.

I remember young John Dean testifying, looking innocent when he wasn’t so innocent, as the White House counsel. On a new CNN series, he seems a wise elder, but ambition and pressure took him down the wrong road to prison.

The best quote came from former aide Alexander Butterfield: Nixon never thought of telling the truth. Butterfield spilled the beans that Nixon taped himself.

Long story short, a Watergate security guard detected tape on the DNC door, which led to a president’s fall.

That’s quaint next to a raging mass that caused 150 police casualties. If not for the 800 city police officers who saved the day, the blood on the building — and Trump’s hands — would never be washed clean.

Rep. Liz Cheney, a Wyoming Republican, noted Trump has shown no “remorse.”

Really, Liz? Trump doesn’t know the meaning of the word.

Trump spoke of “American carnage” in his inaugural speech facing the National Mall, which captured the tragic end of his four years: another American arc.

Jamie Stiehm may be reached at JamieStiehm.com. Follow her on Twitter @JamieStiehm.

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