Over the last week, I have been listening to a superb podcast, Bagman, narrated by Rachel Maddow of MSNBC. It is an intricate—and startling—examination of former Vice President Spiro Agnew’s resignation from office in the fall of 1973. Parallells to what is going on with our current White House occupant, Donald Trump, proves anew that history is our best guide to the present.

Most of us, as we watch the Trump debacle unfold, consider its best historical precedent to be Watergate and Richard Nixon. Certainly, the historical similarities exist: both Nixon and Trump are figures of ill-repute, crooks, pathological liars and dangerous. Agnew was also a crook and liar, but what happened to and with him, may provide the best solution as to how the American people and government should deal with Trump. Let me explain.

Spiro Agnew was a Republican Baltimore County Executive who went on to become Maryland’s Governor. In 1968, he was chosen by Richard Nixon as his choice for Vice-President. Elected twice, he served in that role until his resignation. During the entire time, from Agnew as County Executive thru his tenure as Vice-President, he was receiving bribes and kick-backs. He even received some of them in his White House office.

Trump seems to have functioned as the overseer of a vast criminal enterprise and real estate empire known as the Trump Organization. He, too, received funds under questionable circumstances, as the emoluments clause of the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits such payments, has been knowingly violated. Trump’s Russian ties, under which money may have been “laundered,” tax laws violated, and bribery a possibility, are all out there. The issue of espionage in the current situation, is missing from Agnew’s case.

With Agnew forced to resign and admit his guilt, may we find, in studying how this was accomplished, a salutary solution to our present Trumpian dilemmas?

The current President of the United States is clearly incompetent and probably guilty of a number of statutory offenses. With the likelihood increasing that impeachment and/or an indictment is in the offing, would it not be best for the country to move towards securing an Agnew-like resolution? A forced resignation of the President, perhaps even a pardon for him and family members, seems a better alternative than drawn-out impeachment by the House and trial in the Senate. Even with an election in 2020, almost two more years of Trump and his Enablers will put this country in additional danger. At the minimum, it would make us–and the world–weaker and less safe.