The corrupting influence of power is directly proportional to its magnitude.
Some people are more corruptible than others, but most, perhaps all people are corruptible by power of sufficient magnitude.
It's an old, old, old story.
This is why the benevolent and wise demand that government be kept as small as possible, so that it can be controlled by those governed.
This is the greatest fallacy of the theories of Karl Marx, why they don't work, why all attempts to implement them result in disaster. The wise and benevolent can see at a glance that they won't work and why. The corrupt, malevolent, and unwise see in them opportunities to acquire power and eagerly exploit them when they can.
Government is a necessary evil, necessary of course, but also evil. It enforces its authority through violence or threat of violence, and it attracts to its ranks those least capable of resisting the corrupting influence of power.
Imagine the kind of people attracted like a magnet to the magnitude of power concentrated in a place like Washington! Is it inevitable that they will be or will readily become corrupted?
Imagine the excesses of savagery that those excessively corrupted would commit! If you can't, consult history; it records countless examples of the worst.
Washington summed it up best when he compared government to fire, a dangerous servant and a fearful master.