American culture is usually characterized by idiomatic expressions like, “the leader of the free world,” “a melting pot,” “the land of the free and the home of the brave,” and “American exceptionalism.” These idioms not only speak to the values that Americans have, but also help to give credence to America’s ethical idealism. An “idealism” that is less than ideal because of longstanding history of contradictions and hypocrisies.
The contradictions and hypocrisies are not difficult to identify because they tend to permeate every aspect of social, economic, and political life in both the domestic and foreign policy arenas. Persistent racism, conflicted immigration policies, and the waning patriotism of some Americans are examples of the contradictions and hypocrisies to American values and Christian beliefs.
Contradictions and hypocrisies are not new issues in American culture, as they have existed from the beginning of the Republic. What is new though, is that in three short years there has been a surge of these problems that is exposing the bedrock of cherished American values and Christian beliefs.
So, what happened three years ago to trigger this surge that is undermining American values? The answer is that Donald Trump was elected the 45th president of the US. Trump in his first term has reshaped or tested the boundaries of the Constitution – the essence or core of American values, culture, and democracy. For example, the American justice system of law and order does not seem to apply to Trump and his administration. We are reminded that no one is above the law – not even the president – and yet Trump has broken campaign election laws by paying hush money to Stormy Daniels to protect his 2016 presidential campaign. He has repeatedly obstructed legal investigation against him by refusing to honor subpoenas.
...you see the Democrats performing their constitutional duty of investigating Trump’s misdeeds while the Republicans are defending them.
One American value that has been in decline under Donald Trump’s presidency is patriotism. An article on National Review website, titled, Gallup: Democrats Drive U.S. Patriotism Plunge, the writer states,
As Americans prepare to celebrate the Fourth of July holiday, their pride in the U.S. has hit its lowest point since Gallup’s first measurement in 2001,” writes Megan Brenan. Forty-five percent of American adults say they are “extremely” proud of their country, Brenan continues, “marking the second consecutive year that this reading is below the majority level.” In 2017, 47 percent of adults said they were extremely proud of the United States.
Republican national pride has been consistent, Gallup finds. The 76 percent of Republicans who expressed extreme pride in the latest survey is 10 points off the high of 86 percent in 2003. “Even when Barack Obama was in office,” Brenan writes, “Republicans’ extreme pride never fell below 68 percent.
This article suggests that Republicans are more patriotic or have more pride in their country than Democrats. With the Russian interference investigation by Mueller and currently the House impeachment inquiry, you see the Democrats performing their constitutional duty of investigating Trump’s misdeeds while the Republicans are defending them. This is an indication that they don’t care about the attack on America’s democracy and constitution.
The apparent decline in patriotism is demonstrated when some lawmakers defend Trump’s misdeeds instead of defending against the attacks or abuses on the Constitution, the attack on the Democratic system (Russia’s interference of the 2016 election), the attack undermining of institutions (the Intelligence agencies and the FBI), and the Department of Justice being used as a political agency. Because these abuses are unprecedented and have been allowed to continue by some members of the US Congress, and defended by conservative proxies (news media, talk shows, organizations, etc.) Is testimony of the contradictions, hypocrisies and waning patriotism.
It is extremely disturbing when a US president ingratiates himself with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin and at the same time attacks and disparages America’s icons of democracy−the constitution, justice institutions, and the news media.
Donald Trump by his words and actions has given Putin special treatment that no American president has shown to any Russian dictator. Even when the Special Counsel investigation into Russia’s alleged interference of the 2016 election and Intelligence agencies confirmed they did this, Trump defends them by claiming that it was Ukraine was responsible for the interference. What is disturbing about this is that some Americans still believe that this is a hoax or as Trump describe it a witch hunt. No one could have imagined that any president could have used this esteemed office to embrace the communist dictator Putin.
It is not unreasonable to say that his behavior contributes to disunity, corrupts the political process, and undermines the rule of law.
Just half way into Trump’s first term as president, he has been besieged with scandals and investigations that reflect what most objective people would see as a flawed and corrupt presidency. And although Special Counsel Robert Mueller investigation was inconclusive (i.e., no serious consequences to Trump) the current impeachment inquiry concerning an alleged quid pro quo scheme to get Ukraine to investigate the Bidens in exchange for funds that were approved by the U.S. Congress might be a different matter.
Trump’s response to Mueller’s investigation and the impeachment inquiry, has been bizarre and reflects a lack of respect for congressional protocols and the rule of law−ordering people in his administration not to honor Congressional subpoenas. This of course is an egregious action that Democrats have called obstruction in preventing them from performing their constitutional oversight duty. Additionally, Trump has called both investigations a witch hunt and has disparaged Democratic congressional leaders like Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff who is leading the impeachment inquiry.
No president has ever treated Congress with contempt like Trump has. It is not unreasonable to say that his behavior contributes to disunity, corrupts the political process, and undermines the rule of law. While some American (especially his supporters) might not see his unprecedented behavior as weakening the foundation of America’s democracy, they might be in denial if they do not see how his adoration and favorable treatment to Putin can potentially weaken America and undermine its standing in the world.
Trump’s gamboling love affair with Vladimir Putin is deeply troubling because everything that Putin stands for is diametrically opposed to America’s values.
Donald Trump has not been bashful in showing his love and admiration for Russia and its leader Vladimir Putin. He compared President Obama to Putin by saying Putin was a strong leader and that Obama was weak and not smart. He has initiated policies and rhetoric that on the surface is beneficial to Putin as shown below:
- Undermined NATO −an organization that has held the defunct Soviet Union and now Russia in check
- Pleaded with other G7 members to readmit Russia into the G-7 summit
- Ordered US troops to pull out of Syria
- Tried to show that it was not Russia who interfered in the 2016 election but Ukraine
- Attacked the EU and actively supports anti-EU, Kremlin-backed parties*
- Tried to roll back, impeded, and blunted the impact of sanctions at every step*
- Repeatedly praises and defends Putin, lending the credibility of the US presidency to Putin’s standing*
- Dismissed Russian interference and has done nothing to prevent future interference, putting him at odds with his own intelligence community*
- Attacked US institutions while driving divisive politics and eroding democratic norms*
- Concealed his discussions with Putin from other members of his administration.
- Treated Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a minor misunderstanding between the two countries
* http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/10/trump-impeachment-ukraine-syria-turkey-russia-putin.html
With the above initiatives which don’t seems to have and strategic objectives to benefit the US, Trump’s detractors have labeled him as a Russian asset. His supporters, including the Republican congressional members are not buying this though. This could be due to their denial or they simply don’t see the connection. It is possible for Americans to not see Trump as a Russian asset because of some of his “patriotic” mantras or actions. For example, his popular mantra that we started with his 2016 campaign, “America first,” “make America great again” (MAGA) and his hugging of the American flag during one of his campaign rallies.
Trump’s gamboling love affair with Vladimir Putin is deeply troubling because everything that Putin stands for is diametrically opposed to America’s values. What is disturbing about this is that the Republicans and his base are not concerned one iota about the contradictions and hypocrisies that Trump’s love affair with what appears to be exchanges of favors. The anonymous author of the new book, A Warning, writes about Trump’s admiration and problem as follows,
The president’s obvious admiration for Vladimir Putin ('great guy,' 'terrific person') still continues to puzzle us, including those on the team who shrug off his outlandish behavior. Where did the Putin hero worship come from? It’s almost as if Trump is the scrawny kid trying to suck up to the bully on the playground. Commentators have speculated, without any evidence, that Moscow must 'have something' on the president. I wish I could say. All I know is that whatever drives his love for Putin, it’s terrible for the United States because Vladimir is not on our side and no US president should be building him up.
No president in America’s history could have dared showed the behavior that Trump has shown towards the Communist Russia and rightly so. Russia is a communist country that has a history of human rights abuses under dictators like Lenin, Stalin, and now Putin who Trump unabashedly adores. Putin has suppressed and intimidate Russian citizens who challenge him, have annexed neighboring states that were formerly part of the Soviet Union; and currently orchestrating military aggression with against Ukraine.
What is changing America is that the synergistic forces of greed and corruption have replaced values of integrity, patriotism, honesty, and compassion.
Trump’s “bromance” with Putin, is something that would have outraged all Americans if it was President Obama engaging in it (even to a much lesser degree). They would have called him a traitor, unpatriotic, and uses racial epithets to describe him. could not have happened during the Cold War era. And yet today most Americans don’t seem to care about Trump’s adoration for Putin, that Russia interfered with the 2016 election to get Donald Trump elected, and Trump is pursuing policies that will only let Russia gets stronger. And if this is not cause for concern then What is even more disturbing about this is that Republicans in Congress have strongly defended Trump against the investigations involving Russia and Ukraine and they don’t seem to care or to be aware that about Trump’s apparent love affair with the Communist leader.
When Republican congressional members defend the misdeeds of Trump – misdeeds that are a violation of the Constitution and violation of US statutes (soliciting help from foreign adversaries in a US election, obstructing Congress, etc.), it cannot be that they are simply playing politics. Something has changed in America that is responsible for these congressional members to abandon their patriotism and their constitutional duty−protect and defend the Constitution.
What is changing America is that the synergistic forces of greed and corruption have replaced values of integrity, patriotism, honesty, and compassion. Additionally, we have a generation of people (including some Republican congressional members) were born after the end of the Cold War or were too young to understand the threat of the communist Soviet Union. They are not familiar with the fear that the communist old Soviet Union represented. Some are probably not aware of the name Nikita Khrushchev (the Soviet Union leader during the Cold War in the 60s). His name was enough to frighten Americans over the threat of nuclear war. The Bay of Pigs conflict which involved a showdown between him and John Kennedy was an example of that fear.
It is disturbing that we have Republican Congressional members who don’t seems to care about the Russian interference of the election or about Trump’s foreign policy agenda that are favorable to Putin. Take for example, Rep. Devin Nunes and some of his colleagues who repeatedly call special counsel’s Mueller’s investigation and the current impeachment inquiry against Trump a hoax and a sham.
Today Russia under Putin seeks to regain its glory days of the old Soviet empire. What is appalling about this is that he is being helped wittingly or unwittingly by none other than US president Donald Trump. If Trump survives the impeachment process to remove him from office (and he has a good chance of doing so) and if he is reelected for a second term in November 2020, this would be a victory for Russia.
Donald Trump is not solely responsible for the attack on America’s democracy. Some of the blame lies with the Republican members of Congress who have enabled him to do as he pleases. They have also tried to make the impeachment inquiry a political issue and undermine this constitutional requirement. As enablers of Trump irresponsible behavior, they have assumed a contradictory and hypocritical role that is in stark conflict to their oath to protect and defend the Constitution.