America has lost its moral compass. Once seen by billions of people around the world as a beacon of hope, honesty and fairness, America’s stature has declined precipitously. There is one reason. Too many egocentric people no longer care about our core values, facts, and preeminence of the rule of law. As a nation it seems we fail the test of the M’Naghton Rule; that is the mental ability to tell the difference of right from wrong.
It would be inaccurate to say that Trump led the country astray. While he is a glaring symptom of moral decay, he is not the cause. Trump didn’t lose his moral compass; he never had one. Rather it is the millions of people who continue to support him even when the evidence of him being unfit for the office is overwhelming. No matter how egregious his behavior, they simply don’t care. Their premise appears to be, If I’m doing Okay (especially economically) then I’ll disregard facts and my ethical responsibilities to others.
Trump’s moral character, or lack thereof, was known before the 2016 election. He and his father were sued federally for racial discrimination in their New York properties. Trump’s failure to pay legitimate bills to contractors was documented in thousands of lawsuits. Repeatedly filing for bankruptcy, he screwed many investors and his employees while benefiting himself. There were several serious allegations of sexual misconduct supported by credible victims, financial documents, and even his own words (think Access Hollywood tape). Still, the refrain from his supporters was/is/and always will be, “I don’t care.”
An inveterate liar (since taking office there are now over 15,000 known), Trump routinely spins an alternative reality even when the falsehoods are obvious. As reports of documented misconduct are released, he claims exoneration. Of course, the Mueller Report is a classic example of such behavior. The report found that on several occasions he had committed offenses of obstruction of justice. He was not exonerated as claimed, but his supporters (and the Republican Party) loudly proclaimed “We don’t care.”
More recently Trump claimed that the contemporaneous notes made of the infamous “perfect call” with President Zelensky of Ukraine proved his innocence. “Read the transcript,” he and his supporters screamed. Only an outline exists and the vocal supporters admit they hadn’t read that. Supported by the testimony of other experts involved in, or observing the transactions, the transcript proved his blatant attempt to co-opt a foreign power to damage a political rival. Notably some of the witnesses were his own appointees. Yet the we don’t care refrain went on. Yes, there are millions of Americans that are so gullible as to believe what they are told, vice what they read for themselves. For most of them, facts don’t matter.
On Fox News, former Independent Council of the Clinton investigation, Ken Starr, stated that opponents of Trump don’t like him, “because he is unconventional and doesn’t play by the rules.” Certainly true, but most of those rules are in place because on centuries of social evolution in creation of what is known as civilization. The established norms provide for consensual interactions between people and organizations including nation-states. Predictability is essential in such relationships and being unpredictable (Trump’s hallmark) translates to unreliable. It is when these norms are ignored, or get seriously out of balance, that bad things happen - such as wars.
Further, according to the U.S. Constitution, power is divided on a trilateral basis. Importantly, the power of the purse resides with Congress, not the Executive Branch which is provided limited discretion on how to use those funds. Of those rules that Trump has ignored, include inappropriate, if not illegal, transfers of Congressional appropriations and authorizations has occurred repeatedly. (think transfer of funds to build a wall on the Southern border).
Trump supporters, including some in the military, say they want a leader they view as strong. As we have seen, Trump’s concept of “strong” equates to unilateral rule. That is what is known as a monarchy or dictatorship, yet seems to be a positive virtue to his supporters. Well-established is his affinity for such authoritarian figures such as Kim Jong Un of North Korea, Xi Jinping of China, Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, and Rodrigo Duarte of the Philippines. Trump’s near-treasonous deference, if not acquiescence, to Russian leader Vladimir Putin is easily supported (think Helsinki).
For many of those supporters there is a misbegotten notion that might makes right. Just because the United States has the most military power in the world, somehow that translates the right to unfettered use, or threats to ensure compliance with American wishes/demands. Reality is quite different with the rise of near-competitor adversaries such as China. Worse, is Trump supporter’s short-term focus and failure to comprehend the complexity of strategic issues. That is not surprising as Trump himself has little understanding of the matters either. That is especially true when it comes to the benefits derived from supportive international relationships such as NATO (which he has denigrated repeatedly). Unfortunately, Trump is willfully ignorant and fails to listen to experts who do understand the complexities that dominate international interactions.
An example is detailed in Peter Bergen’s new book, Trump and his Generals: The Cost of Chaos. Obviously devoid of knowledge of history or geography, he first asked why Seoul was so close to North Korea. When told about the massive artillery threat to Seoul, Korea, Trump reportedly responded, “They have to move.” Clearly, he has no concept of what it would take to move the 25 million people who live in the area. That also ignores the message that any evacuation attempt would send to his lover, Kim (i.e. that war is imminent). Unless they agree with him, he does not listen to experts on any topic (especially climate).
Shortsighted, most Americans think only of themselves and their immediate environment. Frankly, the vast majority of our citizens lack the intellectual basis for contemplating strategically on an international scale. Part of that blame goes to failure of our educational systems where history, geography and languages received little, if any, attention. (2/3 of Millennials do not know Auschwitz was a Nazi death camp and some believe WWII was fought between the US and Russia).
This op-ed initially was being drafted as we sailed the Bay of Bengal off the east coast of India. In discussions with various foreigners the topic of Trump often comes up. The word most used to describe what they see of America today is insane. They simply cannot believe that our people allowed him to be voted into office. Talking with a former foreign ambassador, he noted that almost all the Americans with whom he conversed did not support Trump while foreigners see him as an anathema world leadership.
To say the country is divided politically would be an understatement. Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, has abdicated his Constitutional responsibilities and openly flaunts his oath of office as he makes the Legislative Branch subservient to Trump. He gets away with it because too many people don’t care. While politicians often can seem hypocritical, the current GOP, lacking intestinal fortitude, has taken that to a new, abysmal level.
Then there is Lindsey Graham who has redefined the term as his televised statements during the Clinton impeachment are the antithesis of what he says now. It was Graham vociferously expressed moral outrage and indignation over prevarication about a sex act but now condones pressuring a foreign government into conducting acts for Trump’s political benefit. Remember when Graham called Trump a “jackass” and a “race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot?” For Graham, who takes hypocrisy to its nadir, moral standards are no longer important.
There is clearly more evidence to be acquired, (think Mick Mulvaney, John Bolton, Don McGahn, Michael Duffy of OMB plus former Staff Secretary Rob Porter and former Deputy Chief of Staff Rick Dearborn) but they have been blocked by the Administration. Despite intentionally distracting commentary to the contrary, sufficient evidence was provided to Congressional committees to lead any rational person to believe that acts for personal gain, and to the detriment of national security, were committed by Trump. If GOP senators, along with Democrat, Doug Jones of Alabama, cannot connect the dots, they clearly lack the intellectual capacity to hold any federal job, let alone their current offices. However, too many of their constituents, many of whom are media intellectually challenged, still just don’t care.
Since his election Trump has constantly complained about the investigations as witch hunts. This belies the fact that several of his close advisors either pled guilty or were convicted of crimes and many other people were indicted. What is applicable here is remembering that during the time in which real witch hunts did occur, the general public supported them. Trump supporters are the naive intellectual equivalent of the people who attended the burning or hanging of witches in times past. While easily recognized today as wrong, at the time they did have popular support.
Trump has become the Pied Piper of American politics. Fearfully, the entire GOP has fallen into line lest they face a rebellion in the next primary. Privately, many of them acknowledge the current situation but refuse to take a public stand against the overt acts to which Trump readily admits culpability. Political expediency quashes ethical responsibility but at what expense? Thus, shame descends on America and the once bright shining light grows dimmer by the day.