Our Race to the Bottom
By Kenneth J. Uva
“Have we come to the point where a governor can desert his wife and children, and persuade a young woman to abandon her four children and husband? Have we come to the point where one of the great parties will confer its greatest honor on such a one? I venture to hope not.”
Sen. Prescott S. Bush (R-CT) in 1963.
These remarks from the father of one president and grandfather of another, were in reference to New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller’s divorce. As the governor of a major state and a well-known name, Rockefeller was a leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 1964. While the political winds were blowing in the direction of the conservative senator from Arizona, Barry Goldwater, the eventual nominee, Rockefeller’s divorce was a major issue at the time and clearly hurt his chance for the nomination.
Rockefeller’s divorce is only one of many examples of a moral or ethical issue that had an impact on a person’s career. There were others, some of which are provided here for the contrast between where we were at one time and where we are today.
Perhaps it was a simpler era but in 1952, the Republican vice president candidate, Richard Nixon, was almost forced off the ticket for accepting funds from backers to pay his political expenses. He countered with a paid TV appearance presenting himself as an honest family man. One of the gifts was a cocker spaniel that he claimed his daughters loved and that he would not give back. The “Checkers speech” was filled with emotional references to his family and his life in general. It won him tremendous support. The Eisenhower-Nixon ticket won in a landslide a few weeks later. The speech has been cited as showing the power of TV, a relatively new medium at the time, to change the course of events when handled by experts in messaging.
There has been much written about Nixon’s use of various media but that is not what is relevant here. The take away is that the candidate and his advisors found it absolutely necessary to address a scandal, regardless of the validity of the response.
In 1958, Sherman Adams, President Dwight Eisenhower’s chief of staff, resigned after accepting a gift of a vicuna coat from someone with business with the FTC. The news stories continually mentioned the wool from which the coat was made. (For those like me who are unfamiliar with such things, vicuna is considered the most expensive of wools.) In that era, an expensive coat was a scandal.
In 1972, Thomas Eagleton was the Democratic Party’s vice presidential nominee. He was forced to drop out when it became known that he had undergone electric shock treatments. In the 1988 presidential race, Gary Hart, considered a front runner for the Democratic nomination, dropped out when it was learned that he had an extramarital affair.
These are examples of ethical issues and bad publicity that at one time were sufficient to cause people to leave their office or drop out of a race for national office. There are many other examples on the state and local level but these illustrations are here to show the contrasts between what was once unacceptable and to our current time when nothing seems to be unacceptable.
An example that bears directly on a current situation occurred in 1969. Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas resigned from the court after it was disclosed that he had accepted, but later returned, a $20,000 retainer from a Wall Street financier for unspecified legal advice. Congress was very involved in investigating his practices and this was a major story at the time.
Today, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is known to have a long relationship with a billionaire who provided money, a house for Thomas’ mother, trips on private planes and yachts, etc. These were not disclosed on financial reporting forms. Furthermore, his wife, Virginia, is a right-wing advocate associated with groups that have cases before the Court. There is no outcry in Congress. Thomas has not been called to testify at a hearing about his relationship to the billionaire, nor about his wife’s political activities. All of this is far more extensive than what drove Fortas from the Court. Yet, we hear few calls from Congress for his resignation. The solution offered is discussion of a Code of Ethics which would have no consequences for what Justice Thomas has been doing for many years.
Donald J. Trump
Even before he became president, Trump talked about where he would grab women, ridiculed a handicapped reporter, referred to Mexicans crossing the border as “rapists” who bring crime. He paid money to a porn star to keep her from revealing an affair. That is in addition to his shoddy business practices, failure to pay for services, bankruptcies, etc.
After he took office, New York State dissolved his non profit “charity,” he had to pay millions to those defrauded by “Trump University,” and he continued to make money from those staying at his hotel in DC. Then there was a series of offenses directly related to his presidency. The Mueller Report listed 10 instances of obstruction of justice that could not be prosecuted because he was a sitting president. Next he was impeached for attempting to bribe the president of Ukraine in order to obtain dirt on Joe Biden. And, most seriously, he attempted to overturn the results of the election by instigating an attack on the Capitol. While the details of January 6 resulted in a second impeachment, he was not removed from office due to a lack of a sufficient number of Republican votes.
As of this writing, Trump has been indicted on 91 felony counts. Yet, despite the four major indictments against him, plus his history before, during and after his presidency, he is a major candidate who could conceivably be reelected. Early polls show him neck and neck with President Biden.
What have we become as a nation? In the past, careers have ended due to far less than what Trump (or Thomas) have done. Today, Trump’s long record of offenses and malfeasance do not hurt him with Republicans and he still has support among the general electorate. Have we gone off the rails? A record even close to that of Trump’s would have pushed a candidate to the margins. The Eagleton and Hart situations are but two examples.
Where is the establishment in voicing outrage that Trump is out in public issuing threats and vowing revenge even while awaiting trial? When Nixon was about to be impeached for crimes related to Watergate, several Republican senators paid him a visit to tell him it was time to go. And he went. Where are the Republicans now? Two Representatives who opposed Trump lost their seats. Mitt Romney voted to convict Trump and now is not running again. Meanwhile, there is silence or support from Republican leaders. Worse, there is support among voters. We have never seen a president indicted for crimes or with such an extensive record of misusing the presidency. While all the details have been subject to volumes of writings and media reporting, the crux of the matter is that this country has lost its way.
It is an indictment of the state of our nation today that Trump could be a viable candidate for the office he has disgraced. Even putting aside for now the lack of legal barriers; can he run if convicted, does the 14th Amendment apply; the fact that he has not been cast aside on the trash heap of history is frightening. He has no respect for the law, the Constitution, history, or for anyone but himself. Following a person with no moral center, who views enemies everywhere, and without understanding and empathy, is how dictators come to power. The next year may be the most crucial in our history since the Civil War.
