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Trump Is Despicable, Yes, And He Is Hardly Alone [1]

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Date: 2023-04-04  

Another first for Donald Trump!

The echolalic news media and sycophantic Republicans are marveling at the indictment of twice impeached ex-president Donald Trump, uttering the tiresome refrain that a chief executive of the United States has never before been officially charged with a crime. The criminal charges are really not so surprising, especially considering Trump’s frequent flagrant legal violations and consistent disregard for decorum in public as well as private settings.

What is truly bewildering is that in the nearly two and one-half centuries of American history no previous president has ever been indicted, despite the many scoundrels who have held the office. This cast includes men such as: Grover Cleveland who before his candidacy fathered a child out of wedlock after allegedly forcing himself on the mother to-be then arranged to have her temporarily institutionalized; Warren G. Harding who supervised a Cabinet rife with scandals, one of which enriched an associate to the tune of $200 million (a lot of money even by today’s standards), who also carried on illicit dalliances with at least seven mistresses one of whom received a payment of $50,000 by the National Republican Committee to suppress news of the affair (rings familiar doesn’t it?); Richard M. Nixon, of course, who almost certainly would have been charged with attempted bribery and obstruction of justice (among other felonious acts) if not for Gerald Ford’s ill-conceived pardon (itself an ethical, if not legal, lapse); Ronald Reagan who essentially oversaw a gun-running scheme by allowing members of his National Security Council to sell weapons to Iran in exchange for the release of hostages then funneled the proceeds to a revolutionary group in South America directly defying amendments to federal law passed in 1982 (one of the primary felons, Caspar W. Weinberger, was pardoned by George Herbert Walker Bush in yet another act of forgiveness that varnished over accountability); and William Jefferson Clinton who has been credibly accused of at least 12 instances of sexual impropriety, some of which were non-consensual, not including fellatio with a stary-eyed White House intern, 27 years his junior – an extended liaison that he subsequently tried to hide by perjuring himself.

That litany does not include the infringements on international law or crimes against humanity carried out by numerous presidents from the mid-twentieth century to the present: the illegal internment of Japanese Americans; the firebombing of Dresden; mass murder through the atomic bomb (twice!); whole scale incineration of Vietnamese agricultural villages with flames of jelly designed to stick to burning skin; the invasion of two sovereign nations (Panama and Iraq) under false pretenses; or the denial of due process for so-called “enemy combatants” during the presidency of George W. Bush with the justification for torture by the same administration. Nor, for that matter, does it account for the nonchalant inhumanity of every single head of state from George Washington through Andrew Johnson by intentionally violating numerous treaties – 15 or more – with Native American nations resulting, ultimately, in the near extermination of an entire continent’s indigenous population and, for all practical purposes, the devastation of scores of ancient cultures.

Instead of expressing incredulity, we should all be saying, “Finally.”

Instead of treating it as an anomaly, Trump’s prosecution should herald a resurgent era wherein diabolical public servants are constantly questioned about their actions and when they go far afield of acceptable standards of conduct, they are turned out of office, recalled, or – yes – impeached. No person who wishes to hold, or holds, or has held elected office should be allowed to ignore the law or civilized norms that most citizens try to honor. And at the risk of offending the lackadaisical rationalists of these times, who have long since substituted cliches and excuses for judgement, contrary to the continued application of situational ethics, personal actions do reflect social values because the former predicates the later and behavior reflects internalized priorities. Commitments are commitments, with your spouse, lover, children, and acquaintances just as much as with constituents. The purveyors of the first draft of history and smug politicians in both parties need to resolve to stay alert and hold themselves and others accountable for standards of conduct that are consistent with integrity, regardless of the studious wielding of facsimiles of moral shields.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/story/2023/4/4/2162094/-Trump-Is-Despicable-Yes-And-He-Is-Hardly-Alone

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