I’ve talked to many [Republicans], as I know you have, and asked them, “Why are you silent?  You know this is wrong.  You know that you should speak out.  You know what he is doing to the military.”  And the answer I almost always get is, “If I do, I will lose any possibility of being an effective legislator.  They’ll come after me.”

David Ignatius, September 11, 2020

Ignatius, an associate editor of the Washington Post, was responding to Joe Scarborough’s own frustration with the Republican Party, for which unconditional support for the military had been a third rail since the “Hard Hat Riot of 1970.”  [See Scarborough’s op-ed in this morning’s Post, “Trump is destroying the Republican Party.  Why won’t any of his peers speak up?”]

As is so often the case in politics, efforts to explain or excuse behavior often pale in comparison to the original offense.  Let me translate their response into plain English.

• “I will lose any possibility of being an effective legislator,” sounds a lot like Governor William J. Le Petomane (Mel Brooks) in Blazing Saddles, “We’ve got to protect our phony baloney jobs, gentlemen!”
• “They’ll come after me,” evokes Mark Twain, “The human race is a race of cowards; and I am not only marching in that procession but carrying a banner.”

And as is also true, the explanations raise more questions than they answer. What do Lindsay Graham, Ted Cruz, Susan Collins, etc., etc., etc., believe constitutes being “an effective legislator?”  And who are the “they” who are coming after you?

But what I find most damning is the sheer lack of curiosity.  Republican senators and representatives are back in “Trump Impeachment” defense mode.  “I didn’t have time to read The Atlantic article.”  “It relies on anonymous sources.”  As though they would have a change of heart if John Kelly or James Mattis stepped before microphones and quoted Lili von Shtrupp (Madeline Kahn), “It’s twue! It’s twue.”  [I apologize for all the Blazing Saddles references.]

I do not understand why individuals with first-hand knowledge of Trump’s lack of respect for military personnel, past and present, alive and dead will not publicly come forward, either way.  If Jeffrey Goldberg misquoted Trump or misrepresented his behavior, those in attendance need to correct the record.  But if their silence is implied confirmation, it is not enough, as it leaves the door open for deniers to question the accounts.

However, if I am Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton, a decorated veteran and member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, would I not be interested in the truth?  Cotton has a professional or personal relationship with each one of the military leaders whom Goldberg identifies as having been in the room (or the cemetery).  How hard would it be to call them and ask, “I understand your allegiance to the armed forces code of honor and the chain of command, so I know it might be tough for you to go public about the Atlantic article.  But I need to know the truth.  So between the two of us, is it true?”

Why doesn’t Tom Cotton make that call?  Because he already knows the answer. So he seeks a deferment from his oath of office.  He needs a letter from a doctor, similar to the one Fred Trump secured for his son, that states he would serve his country but for the bone spurs (even if he could remember on which foot they were) which are too painful to allow him to be of use as soldier in the pursuit of the truth.  And, he is not alone, he has 52 comrades-in-arms in the Senate and many more in the House.

Sadly, there will be no treatment or “warp speed” vaccine on November 1st for this pandemic for which the symptoms are silence and complicity.   It will not go away until the root cause, cowardice and lack of character, are addressed head on.

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP

One of the most important, yet painful, responsibilities for any professor is the identification and prosecution of instances of academic misconduct by a student.  During my nine year tenure at Miami University, I felt it necessary to take action in seven instances, realizing a student’s reputation and future career prospects were at stake.  It was a responsibility not taken lightly.

What bothered me as much as the students’ behavior was being questioned by colleagues about the time and effort required to judiciously prosecute a charge.  Or, in one specific case, where a dean asked, “Is this really worth it?” in a situation involving the offspring of a prominent alumnus and donor.  My response?  If a student believes he or she can get away with the little things, we might as well start reserving the jail cell next to Bernie Madoff.  One of my colleagues, a professor of business ethics, always explained it this way to his students.  Honesty and integrity is a skill which becomes second nature when you develop muscle memory where every decision is an opportunity to self-reinforce one’s training.

I was reminded of this by a September 5 article on CNN.COM about Donald Trump’s denial of reports about his 2018 decision not to visit a French World War I cemetery.  In his own defense, Trump claimed he “…called home, I spoke to my wife and I said ‘I hate this. I came here to go to that ceremony.’ And to the one that was the following day which I did go to. I said I feel terribly. And that was the end of it.”

However, as CNN points out, “Melania Trump was on the same trip with the President and was scheduled to attend the cemetery visit. She was not in the US.”  CNN’s account is confirmed by a press release issued by Melania Trump’s own press office, “Due to inclement weather, the First Lady and President were unable to visit the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery and Memorial in Belleau, France.”

In other words, muscle memory works both ways.  Trump’s big lies are well documented.

• He had solid evidence Barack Obama was not born in the United States.  NOT
• He did not pay hush money to Stormy Daniels.  NOT
• He was not pursuing Trump Tower Moscow during the 2016 election.  NOT
• He has created the best U.S. economy in history.  NOT
• The Chinese are paying for his tariffs.  NOT
• He is protecting health care for people with pre-existing conditions.  NOT
• He has build 300 miles of new wall on the Mexican border.  NOT
• Under his leadership, America leads the world in its response to COVID-19.  NOT NOT NOT

However, we now recognize that someone who makes a habit of telling major falsehoods becomes so conditioned to the untruth it is his “go to” default position.  How hard would it have been for Trump to say, “Melania and I were preparing to leave for the cemetery when the Secret Service informed us it would be unsafe to take the helicopter.  I turned to her and said, ‘I hate this.’  Visiting the cemetery was why we came here.”  Still not true, but at least it was not immediately disprovable.

There lies the difference between my students and Donald Trump.  When I confronted a student about possible academic misconduct, my first inclination was to use the opportunity to have a conversation about situational ethics.  I would tell them I understood they were under pressure and felt they had no other course of action.  But those pressures increase, not decrease, as you go through life.  And you always have a choice.

In Trump’s case, I honesty believe he does not have that choice.  An individual who must lie about whether his wife is in the White House or the same hotel, a matter of absolutely no consequence, is more than dishonest.  It is symptomatic of a sociopath. Lies about the availability of personal protective equipment or voter fraud roll of his tongue as easily as how many times people have to flush a low-volume toilet.  And when there is no differentiation between big and little lies, the potential repercussions can be disastrous.

Just ask the almost 200,000 Americans who have died from COVID-19.

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP