Trump on American Values

My mom and I had one of our wonderful talks the other day in which we traded observations on things we’ve been reading, the vicissitudes within our modest stock portfolios, and world politics. 
Though our conversations are extremely respectful, I can’t deny that we may occasionally lose some level of patience with one another.  Here, Mom had apparently gotten a bit tired of my blasting Trump for his “assault on our traditional American values,” and asked, “OK, Jacy (my nickname, from “J Craig”), what specifically are these values that Trump is destroying, keeping in mind that all politicians lie?”

I tried to reel off a couple in the moment, but I’ve since given that more thought, and so I present here an expanded version of what I told her at the time:

War and Peace: Let’s start by giving Trump credit where it’s due.  It’s true that Americans, like all human beings, love peace–but our government certainly doesn’t; we’re the most war-like nation on the planet.  One might say that war itself, like it or not, could rightfully be considered to be one of these “traditional American values.”  The Trump administration, especially with the appointment of National Security Advisor John Bolton as the centerpiece of international relations, has taken this naked and unprovoked aggression to all new levels.

Racial Equality: This is also tricky since one could argue that systemic racism is itself a core American value, given slavery, Jim Crow laws, lynchings, segregation, and institutional oppression of blacks that continues today, e.g., the systematic rejection of mortgage applications from African-Americans.  Fortunately, at least in the last 50 years, this disgusting aspect of American culture had been significantly reduced, or at least driven underground.  However, Trump’s condoning white supremacy has brought racial hatred back out of the closet and into the fore of our daily lives.

Having said that, there are many places where Trump’s words and actions are directly at odds with the praiseworthy standards of behavior of both the people and the leadership we’ve put in place throughout the years:

Truth.  While it may be true that all politicians lie, Trump appears to have a mental illness that actively forces him to lie.  He lies even when the truth would have been perfectly acceptable, and, arguably worse, where the lie is immediately disprovable.  For the first few months after taking office, those who track these numbers reported that Trump told, on average, five lies per day.  Currently, his daily average is somewhere around 22.

Justice: Trump’s granting a full pardon to Conrad Black, a former newspaper publisher who was convicted of fraud and obstruction, who wrote a flattering political biography of the president, brimming with praise, makes it clear that the justice system is just another tool at Trump’s disposal to enhance his image and get him what he wants.

Free Press.  Enshrined in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution is the concept that government shall not restrict freedom of the press. Banning combative reporters from access to presidential briefings, labeling the entirety of the mainstream media as “fake news” and “the enemy of the people,” and the rabid prosecution of journalist whistleblowers are blatant attacks on this institution.

Democracy.  Trump’s telling the American people, without any evidence whatsoever, that he would have won the popular vote if it weren’t for  somewhere between three- and five-million illegal voters undermines our democracy.  The same could be said about his statement in 2016, then repeating it in 2018, that he might not accept the result of the election.

Humane Treatment. Calling for the increased use of torture (in both its frequency and its intensity), the assassination of alleged terrorists’ entire families, and parent/child separations at the border are violations of human rights.

Disdain for International Law. The examples above, the support of Israel’s gross and constant violations of UN resolutions and other universally recognized laws, and the refusal to support (or even allow entrance to) the International Criminal Court show how the Trump administration flouts international law whenever doing so is seen to be to its advantage.

Support of Tyrants.  Cuddling up to the leaders of North Korea, the Philippines, Brazil, Turkey and Hungary is entirely unprecedented in U.S. history.  The most alarming example is Trump’s fondness for Russia’s Vladimir Putin, a merciless, lawless butcher and avowed enemy of the United States, a man who the totality of the U.S. intelligence community believes is actively destroying U.S. democracy and world standing (see below).

Equal Protection under Law.  The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution makes it illegal for different groups of people to receive unequal treatment under the U.S. justice system.  Starting with the executive order Trump signed on the seventh day of his presidency, the first version of his Muslim travel ban, that discriminated against Muslims and banned refugees, there has been a constant onslaught of similar attacks on dozens of different classes of people.  Approximately 150 such violations are listed here, in chronological order.

Rule of Law.  The concept that no one is above the law is the only thing that distinguishes democracies from dictatorships.  It applies in the U.S. in all cases except those where Trump wishes it to be ignored, e.g., his stiff-arming the Mueller investigation.  Attorney General William Barr told the American people, “It’s not illegal for the president to stop an illegal investigation.”  (That, sir, is ridiculous, given that this is an investigation into the illegal activity of the president himself; the president’s stopping an investigation into his own alleged criminality is precisely a statement that the president is above the law.)

Respect for the U.S. Intelligence Community: Each and every one of the 17 U.S. intelligence groups claim that Russia influenced the 2016 presidential election and is still trying to influence and disrupt the voting process in the United States. Trump continues to assert that this isn’t true, on the basis that Putin “told me he didn’t do it.”

Respect for the U.S. Military.  Trump recently pardoned a war criminal, convicted through the standard and lawful procedures established in the military justice system. On another front, his insistence on banning transgenders from the military is opposed by the leaders of the service, who referred to it as “abuse of military judgement.”

Placing a Value on Education: At Trump’s behest, Education Secretary Betsy De Vos is doing everything in her power to defund, thus destroy,  public education.

Environmental Stewardship.  Dating back at least to the late Nineteenth Century, America has enjoyed a rich tradition of treasuring its natural resources: clean air, fresh water, pristine National Forests, and so forth. Since it came to power, the Trump administration has worked diligently to roll back the environmental protections that had, until now, enabled our country to make fairly solid progress in this arena.

OK, Mom.  Here’s a bit of fodder for our next chat.  Love you!