Michael Lawson
Trump supporters generally say they don't care what sort of a person Trump is, and many readily admit he's not a good person. Have people ever had that attitude in regard to a president before? That character, honesty, integrity, don't matter at all?
I am 70 years old, and I have always followed politics closely. The first presidential election that I actually followed closely and understood the issues was LBJ vs Barry Goldwater in 1964. (I had watched the Kennedy/Nixon debates, and was somewhat aware of the 1960 election, but was too young to really understand the issues. I also have memories of watching some of the 1956 Republican Convention, but was only 6 years old, and just knew that it was a presidential election, but that’s it.) I was a freshman in HS in 1964, and taking a Civics class. We had great discussions about the election, led by a brilliant teacher. An election year is a great opportunity for a civics teacher. He may be responsible for my life long love of politics. Leading up to 1964 the heir apparent to the Republican nomination was Nelson Rockefeller, the governor of New York. He was something that is extinct today, a liberal Republican. He was so popular that everyone thought that he was a shoe-in for the nomination. Then he did something that shocked the nation. He and his wife got a divorce, and then he remarried. That was widely condemned as immoral. The Republicans dropped him like a hot potato. Character was a big deal back then, and he failed the test. Phyllis Schlafly, of ERA fame, wrote a scathing editorial about him “throwing away a perfectly good wife.” fast forward 16 years, and that was not an issue for the divorced Ronald Reagan. Fast forward 12 years, and Bill Clinton is plagued by charges of infidelity and sexual harassment. It’s a factor in the election, but not big enough to sink his campaign.
Now we have Trump. His lack of morals is too exhaustive to list is a single page. They would fill a book. Married three times, cheated on every wife. Makes creepy sexual references to his own daughter, even when she was a pre-teen. [ Especially when she was a pre-teen. ] Recorded on tape admitting to sexual assault. Paid off porn actress and playboy model to keep quiet about their affairs. Credible accusations of rape and sexual assault made against him by at least 30 women. Openly brags about ogling teen girls in their dressing room. Cozy relationship with pedophile sex traffickers. Then there is all the other stuff, lies constantly, openly flaunts the emoluments clause to enrich himself, the whole Russian thing, the list goes on and on. No, we’ve come to a place in this nation where partisanship is far more important than character.
I have seen a lot of presidential firsts in my lifetime. Most have been good. First Catholic president (JFK), first divorced president (Reagan), and the big one, first African American president. Oh, and the first Southern president since Andrew Johnson (Carter). Being a native of the deep south, that one was special to me.
But now we have the first president that is openly vile, predatory, totally self centered, viciously vindictive and lacking in any morals. That is not a good first. |
