286 - What's at Stake? Fundamental Honesty and Decency

A Question of Character

            A leading New York Times’ conservative opinion columnist wrote last week about the "two biggest issues in the election”  -- “protecting American democracy and stopping Russian aggression.” He planned to vote for Democratic nominee Kamala Harris because she was on the right side of both of those momentous, absolutely change making, concerns. 

Her foul-mouthed opponent proclaims himself a buddy of Putin and, over and over, demonstrates antipathies toward the rule of law, open voting, deliberative and representative democracy, and the separation of powers. He lies outrageously, without any shame. He is intolerant to a fault, a bully, a racist, sexist, and a misogynist. He might very well capitulate to Putin over Ukraine and condone illiberal autocrats like Viktor Orban. He is obsessed with Harris’ blackness. And he is a repeated felon.

CNN documented twenty outright lies declaimed in Trump’s press conference last week, most echoing his dishonest utterances during his softball interview by Elon Musk.

         Trump’s character flaws should really be enough to make the coming electoral choice an absolute no-brainer. But there are potential voters out there who still cling to the notion that Trump and Vance will “save” white supremacy, uphold macho male values (whatever they are), and keep America tough -- whatever that might mean.   (The U.S. is in fact as a world kinetic power still very strong, with stunning soft power attributes that absolutely no other nation can match. What pockets of weakness there are can plausibly be attributable to Trump. Everything that misguided, badly motivated, felon did during his presidency contributed to perceived weakness – cancelling the nuclear deal with Iran, name-calling worthy African and Middle Eastern nations, antagonizing Muslims, deriding allies in Europe and beyond, trying to shred NATO, and more.)

         These are important discriminating features. But the two presidential candidates are also separated by a host of other fault lines of character:

         Trust:  Accomplished leaders build trust.  They bond with their followers. They listen as well as exhort. They instruct.  They counsel their followers to do better, as Nelson Mandela often did. They, especially the most accomplished leaders, guide their followers toward a higher plane. They profess ideals and propel their followers to aspire toward transcendent achievements. President Franklin Roosevelt was gifted in doing so over the radio. His fireside chats urged all Americans to greatness. He supremely united, not divided.

         Barack Obama had that ability to inspire. Harris is capable, too, of reaching for the stars and enabling Americans to join her. But her orange-faced opponent more and more seeks ways to reinforce hateful biases ---"immigrants are taking your jobs,” he says incorrectly. Even more despicably, his campaign ads display before and after photographs of a (before) quiet suburban street and one (the after) full of black people running wild in a chaotic looking urban setting.        

According to ABC News, which shows the despicable full advertisement, “The image on the left, captioned ‘Your neighborhood under Trump,’ shows a nice, clean town home with the American flag hanging. There are no people in the photo. The image on the right, captioned ‘Your neighborhood under Kamala,’ shows a cropped version of a Getty Images photo of migrants in New York City in August 2023. The photo mostly features people of color. The Getty Images caption describes the people in the photo as recent migrants… camping outside of the Roosevelt Hotel, which had been made into a reception center for migrants.”

Repeatedly, Trump employs disparaging rhetoric to describe undocumented immigrants, claiming that they are criminals and mental health patients and often describing them with racially charged language, calling them "animals" or saying they are "poisoning the blood of our country." Invariably, research shows that immigrants are rarely criminals and that crime rates nationally are down, not up.

         Trump learned years ago to tear opponents down snidely, and to employ slighting language to unnerve them. With outright lies, mere falsehoods, exaggerated commentaries, and a skilled playing to the fears and prejudices of his audiences, Trump in 2016 managed to surprise himself and pollsters by winning more electoral college votes than Hillary Clinton.  She nevertheless won the popular vote.

         Trump bludgeons, and crudely.  Harris, however, knows that carrots work better than sticks, and practices well the arts of persuasion.  

         Integrity and Honesty: These United States were created both to rid the rebellious colonies of a monarch, with hegemonic oversight, and to embrace ideals. Harris is a progeny of parents from distinctive political cultures, skin colors, academic traditions, and bundles of energy. She is straightforward on the hustings. The other candidate daily spews lies and falsehoods. He lies about himself, about the size of his crowds, about his future policy stances, about helicopter rides, about anything and everything.  Media factchecks sometimes display his falsehoods. But it is a full-time industry to combat his purposeful and wild sowing of what amounts to insipid Russian propaganda.

         Fundamental Decency: Sen. Elizabeth Warren sums up how the two candidates differ by recalling how each reacted to the massive mortgage meltdown of 2008-2009: “Trump saw the crash as an opportunity to make money for himself [and said so, repeatedly]….Harris saw that same crash as an opportunity to…fight for families who had been mistreated.”  As California’s attorney general, she obtained a $20 billion settlement from bank lenders, some of whom had used predatory practices, to assist homeowners harmed by sharp lending behaviors.

He calls her “a radical California liberal who broke the economy, broke the border, and broke the world.” Before it was enunciated, he said that her “economic plan” (which he had not seen) would lead to “food shortages, rationing and hunger” --- all suppositions  issued as supposed fact.  He blames the Biden administration for rising energy costs, the heart of inflation. Again, all false.

         Uniting not Dividing: As the above excerpts indicate, Trump uses the identity label to sketch a future that satisfies the most base instincts of potential voters. It is racist to its core, playing skillfully on the deep-seated prejudices of his constituencies.

Cruelty: Trump is violent, playing to the macho crowd that fears emasculation or mistakenly sees its emasculation in the success of darker-skinned persons or, in any event, newcomers and people unlike themselves. One evangelical commentator says that Trump’s “cruelty is embed[ed]… deeply within one of Trump’s most loyal constituencies, conservative evangelicals. It is difficult to overstate the viciousness and intolerance of MAGA Christians against their political foes.” 

Vanity: What could be more telling than Trump saying on Saturday that Harris was beautiful looking, but that he was much, much, better looking --  that he was the fairest prince of all! 

         Hope v Despair: Trump is dystopian. He feeds constantly on fear and pessimism. Harris and prospective vice-president Tim Walz are upbeat, and full of joy.  As a Rhode Island Democratic Party leader commented, the other side is “so angry.” They “don’t like anyone.” They don’t even “like each other.”

         Let us hope that the majority of American voters come to their collective senses and vote for integrity and decency over resentment, vengeance, and immorality.