That’s not to say he isn’t possibly all three. Journalists, even more than anyone else, should be very careful of using those words.
On the other hand, if I were to take to walking around naked, I doubt that anyone would pretend I was in a badly wrinkled pink suit.
The trouble is, decent and honest journalism makes what the FBI used to call “a presumption of regularity,” about those we elect to office, especially the highest of all. We assume they deserve respect,
Donald Trump does not. He has outraged our allies, given aid and comfort to our enemies, lied so often and stupidly that there is a real question as to whether he even knows what truth is.
Speaking of national security, that old rogue Richard Nixon once told David Frost, “Well, if the President does it,that means that it’s not illegal.” Trump appears to believe that if the President says it, it’s not a lie. Every President in my lifetime has told a few whoppers, even Jimmy Carter. Trump lies even when the truth is widely known, or sometimes even when the truth would be easier and better for him.
That is annoying, but that’s not what we should be most afraid of. He is, of course, shredding our relations with the rest of the world, destroying respect for our nation, and making himself a laughingstock across the planet. “Your president is better than David Letterman,” a baker in the tiny town of Digby, Nova Scotia, told me last month, adding, in a Scottish accent. “except he isn’t very funny.”
No, he’s not. I grew up during the Cold War, fascinated by espionage fiction, some of which involved the Russians somehow brainwashing or otherwise controlling the White House, like Ted Allbeury’s brilliant The Man with the President’s Mind.
Usually, these novels involved a figure of towering evil either selling our country out, or being replaced by a Soviet clone.
What nobody ever imagined was that we’d have a President who would stand smirking next to a powerful, sinister Russian dictator, and support the word of Vladimir Putin over that of our own intelligence agencies, including the FBI and CIA, who have told him all along that Russian hackers had tried to interfere with our election.
“They said they think it’s Russia. I have President Putin; he just said it’s not Russia. I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be,” the clown said, selling out our own country’s finest services.
That was July 16. The next day, lying more clumsily than a first-grader caught raiding the cookie jar, he said he meant to say, “I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be,” rather than what he really said.
By nightfall, however, he appeared to be on the verge of taking back his takeback, tweeting that his meeting with Darth Putin “was a great success, except in the Fake News Media!”
John Adams, we have a problem.
Adams, the first President ever to move into the White House, promptly wrote to his wife Abigail, “May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof,” words that Franklin D. Roosevelt had carved over the fireplace in the State Dining Room.
Not all the presidents came close to living up to Adams’ standard. None were perfect; some fell considerably short. Franklin Pierce was a melancholy drunk; James Buchanan was a weakling who did nothing to stop Southern States from seceding and the country falling apart. Warren Harding was “not a bad man, but a slob,” as H.L. Mencken sagely observed.
But all of them would have at least pretended that they were being honest and wise, all of them until now. Historians traditionally make lists of presidents, ranking them from first to worst.
Usually George Washington and Abraham Lincoln top the lists. Buchanan, Pierce, Harding and sometimes Nixon are at the bottom.
Donald Trump, however, doesn’t belong on any such list, not just because his policies are so bad, but because he has utterly no respect or understanding of the Presidency.
Most alarming, he doesn’t appear to have the faintest idea that the Presidency (or anything else) is bigger than himself. Our leader has to be both head of government and head of state.
I have no idea how long it will take to erase the stain he has left on the office, to repair our relations with other nations, or to repair the damage his administration has done to so many agencies.
Lydia Bates, a young mental health activist, asked me after a speech last year where and how this will all end.
“If we are lucky,” I told her, “we will survive, and in half a century your grandchildren will ask what the hell we were thinking.”
What bothers me sometimes is thinking about those laminated charts with little pictures of all the presidents children sometimes use as place mats. Historical accuracy is important, but I wouldn’t mind if they just skipped over these years.
We can explain when they are older.
***
Bill Schuette Watch: Never mind that ground has been broken for the new Gordie Howe International Bridge: Matty Moroun, the 91-year-old troll who owns the Ambassador Bridge, will keep fighting as long as there’s one more yard of concrete to pour.
And last December, one of his many businesses gave $250,000 to a SuperPac designed to elect Bill Schuette governor.
Does Matty know something we don’t?
Meanwhile, Bill Schuette, still Michigan’s attorney general, ruled on July 20 that the Michigan Civil Rights Commission’s decision to start investigating complaints of discrimination against gay and transgendered people was wrong, and that they had no protection.
Think about that, and remember to vote Aug. 7.
***
A Personal Note: As many of you know, I was accused, initially on a tabloid website, of inappropriate behavior at Wayne State University, and soon came to feel that I could no longer be effective there and decided to resign. I am sincerely sorry if I offended anyone; I never meant to, and many — most — of the allegations were completely false. I do know that I helped many people, women and men launch their careers, and will always be happy about that.
My reputation has been shredded, and that has plainly made some people gleeful, but I do not intend to wallow in this. Instead, I intend to do the best I can to continue to do good and useful work in other arenas, and to get on with my life. Elizabeth, the woman who knows me best of all, has, through her incredible love, wisdom and support, made that life happier than it has ever been.
I want to thank the many people who have been unbelievably supportive throughout this ordeal; you know who you are, and we will never forget you. Sincerest thanks, with all my heart.
