Words matter, but that reality eludes Paul, Cruz, and many others, including Vice President Mike Pence.
After Trump's May 2017 trip to Saudi Arabia, Israel, the Vatican, Brussels, and Sicily (for the G-7 meeting), Pence celebrated victory in much the same way that George W. Bush declared "mission accomplished" in 2003, less than two months after the start of the Iraq war, a war that continues today.
Despite a lukewarm response at best to Trump's tour from the press, Pence bragged that America was back, great again, and finally respected by the world. History will record that much the opposite was true, that Trump damaged America's reputation in Europe and the Middle East. That's what the books will say, and Pence will not be there to offer an "alternative explanation."
What the books will report is that members of Pence's own party scratched their heads after Trump's trip. To many of them, his conduct was deeply at odds with the history and character of the United States. The books will show that commentators here and abroad, including world leaders, ridiculed Trump and expressed dismay about America's shrinking role on the world stage. They will cite German Chancellor Angela Merkel's lament that Europe could no longer depend on America. They will quote political commentators who observed sadly that in just 140 days Trump tore down the prestige, trust, and high regard for the U.S. that was two hundred years in the making.
And what a field day history books will have when they describe Trump's first meeting with his full cabinet on May 12, 2017. After the president bragged at some length about his administration's great accomplishments, the cabinet members took turns showering him with tribute and expressing effusive gratitude for allowing them to be part of his team and to participate in his outstanding leadership and agenda. One can only wonder what sort of pressure was exerted on them to glorify their leader in this embarrassingly unprecedented fashion. The only thing missing: each bowing to kiss the Don's ring.
Will Trump and his army of sycophants wake up and change course? Or will history remember them as the quintessential political buffoons of the twenty-first century?
We don't yet know the answer. But we do know that Donald Trump himself may be a lost cause, since he shows no respect for facts, is uninformed on almost all issues, and displays an arrogant lack of interest in learning anything. The mere suggestion that he seek knowledge apparently threatens his grandiosity. If you know it all, why waste your time gathering information, much less guidance, from others?
What about the sycophants who continue to suck up to Trump? Are they so attached to the appearance of power that Trump bestows on them that they are loath to tell the truth? Despite ongoing chaos and near daily shakeups--as well as the deluge of leaks--in the Administration and Congress, many of Trump's loyalists seem reluctant to risk rejection from the power circle for telling the truth, no matter the cost to our nation, the world, or their own legacies.
With the Trump administration possibly crumbling, as investigations of the President and staff members escalate, others who have performed admirably before their association with the Trump presidency may still have a brief window of time to preserve the way they are remembered. To do so, they will have to reclaim the moral cores they abandoned and then take bold action. It would also be wise for them to meditate on the words of LBJ to Everett Dirksen: "You have to decide how you want history to remember you." And the fate of former President Richard Nixon should remind them that "All the President's Men [and Women]" are subject to the judgement of the law and history.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
1
1
