Most of us learned early in our lives that pointing out the misdeeds of others wasn’t going to persuade our parents to forgive our own misbehaviors. Evidently, a lot of political actors either never learned that lesson or have forgotten it, because one of the favored arguments of today’s partisans are accusations of false equivalence.
As Frank Bruni recently noted in an essay for The New York Times, those claims tend to claim a symmetry that doesn’t exist.
They’re equivalences not merely false but fantastical. They ignore the severity, the prevalence, the consequences of the misconduct in question. Imagine defending a suitor who’s a serial arsonist because the other guy has a jaywalking citation; both bachelors are lawbreakers, after all. That’s the perverse moral arithmetic of more than a few Trump apologists.
Bruni notes the dishonesty of claims that Trump is no worse than Biden–claims that send me up the wall. Biden was an institutionalist; his longstanding public service had given him a respect for the norms of American governance, the independence of the Department of Justice and the authority of the co-equal branches of our government. And the fact that Biden surrounded himself with highly competent officials meant that when he suffered the ravages of age, the country wasn’t plunged into chaos; the clown car that is the Trump administration has no ability to temper the damage done daily by Trump’s ignorance and increasingly obvious dementia.
As Bruni points out, nothing that occurred during the Biden administration is even remotely analogous to Trump’s purge of Justice Department lawyers who have been unwilling to pursue his improper thirst for vengeance–his insistence that lawsuits be brought against those who crossed him despite the lack of evidence of any wrongdoing.
The Trump supporters who swallowed the Big Lie that the 2020 election was “rigged” argue that partisanship, rather than wrongdoing, motivated the legal cases against him. As Bruni writes,
To accept that magical thinking, you must erase the photographs of classified documents keeping company with a commode at Mar-a-Lago. You must delete the recording of Trump telling Brad Raffensperger, the top election official in Georgia, to figure out some way to reverse Biden’s victory there in 2020. And you must persuade yourself that Trump’s emphatic proclamations that the 2020 election was being stolen, his haranguing of former Vice President Mike Pence not to certify the election results and his support of Big Lie conspiracy theorists were just politics as usual. That’s a sequence of moral calisthenics so arduous they burn more calories than an hour at CrossFit.
Bruni offers many other examples; he focuses especially on the “relentless, boundless and unabashed Trump’s monetization and merchandising of his political station.” It’s worth clicking through and reading the entire, sorry story.
The wrongheadedness of these efforts to draw false and phony equivalences is part of the larger effort to normalize behavior that is abhorrent, criminal and decided uncivil. The truth of the matter is that, in the history of this country, there has never been a President or an administration remotely like this one. (“Tricky Dick” Nixon was, indeed, a crook–but at least he had a sense of propriety that motivated him to pretend that he wasn’t.)
The offenses that Bruni focuses on, and the many–many–others that we read about daily, are unprecedented. Much of what this administration is doing is blatantly criminal. But allow me to indulge in my own version of a false equivalence by suggesting that Trump’s crass and boorish language and behavior–his utter lack of any civility–may be equally damaging to the body politic.
No former President has used the sort of demeaning language that Trump routinely employs; no former public servant would have survived an episode in which he called a reporter “piggy.” It isn’t simply the looney, misspelled and ungrammatical tweets–it’s the utter lack of propriety and respect, what we used to call (dismissively, to be sure) “political correctness” that is taking America into a gutter of animus and our public discourse to the level of a third-grade playground.
Granted, the loss of civility isn’t killing people– RFK, Jr., the DOGE cuts, and the Big Beautiful Bill are doing that. But the decline of civility isn’t a small matter; it’s an invitation to barbarism, to attitudes and behaviors inconsistent with a civilized society.
When we finally eject this abominable administration and begin the necessary legal and policy remedies, we also need to insist that our elected officials demonstrate the civility required by a democratic polity. (Good grammar would be a plus…)
Elect an obviously unfit, spoiled, petulant child to be President and you should expect childish, spoiled, petulant behavior. I look forward to the Nuremberg style trials we must hold for the members of this mal-administration. Trials we should have held after trumps last disastrous, self serving term.
The whataboutism of the right wing acolytes is often comical … besides being pathetic. These poor, thoughtless people turn themselves into pretzels rather than simply address the truth and the facts. Surfing right-wing extremist websites is NOT a search for truth. It’s a search for confirmation bias.
Taken to an extreme, confirmation bias becomes a neurosis all its own.
Nixon also had enough morali scruples to try to hide his crimes.
This is from Heather Cox Richardson newsletter today:
CNN’s Erin Burnett recently interviewed chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase Jamie Dimon. His answer to her questions as to why his company has not contributed to Trump’s proposed ballroom suggested he is anticipating a change in administration. “We have an issue,” he answered, “which is anything we do, since we do a lot of contracts with governments here and around the world, we have to be very careful how anything is perceived, and also how the next D[epartment] O[f] J[ustice] is going to deal with it. So we’re quite conscious of risks we bear by doing anything that looks like…buying favors….”
MAGA isn’t a political party, even though they’ve taken over the GOP. The definition of “cult of personality” nails the Trump administration from top to bottom. Arguing with these people is a waste of time. The Stoics strongly advised avoiding arguing with these people because they will NEVER change their minds.
Who commits an illegal act of blowing up “drug trafficking boats” with no evidence, while pardoning a drug trafficker who got caught smuggling tons of cocaine into the US? What at first defies logic is Trump’s way to influence today’s election in Honduras. The oligarchy wants the natural resources that will be extracted if a right-wing president is elected.
Trump did the same thing in Argentina and in Venezuela. He did the same thing with SCOTUS. He tried to do the same thing in New York City.
The CIA has been doing this for decades covertly, but because Trump is ignorant and a wannabe dictator (a really BAD combination), he does so via social media or executive order.
Meanwhile, the elite media tries to outdo themselves in mocking Trump or coming up with eloquent explanations for why this is happening.
To me, Comedy Central and South Park are doing a better job of communicating to the masses than our lame media. I love the interviews with Trump supporters!!
I wrote State Senator Greg Walker (R) to thank him for his integrity, courage and leadership to take a stand in defiance of The President’s blatant attempt to push remapping of the Indiana electoral.
I, too, sent a note of thanks to Sen. Walker. He shows that there are still politicians in this state with moral and ethical, to say nothing of law-abiding standards of practice.
The kind of lawlessness and mob boss tactics that continue daily have become normalized because there are too many sociopaths in politics today, mostly due to Citizens United and a corrupt SCOTUS.
Impeachment would be the least dire consequence. Because the U.S. is not a member of the ICC, the war crimes likely would never be tried. If he is still alive and not descended into complete dementia, he would likely be unable to understand and participate in his own defense. No prosecutor worth his law degree would bring charges unless as performative action.
That being said, those that carry out criminal actions directed by a President with full immunity are not protected from legal accountability. However, as Sen. Walker, so eloquently stated, there may be no one in this administration’s DOJ who would do anything to bring charges for violation of law.
If or until we, the people, throw the bums out, it will get worse as he and his handlers get more cornered and panicked. Mid-terms, if they are free and fair, and that is a big if right now, will be critical to our survival as a democratic republic. Our status as a world leader will likely never return. First things, first. RESIST.
Biden made 140 billionaires in one year, while handing them money to build stuff. the money made wages pliable, but still, he suported wall street over maon street, but a cool guy before 911…
JACK S,
PLEASE explain how BIDEN MADE 140 billionaires in one year?
Thank you Sheila for today’s sharing. And for holding firm, overtime, to helping so many others to have more in depth understanding of the insanity we are living under.
Since I am in no position to have a true impact upon any policy maker or legal enforcer, my time and energy is being spent in supporting others who are on the front lines rather than sharing words about what I think is incomprehensible (to my beliefs and luved experience).
I hope everyone had some moments of peace over the Thanks Giving Holidays.
It’s a false equivalency to compare the Biden and Obama era’s tolerance of ALL peaceful political and social viewpoints to MAGA’s intolerance of all but its own narrow views. Democrats have not tried to eliminate conservatives, just give breathing space for minority sectors of society, and safe living space for everybody.
Allowing abortion for those who accept it and ALSO allowing those who don’t accept it to go to term with their pregnancies is tolerance, not persecution of the Right.
We are in a struggle between open minds and closed minds… between a diverse society and a fascist one… between a peaceful live-&-let-live social fabric and a you-must-do-it-MY-way-or-else approach.
How this can be “fixed” after Trump’s term ends is a huge question. It may take a generation or more to undo the cultural damage. And by then, will China have become the dominant political force on the planet? Its quite likely.
But her emails!
No former president has been a Trump, except Trump! Do not look for reasonableness in his words or deeds.