By Stephen Schrichfield
We’ve come to a moral morass, and it’s been a long time coming. America has become so polarized that those who blindly support President Trump are, and have been, unable to see past his disgustingly poor moral compass. We are now a nation that allows ourselves to choose partisanship over country.
As a person who considers himself well-versed in politics, I get it. I really do. There are many ideological as well as geographical reasons why and how people vote, and this needs to be respected. Maybe I should blame those who ran in the Republican primaries for being weak candidates, or maybe I should blame the inadequate focus of the Democratic Party. Sometimes, I even want to blame lazy progressive purists or the “lesser than two evils” voters (which was nonsense — they weren’t even comparable).
The reality is Trump became president for many reasons, and this needs to be accepted. Another reality is that Trump has gotten a free pass on misogyny, Islamophobia, sexual-assault remarks, and probably 10 other things by the time this is printed, because he is the president, or more truthfully, the exclusively Republican president. Supporters and conservative lawmakers have embraced this partisan divide to the extent that they are unable to will themselves to call out Trump’s everyday disgusting behavior and remarks.
I have great respect for my nation and its government, the constitutional values, and the office of the presidency, but I have absolutely no admiration for the man currently in the Oval Office. Or maybe he’s playing golf in Florida?
What seems to have amplified this sensibility toward him is his recent suggestion that former President Barack Obama was to blame for Otto Warmbier’s treatment and late release from North Korea. No. North Korea is to blame. Kim Jong-un is to blame. You, Trump, are also to blame. Don’t forget Trump has been president for months and has spent most of his time crying over Twitter about conspiracy rants at 3 a.m. when instead he could have made rescuing Warmbier a priority. The whole situation is truly upsetting, and what made it worse is the leader of our nation turned a tragedy and time of mourning into a politicized event.
When thousands of Americans were taken as prisoners of war during the Vietnam War, not once did Presidents Johnson, Nixon, or Ford publicly blame the likes of President Kennedy or even President Eisenhower for the prisoners’ captivity. When our nation faced an attack on our soil that shook the core of our ethos, President George W. Bush stood at Ground Zero while presenting an optimistic but simple narrative. He went off script while holding a bullhorn among the rubble and claimed he heard the mourning of Americans after 9/11 and those responsible for the attacks would soon hear the force of America. Not once during this tragedy did he point fingers at previous administrations or find a reason to create a partisan battle.
We cannot allow our leader to divide us anymore. His dangerous rhetoric evolves every day. His strategy is to push the Union into a full-out partisan war while his administration slowly rolls back the progress of many great presidents before him. It’s the age-old practice of divide and conquer. Open-minded Americans must cast aside partisanship and view Trump for who he is: a sad man who is perverting the most honorable office in the land.
Elected officials and those in the leadership need to remember they have the responsibility to hold the president accountable for his actions and deeds, from his grotesque, low claims to politicizing a national tragedy. Trump should take notes from those who came before him regardless of their ideology and background. Until then, he doesn’t deserve our respect, because evidently in how his administration is governing, unless you’re a white, upper-class, probably Christian, and most likely Republican person, he doesn’t respect you.