We have a lot going for us right now. We have
one of the best economies ever, unemployment is the lowest that most people can
remember, innovations are coming out of the tech-valleys faster than we know
how to use them. Things are going along pretty well. If I were President, I
would run for re-election with a slogan like “It’s the economy, stupid.” So
far, none of the 23 candidates for the Democratic nomination for president has
come up with an economic measure that would win the day.
Instead, we are inundated with tweets and sound
bites designed, intentionally, to divide the nation along racial lines, along
religious lines, and along educational lines. We are and have been for two
years, inundated with “no Russia, no collusion, full exoneration, witch hunt,
hoax,” none of which is true. In the new norm, it isn’t enough, yet.
In March, the Department of Justice (DOJ)
published the report of the two-year Special Counsel investigation. Last week, congressional
committees dragged the Special Counsel, Robert Mueller, to testify about what
was already in the report. The hearings confirmed the report: Russia did try to
interfere with our 2016 elections and several people were indicted. There was
not sufficient evidence to convict members of the Trump campaign with
conspiracy with the Russians. There was overwhelming evidence of obstruction of
justice by White House operatives, campaign officials, and the President, who would
have been indicted but for a DOJ rule that forbids indictment of a sitting
President. Mueller testified that the President could be indicted when he
leaves office. Immediately after the hearing, the President tweeted that there
was no collusion and no obstruction. Enough isn’t enough yet.
Last week, in Congressional hearings about the
crisis at the southern border Chairman Elijah Cummings criticized the leadership
of the Border Patrol and HHS for the way they are caring for people in their
custody. Then the tweets started: “Cumming’s District is a disgusting, rat and
rodent-infested mess. If he spent more time in Baltimore, maybe he could help
clean up this very dangerous and filthy place.” (Send him back?) “No human
being would want to live there.” That was the start of the war of words. Today,
he called Cummings the racist. Enough isn’t enough yet.
A few weeks ago, the President told four
liberal members of Congress they should return to the countries from which they
came didn’t like everything about America. Three of the four were born in The US and all elected by their constituents. At a rally in Greenville, chants of
“send her back” filled the arena where the President was holding a rally.
Send-them-back is a rallying cry of the segregationist back the 1950s and
1960s. When he was accused of tolerating one of the most racist events in
recent history, he tweeted that the four members of Congress were the real
racists. Most of Trump's attacks are against people of color or immigrants.
Enough isn’t enough yet.
There was a time when political opponents went
after each other over policy issues. Classic stories abound in the history of
Washington about political enemies by day and card-playing scotch drinkers by
night. It was about policy, not personality.
Today, the daily tweets from the President take
up the news cycle, and policy takes a back seat. We need a vigorous debate about
issues. The Russians continue to infiltrate our election process, they are into
our electric grid, our infrastructure is crumbling, our debt is at an all-time high,
and growing, healthcare processes and costs are burdensome. Those issues should
fill our evening news programs and our newspapers. Slanderous tweets from an
impolite president should not be the stuff of daily discussion. We should
expect our White House and the West Wing leaders to exhibit a bit of class, to
show that we are a sophisticated nation with serious concerns for world peace,
strong alliances aimed at keeping that peace, educated deliberations about
issues, encouraging job formation, and concern for the well-being of fellow
citizens.
If we support the verbal and written tearing
down of people who differ in their views, support the ill-advised degradation
of people, and the racist's taunts, we are complicit. We are and should be
better than that.
Enough is enough, but I suspect it isn’t.
