I recently read an article about an accusation of rape against Trump in the Epstein files.
In the comments section, one reader said, “Does anyone really care what happens in the politicians of this country’s personal life – maybe we should worry more about when our taxes are going to decrease especially on senior citizens.”
To directly answer this reader’s question, I’d say, yes there are plenty of people who care what happens in politicians’ personal lives, who don’t place tax reductions over personal actions. But that is a very simplistic answer to a very complex question.
How many presidents have been accused of what might be considered non-presidential behavior?
Just about every president in my lifetime has had questions raised about their personal lives. Of course, we had Richard Nixon who famously stated he was not a crook, though that was more than debatable. Still, his actions weren’t what one might consider his “personal” life.
So, let’s look at some recent presidents’ personal behavior. John F Kennedy, Bill Clinton, Lyndon Johnson all had extramarital affairs. George W. Bush was maligned for his frat boy days. Even Jimmy Carter was taken to task for lusting women in his heart.
We are all human. To expect that our presidents are going to be perfect people is not realistic. If they can’t be perfect, then what can we expect?
I mentioned several presidents whose sex lives were less than exemplary. Is that something we, as a citizenry, should be concerned about? Should we disqualify candidates because they were not faithful to their spouses?
For me, that is a tough one. Morally, I think cheating is wrong. We make promises to be true. The damage caused by infidelity is considerable.
No amount of moral preaching, though, is going to stop people from having sex with people they shouldn’t be having sex with. Just because it is so common doesn’t make it right or acceptable. But that is still the reality.
For me, this flaw would not necessarily be disqualifying. But it would be concerning and require a lot of additional information. Was it a one-time mistake? Is there a pattern of infidelity? The dealbreaker, without a doubt though, is the question of consent.
This is where I take the reader mentioned above to task. Yes, what politicians do in their personal lives matters because it is a representation of their character and character does matter. Character shapes peoples’ actions, how they interact with others, their willingness to take responsibility for their actions, and so much more.
As I said, we are all human. However, it is the types of imperfections and the degree of the imperfections we should be concerned about.
Revisiting the presidents mentioned above, in my opinion, Nixon was clearly not presidential material. I could live with the flaws of Kennedy, Johnson, Bush, Carter. For me, the question of consent looms over Clinton to the point where, if true, would make him unfit for the office of president.
But none of the above are president anymore. Trump is. And there seems to be a shocking number of flaws (in addition to infidelities) that should have made us think that, of the hundreds of millions of US citizens, there must be at least one who is better suited to holding the highest office in the United States. Here are just a few of these perceived flaws:
- Enriching himself by stiffing small business and workers and more
- Dismissing or belittling violence against women
- Bragging about being able to sexually abuse women
- Numerous accusations of sexual misconduct
- Sexually abusing women
- Being a convicted felon (“falsifying New York business records in order to conceal his illegal scheme to corrupt the 2016 election”)
- His history of racism
- At the time he was running for president, there were four criminal cases pending against him.
If you want more examples, check out this New York Times article with the subheading “No major party presidential candidate, much less president, in American history has been accused of wrongdoing so many times. “
All of which leads me to wonder, if all of this – sexual assault, fraud, racism, cheating, etc. – was not enough to stop millions of people from voting for him, what would – what is their rock bottom?
As I said in my “Mr. Excess” post, there are countless people who have hit their rock bottom. A little late in my view, but at least they got there.
There are millions more, though, who haven’t. For these folks, tell me, what is your rock bottom? Or is there simply no bottom? Is there nothing this man can do that would shake your support?