The president, as well as the American presidency, are in full-blown crisis. For all patriots, this should be a moment of deep reflection about the person elected in 2016 to run the country. This newspaper has never felt that Donald Trump was up to the task, but we hoped after Election Day that Trump would recognize his flaws, overcome them and rise to presidential stature. That hasn’t happened.
On Nov. 10, 2016, we called for people of all political persuasions to unite behind Trump for the good of the country. “His critics must not blindly oppose him simply because they disagree with him. His supporters must not blindly applaud him even when he falls short,” we wrote. But even the willfully blind can follow the trail of courtroom documentation linking Trump to criminality and conclude that America must not continue down this path.
Two of Trump’s closest advisers — his former attorney and his former campaign chairman — were found guilty Tuesday in separate criminal trials. Trump might insist, as did Richard M. Nixon, that he’s “not a crook.” But the president cannot deny that he has surrounded himself with crooks and charlatans. He’s proven himself to be an abysmal judge of character. It’s time for American patriots to declare: Enough is enough.
Ardent Trump supporters won’t be swayed by Tuesday’s courtroom convictions of Michael Cohen and Paul Manafort. Loyalists will try diversions, asking: What about the crimes of Bill and Hillary Clinton? They will assert that President Barack Obama was just as bad, quoting Trump’s Wednesday tweet that said: “Michael Cohen plead guilty to two counts of campaign finance violations that are not a crime. President Obama had a big campaign finance violation and it was easily settled!”
Or his supporters will follow Fox News and ask: Where’s the Russia collusion? They’ll declare, as Fox anchors did, that none of Tuesday’s courtroom drama matters; a Mexican immigrant was arrested in the killing a 20-year-old college student who had disappeared in Iowa. That’s what really matters.
But for critical thinkers — Republicans and Democrats alike — this is a time to take stock of Trump’s trajectory and the people accompanying him toward a moral, ethical and legal abyss.
All presidents are flawed human beings. This president, however, treats his flaws as an art form, flaunting them proudly as virtues. Trump might be the elected leader, but he does not represent America’s cherished system of values. The longer he stays in office, the further he strays from what most of us hold dear.
America was great long before Trump entered the picture, because we stood united behind a basic code of ethics and respect for the law. And it’s because we cherish America’s enduring greatness that all patriots should refuse to follow Trump toward the abyss.
— St. Louis Post-Dispatch