The White House would never be caught with a burglar on it staff". Are you sure? In this White House it seems anything is possible. Just saying.....
12
Thanks for mentioning the rape accusation by Trump's first wife, which goes strangely unmentioned amongst the litany of disgraceful conduct. Do I have this right? That she signed a sealed court deposition in which she claimed Donald Trump, angered that the hair treatment procedure she'd recommended had proved to be very painful, had first ripped out a chunk of her hair and then asked her "does it hurt?", then raped her? That she retracted only after securing a massive settlement? Who likes this guy? Ew!
19
It is no longer a swamp. It's a sewer.
28
words, words, words that fall on deaf ears. the people with no integrity dont care about the clamorings of those that do. the supporters of trump either had an agenda that he helps move along or were too stupid to realize they were being lied to by a con artist.
7
It is so fair to compare the family of a citizen ( Melania Trump) to the family of an illegal alien. Exactly the same situation.
2
Yet normal people knew all this two years ago. There was not a single person on Trumps campaign that had any hint of integrity or ethics. None. Indeed, the one qualification to work for Trump was to be utterly corrupt and unethical.
And normal people knew all this.
19
Trump today was the same Trump of 2015 and 2016. And yet, millions gave him the electoral college votes and sent him to the Oval Office (I didnt’). He still gets very high approval ratings from millions of diehard Republican voters. He merely reflects their values. That Trump and his ilk are beyond redemption is beyond the shadow of a doubt; these fellow citizens who *still* approve of him are an abject disgrace to our democracy.
22
As a clinical psychologist, I see things at times through that lens. So, I'd remark that the essence of this whole situation is the dangerousness of Donald Trump's behavior, clearly having plenty of the features of a mental disorder. It's a sad situation for anybody intimately connected with such people because of their toxicity. The disordered cannot help but display their pathology. And they need help, of course not of the enabling kind, but evidenced-based treatment. The unfortunate thing about Trump's case is that people like him don't see the need. Their problems are "ego syntonic" or so ingrained as to feel natural to them. The only problem they recognize is the problems that normal people have with their behavior. And the Trump types will always have their enablers and defenders, to their and others eventual harm. Several groups of Trump voters and die hard supporters (in addition to the racists among them) have included those who are so anxious, frustrated and angry as to follow him over a cliff. Another group, through their selfish schemes, will cry all the way to the bank, always thinking that more than enough money will save their soulless selves. And a third will have their reputations and careers ruined. I hope the rest of us aren't included in ruin, too.
12
The answer to why none of these men have not changed their behavior is not just a matter of integrity, but the result of an embedded superior mindset due to patriarchal society.
4
The idea that little donnie trump personally paid the $130,000 is preposterous. I doubt that he even tips.
4
Do these people have no shame? They are making the devil look ethical and moral by comparison.
4
If Trump has ALREADY gotten close to the net full-time job growth that the lamentably limited Barack-So-Cool achieved in eight socialist years, then stain me up, baby. It spends REALLY well in a home that had been jobless thanks to Democratic progressivism.
1
It's hardly a stretch to imagine this administration starting a war with North Korea to change the subject from Trump's tumbling house of cards. Nothing surprises anymore. I can't even read the news about the shooting because I've read it all before, only a few months ago. Republicans are a scourge to the nation. White people are so full of misdirected resentments whipped up by Fox news that they can't see the shameful way they've diminished the country whose flag they used to wrap themselves up in. That's the Republican of the old days. Today they're defending the Confederate flag as part of their history. Tomorrow who knows what?
7
"To be clear, I don’t think officials would deliberately turn to war as a solution to political problems..."
I do.
14
The author is wrong. There is no stain. A large portion of the electorate holds the same views that Trump does. They got exactly what they voted for.
5
In his last paragraph, Mr. Kristof says that it " looks" as thought the stain that
Trump has spread is metastasizing.....in truth, it has metastasized, and is
destroying everything and everyone in its wake. I am a senior citizen and
have lived through many troublesome times in our country, but I have never been so fearful as I am today.
10
“I don’t think officials would deliberately turn to war as a solution to political problems...”. Maybe not before Trump and his craven minions came to town, but now all bets are off.
7
Mr Kristof, here's my recommendation. Email this each and every member of congress in the GOP. They only watch FOX so they won't have the opportunity to read this here and they will certainly miss an important bit of advice from you.
The press needs to start directly holding their feet to the fire--writing to the public doesn't really do much.They need to be challenged directly. They have gone from elected representatives to MASTERS of the World. THAT NEEDS TO END asap/
1
"One difference between Nixon and Trump: when the Republicans nominated Nixon, they didn't actually KNOW he was a crook."
-Stephen King
11
"To be clear, I don’t think officials would deliberately turn to war as a solution to political problems"
I wish I could be confident of that.
6
Actually, I have no trouble believing that Trump did not reimburse Cohen for the $130,000 - he seems to be good at either getting someone else to pay his bills (see: Trump "charity" foundation) or simply stiffing contractors for what he owes (see: any number of contractors who worked for him).
4
Even worse , to me, than the WH corruption, is that of the Department Secretaries. Zinke, who's Navy career was halted due to proven corruption, is a pure corporate hack, eager to give away public lands to the highest bidder. He will be paid millions once he leaves the post - his reward for faclitiatin massive profits for his erstwhile masters.
Scott Pruitt is so corrupt that he does not allow any written agenda, notes or minutes of any meetings. That is to forestall any Freedom of Information Act requests - no records, nothing to give on a FOIS request. Brilliant! And utterly corrupt. He even had a sound proof "phone booth" installed in his office. Why? What is he afraid people will hear him say? The only conclusion is likely collusion with industry reps to circumvent laws. Again, utterly corrupt.
9
The GOP is badly infected due to associating with their man and being unwilling to stand up against him. Worse yet, does the mass of voters who did not vote in the election realize that they are responsible for his win? My take on the election is that if more people had voted, it would have been more independents and Dems voting.
5
The smirks on the faces of the team say it all.
8
You don't get a Sara Huckabee-Sanders or a General Kelly through a loss of anything, most of all integrity. For people to act the way these two ghouls do, they undoubtedly came to their posts with a severe lack of not only integrity but morality and basic human decency. They, and all the others like them in this Administration, are there, willing to say or do just about anything that keeps them there and benefits their boss, because they want to stay close to the center of power. They were hopelessly toxic people to begin with, I would suspect, their proximity to power simply enhancing that.
6
When a stain sits for a long time, it sets in and is impossible to remove. Even the most caustic cleanser cannot get the stain to even fade a little. In fact, the stain becomes almost an invisible part of the fabric--unnoticeable as it becomes so familiar that one does not realize it was not there to begin with. The stain becomes tolerated and almost expected. Eventually, the stain becomes a cherished part of the fabric and admired as a mark of beauty and longevity.
The Presidency and our Democracy may never recover from this "stain."
8
What would one expect when the ''alternate facts'' rule the roost in Trump's WH? His belated, but expedient explanations about the societal scourges, including, but not limited to gun violence and spousal atrocities by the pusillanimous, are known to mankind from time immemorial. His penchant for personal assaults, fishing for pretexts as cover-ups for his inadequacies,
and uttering incoherent and irrelevant statements about any calamity are all quite well established axioms.
His WH staff are a whole different breed by themselves. Under the behest of the supremo, they stretch the truth until it hurts. Sarah Huckabee-Sanders has, most of the time, ''no specific answers'' to many reporters' probing questions. Her mostly unsmiling facade can arrest anybody's attention and hold it to the very last. Her hide and seek approach, with what has been widely reported and observed, has been reaching epic proportions.
Raj Shah is a shining example of a handsome humanoid. He echoes and parrots what the POTUS would have him do, without batting an eye lid. In essence, the entire WH staff are hell-bent in placating the boss, unfailingly. Keep it up you wiseacres!
Tarnish or not, Trump will, forever continue the path of avarice, with all his epicurean tastes intact.
8
Last night, Jimmy Kimmel's program featured a skit, a parody of those late night "ambulance chaser" attorney commercials that urge you to call "The Bull" or "The Good Guys" if you've been hurt in an accident.
An attractive blonde woman in a skimpy costume waved a stack of cash in the air claiming, "I had an affair with a rich and powerful politician and he wanted to shut me up! I called Michael Cohen and he gave me $200,000 for no reason at all!" Then Michael Cohen's image was superimposed while a male voice over said, "That's right! If you've been involved with a powerful man, call me. I'll give you big money, no questions asked!"
Call Michael Cohen, Attorney at Law. He's handing out his own money. Call now!
10
The fish is certainly rotting from the head.
9
Trump did this just after his wife had a baby. He lied and cheated all the way to the White House. He paid hush money to this girl. He is a despicable, dishonorable cheat and a sorry excuse for a man. You do not treat your wife like that, especially not after she's just given you a baby. Trump has got the same ethics and integrity of a meth pusher in a primary school playground. He only responds to his own basic instincts and has no respect or care for anyone else in the world but himself.
A man like this cannot be President of the USA. But he still has 40% who believe he is the second coming of Jesus, among which many so-called Evangelical "Christians" (even though they have relinquished any rights to the title in my view, they are just hate-spouting charlatans and hypocrites).
How low has this country fallen.
18
Anyone who walks with him smears themselves with the orange taint forever. I would never trust anyone who voluntarily worked in this administration, and in private life I do not trust anyone who still supports them.
If you still support them as a private citizen you are either willfully ignorant, easily fooled, or willing to lie about everything to yourself.
7
God, that photo. A lying criminal, a liar, and another criminal who probably lies. All standing in the Oval Office.
17
Unethical, ignorant unprincipled. Tump is an embarssment and a shameful disgrace of a man.
I hope Robert Muller hurries up and indicts him with charges that stick so he can be removed and we can begin to restore our government and our country, our beautiful democracy.
8
The zombie apocalypse rages on the decks of the Titanic.
6
Dear NYT Trump supporters and GOP leaders,
My questions to you are how can you continue to support this man?
To the Evangelicals- how do you support a man who who cheated on his first wife with his second wife and then cheated on his third with with a porn star?
To the bikers and vets ( and Gens Kelly and McMasters)- how do you support a man who had 5 deferments, cannot remember which foot his bone spurs were in and insults John McCain as not being a war hero (‘I like men who weren’t captured’)
To Trump women- how do you support a man who gropes women (maybe your daughters or you)?
To professionals- how do you support a man who won’t release his taxes?
Get the picture? I could go on, and, of course, some of these are old (and yet, haunting) charges. They May be old, but still unanswered.
This is a man who has no moral compass. Those who support and follow him will be stained forever. To Gen Kelly who was brought in to ‘fix’ the problem but has become part of it, your offer to resign is hollow. Your reputation is tarnished. To Ryan and McConnell and Nunes, you’ll never recover fully from your folly to follow him.
We shouldn’t be surprised by his actions, they were there from the beginning but those we hoped would have moral fiber have shown they are no better than he. We need to find leaders to stand up to his bigotry, lying, insults and ineptness—Starting Now.
13
Thank You, Dorothy!
3
What is especially dead on in this op-ed is this: "we all have a remarkable ability to persuade ourselves that what is good for us is also good for the country."
Alan Greenspan, speaking against regulation pre-2006, insisted that wall street could police itself. He didn't seem to understand the ability of each human being to rationalize their behavior when there is something valued to be gained. In that case, huge profits, in this case - putting one's political beliefs into effect.
The people in this administration as well as GOP senators and congress people believe in something. After continually being on the defensive about their president's words and deeds, they have lost touch with perspective. They are all in for political accomplishment. People who have lost perspective are not going to make good decisions. Firing the special prosecutor or declaring war to move the spotlight? Nothing is too far-fetched.
28
"I don’t think officials would deliberately turn to war as a solution to political problems..." Really? Their recent rhetoric regarding North Korea and Iran seems to suggest they indeed would. You can't submit your malignant cancer analogy and doubt it, too.
7
Everyday I wake up and cannot believe that charlatan, know-nothing Donald Trump is our president. When will this long national nightmare end?
16
The irony with the 'metastasizing' infection of dishonor, incompetence & poor judgement is the almost cult-like allegiance of evangelicals to this highly flawed & profoundly dishonest man and his minions of lickspittle sycophants. An even casual observer can discern the chasm between what is stated and what is seen...oh the lies we tell ourselves! Moreover, the only thing that may change their perception is the prospect of being personally victimized by his 'policies' - a most unchristian like view. People wonder why a generation is turning away from organized religion. I suggest the apparent self-serving hypocrisy might be a clue.
7
Paraphrasing Palin:
"Anybody missing those "No Drama Obama" days yet?"
8
Cohen's law license needs to be taken away.
5
How could someone with Kushner’s obvious inexperience, naiveté, ineptitude, financial conflicts of interest, and moral ambiguity be seriously regarded as a “senior adviser”? Oh yeah... he is also a bank robbery suspect, though not at the point of a gun.
6
General Kelly is a liar. He dishonors the uniform he wears. He was supposed to be the grown up? Seems like just another greedy sycophant who shares his bosses views on truth, women and minorities.
And I don't believe that they wouldn't start a war in a second if it was to their personal gain.
7
The late psychiatrist M. Scott Peck, author of The Road Less Traveled (1978), also wrote People of the Lie (1983), a study of malignant narcissism that chillingly describes our Liar-in-Chief to a T. The basic premise is that the Lie is at the heart of human evil. Peck also points out that this evil is contagious and corrupting; his assertion is borne out every time a Republican lies to praise or protect him.
13
Rick Wilson states the effect quite simply - Everything Trump touches dies
6
I'm sorry, but I see no "heroic exceptions" to the contagion of dishonor among Republicans on Capitol Hill. I feel tempted to except Senator John McCain -- for whom I wish the very best in his battle with cancer -- but only he. The rest of his unrepresentative-of-the people G.O.P. cohorts -- shuttling about Washington in their gleaming fleets of black SUV's, and working safely behind thousands of protective bollards ringing the Capitol, with hundreds of Capitol Police patrolling 24/7 their no-guns-allowed zone (unlike the rest of gun-addled America) -- are the most dishonorable lot of the modern era.
10
Metastasizing connotes imminent death. But the Trump presidency seems to me to be getting stronger and uglier by the month, like a weed or a wart which thrives on being pulled or scraped off. Each of these filthy scandals surfaces and reasonable and good people hope the end is finally in sight, but the virulent organism known as our president just keeps growing and contaminating. Pesticide Mueller appears to be no where near to coming to our aid, and the entire farm now is consumed by ugly thistles.
9
What makes you think we haven't already gone to war for political reasons? Just two POTUSes ago. Have you forgotten Iraq - a pre-emptive war against a country that never attacked us, pushed for on a pack of lies in order to exact revenge for the father of George W. Bush, and for the Cheney-led profiteering of all the warmongers who made millions off it?
6
Trump is a stain that we will never be able to clean from this country's soul. It is embarrassing to be an American.
8
Thanks Grumpy in NJ this last mass shooting in Florida is so devastating , hearing all the statistics of 18 school related gun issues THIS YEAR already and the amount the NRA spent against the dems in 2016 is pathetic as is everything with our lobbying system of money for securing your seat in Congress. How awful to be an American who loves a child to whom we cannot express pride in our country anymore, so saddened to say this.
3
When an incompetent, dishonest demagogue and his cadre of hangers-on can bring down this country, there's something inherently wrong with our system of government.
Where money is king democracy doesn't work. Blind ambition, power and greed have overtaken us.
9
Trump stain has covered the country with a stench that will take years to dissipate. The world is looking at us in disbelief. How could the premier democracy elect such a horrible human being as our president. I don’t think our reputation will ever recover.
6
"The White House would never be caught with a bank robbery suspect on its staff..."
Prediction? Assurance? Conjecture? Fond hope?
3
Likelihood.
2
why does Mr. Kushner most often have a smirk on his face?
6
"The White House would never be caught with a bank robbery suspect on its staff, so why tolerate someone alleged to be a wife beater?" And why, exactly, should we even be certain, at this point, that the White House would not allow a bank robbery suspect on its staff?
4
Let’s face it, Trump really is the malignant narcissist he appears to be. He is the cancer that is spreading right before our eyes. He’s not just the embodiment of it...he’s it! We need to cut the cancer out, poison it and watch it. It will undoubtedly try to spread. The big worry is that it will spread before we can kill it and then keep coming back!
6
With each editorial about the con artists running amok at the White House and Capitol Hill, we can probably predict with some certitude that, when impeachment charges against Trump are finally, and rightfully, filed, the White aids and advisors will, along with most members of the House and Senate, scatter into the shadows like cockroaches when the light exposes the great stain that Nick refers to.
Already, many members of both chambers have announced their retirement at the end of their current terms. Perhaps they need better paying jobs on K Street so they can lawyer-up against the charges files against them.
By the time this is all over, we will have either seen our fragile democracy turned into lint by conservatism and their gasbag shills at Fox, or the vacancies in Congress will finally be filled, one by one, with honorable people.
Governoring is hard. But getting rid of those who abhor the job of governing is even harder.
2
Who was it who supposedly said, “A person cannot be moral in some parts of their life and immoral in other parts and still be considered a moral person.” ?
4
I'm guessing that Ivanka put the 130k on her credit card.
4
Trump didn't drop from the sky. People elected him and all other corrupt, immoral politicians. What does that say about this country? In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Trump got re-elected in 2020.
6
Where Mr. Kristof writes: "The risk is that this stain continues to spread, metastasizing and bringing down everything around it" is probably a good thing by comparison to letting this president, and this Congress, continue their Dance Of Death with anything from A-to-Z.
Take for example, Impeachment. Please.
3
This piece seems to pivot away from several recent accusations (Russian collusion, et al) that haven't been panning out. Now, a new accusation of marital infidelity is being sold as a threat to our national well-being and inherently damaging to the office of the Presidency. I don't seem to recall much of that sentiment when President Clinton was found in contempt of court for lying under oath as the defendant in a sexual harassment trial. That was dismissed as being "just about sex".
The author of this undisciplined piece probably can't help it, but most of the people who will use this as a posturing tool should note that being a person of principle is a full time commitment - not to be punctuated by episodes of incorrigibleness or defense of same in order to mislead voters. Just few examples - FBI & DOJ bias in a falsely established investigation, IRS targeting of conservatives, Hillary email crimes & Benghazi crimes that were not properly investigated, President Obama destabilizing the Middle East by withdrawing troops to win an election - and misrepresenting the intent of the Affordable care Act... all with the expectation that the rest of us believe whatever we're told. This is how false ideology & misinformation are used to trap an uninformed electorate into mistakes that can be irreversible. It is the ultimate form of unprincipled behavior.
I can only repeat what seems most obvious.
Abuse of women. fraud, racism lies and deceit..that is the Trump credo, his way of life. However, We must not lose track of the most serious threat to the United States: the massive corruption of the electoral process.
Trump was placed in office via a highly distorted electoral system by only 29 % of the US voting population. He lost the popular vote to Hillary by 3 million. Beyond that, 40 million actually registered voters stayed home. The Russians didn't need to do much to swing the vote in the three key states that gave the GOP the Slave Era Electoral Collage. Republicans depend on voter suppression, gerrymandering and voter apathy. The Republicans will not lift a finger to block Russian interference in their favor, they welcome it.
We can rant and rave with total justification about the disgrace Trump brings to our nation, and the pain he brings to working families. But unless we dislodge the Republicans from control of all three branches of government with a huge angry voter turnout at every opportunity, our democracy is doomed.
3
People today seem to believe that the world started with Trump.
Since when was integrity any part of our political system including the Presidency? You can start anywhere, anytime you like and every Administration has had it’s share of scandal, gossip and lack of “integrity”. From starting false wars, to hiding errors, to political assassination of people and reputations, to real criminality, to illnesses, to affairs. Out Presidents have done it all.
2
Smart cookie, whoever said integrity is . I look at smug, "bring it on" expressions of the men in the photo Kelly, Kushner & Porter. Almost daring anyone to challenge their right to rule. Porter may well end up with a cushy job with one of Trump's billionaires, after all, he did wish him well.
3
Trump's henchpeople (mostly henchmen) were not corrupted by him, they were already corrupt when they chose to go to work for him. They knew what they were signing up for and for whatever reason decided a Faustian bargain was right for them.
Trump's White House has all the sleaze and immorality of the Nixon White House without the redeeming capacity to maintain a consistent foreign policy or support bipartisan domestic law.
1
just make sure you hold yourselves to same standard, meaning that the alleged actions, behavior, word spoken, or past transgressions are a direct reflection of your integrity honesty and ability to your job. Thats your children, coworkers, superiors, subordinates, and every association you may have ever had in passing. THIS is the standard by which you judge the Trump Administration..
1
Precisely. And it is called Trumphoma, or a malignancy in the
Body Politic.
2
Not so fast!
Who said the WH wouldn't protect someone accused of bank robbery. Remember, it's may be just an unproven accusation.
1
Nicholas writes "The White House would never be caught with a bank robber suspect on its staff...."
I respectfully disagree.
3
"Oh, what a tangled web we weave...."
Oh wait. Education is being actively discouraged.
1
The Trump administration is riddled with rot; rot in the person of the President, who lies and will do anything to increase his personal power. Rot in the staff, many of whom are attending security briefings without proper clearance, peddling lies to protect their master, and seemingly devoid of moral fibre. Rot in the Vice Presidency, where we have a man who claims to be of high moral character and religiosity but plainly turns a blind eye and deaf ear to the immoral conduct around him. Rot in the cabinet, where so many appointees are busily dismantling the protections ordinary citizens rely upon.
If we do not rise up at the polls in November and boot the members of Congress who are protecting these soulless, immoral people from being properly dealt with, we deserve what we--and our children, and our children’s children--will inherit.
2
The utter lack of integrity in the White House and GOP has been laid bare. It's up to us to vote to save our democracy.
2
"To be clear, I don’t think officials would deliberately turn to war as a solution to political problems"
You have to be kidding, right? After everything you've seen and heard from #FakePresident, you seriously don't think that is likely? My only question is who and when. Iraq or North Korea? Before the mid terms or when Prince Jared is indicted?
3
# To be clear, I don’t think officials would deliberately turn to war as a solution to political problems, "
I do. And I don't think I'm alone.
3
I have an genuine, honest, non-judgmental question. You would assume this type of administration would not be able to get support of women, yet GOP women approve at a pretty high rate.
I'm honestly curious how those types of voters view issues like these. Do you think it's gross but still vote Rep. b/c you still believe they represent you better than a Dem would?
For example, I'm quite certain if this admin was as hostile to my ethnicity (maybe we're not important enough to get tweeted about yet), there would literally be nothing they could do to change my vote. I would just vote for the other party, despite which side I've voted for in the past.
2
For me the most interesting aspect of all this is that we are talking about the security clearance of WH staff, while we are not focusing on the biggest security threat this country has ever faced, the current president of the United States who is completely compromised down to his very core.
55
Kristof cites a "lack of integrity, an absence of a moral compass, a narcissism . . ." as the answer to why the White House would tolerate someone who is a "wife beater." Yes, that seems clear, but another fundamental factor is the societal acceptance of patriarchal dominance and the oppression of women. Wife beating is tolerated all over the world, not just in America because women are seen by many as second class citizens and not critical to men in their acquisition of power and dominance. It's toxic masculinity and social norms that make men think harassing or assaulting women is okay. And, while there are more women who are empowered to speak out against this type of behavior, there are still women who don't and won't because they've been conditioned to accept it as boys being boys. This is internal oppression. Michael Kimmel, one of the leading experts on masculinity describes this place where men prove themselves to each other (not to women), and sometimes toxically, as Guyland. We need to help our boys and men to see a different way of being in the world that honors integrity as Kristof says, but also that offers a variety of ways to be a man, maybe some that don't require the acquisition of power, absolute stoicism, and winning as key elements to achieving manhood.
23
Of Trump's eerie statement claiming to be "opposed" to beating women, Nick opines, "But when you have to say that, something is wrong."
I respectfully disagree.
When strong evidence surfaces that men who beat women are in positions of government trust, resolution must be immediate. Here Trump's scores a zero.
But shouldn't the public be assured that the office in question understands that there is zero tolerance for such violence, beyond FBI clearance and integrity?
But Trump's statement on men who beat women, dressed up with pretty words like, "domestic violence", was delivered in such a mechanical, icy, creepy and emotionless manner that he conveyed the opposite message and maybe Nick was right.
Trump and his champions can no longer claim his behavior was a "joke", "in the past", "just politics" or blame the FBI.
The Oval Office has been lost, much to the peril of America.
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing". ... Edmund Burke
Republicans grin, excuse and enable, so far, but now is the time to step up or lose any semblance of decency or character for which we will all eventually pay the price.
1
The article is excellent -- as far as it goes. The trouble with this form of cancer is that it is metastasizing far beyond the bounds of government. We fool ourselves if we think otherwise. None of us has far to go to find a fellow citizen soiled by this disease. Several of our fellow citizens from Alabama, as just one example, announced on national television that they would vote for accused child molester Roy Moore "even if he did it." Those who never had integrity have now lost any sense of shame. As we decry politicians' deceptions we must also decide, each one of us, how far we will go -- how much we will give up -- how much we will fight -- to retain and defend the integrity we have not yet been called upon to exercise.
We need to stop focusing on Trump's philandering. He is not the first president to have strayed. He is the first president in recent decades to repeatedly lie with regard to major national policy issues, to align himself with foreign enemies, to deny the very existence of climate change, to support openly racist candidates and positions, to eviscerate our nation's system of checks and balances, to literally rob from the poor to fill the pockets of the most wealthy and to surround himself with sycophants and family members.
2
As has been explicated by numerous commenters in this newspaper for more than a year, the cancer had already metastasized throughout the nation's body politic but it was not until it produced a truly large tumor within the White House did many notice the extent and danger of this cancer. Whether it proves deadly depends upon whether we can excise the main tumor and also neutralize the conditions that give rise to the "disease" in the first place.
1
Domestic violence is horrible. But where are media voices calling for Trump's impeachment and conviction for treason for allowing a person without a security clearance to have access to very sensitive materials for over a year. Harry Truman famously said "The buck stops here." Add buck passing to the many other components of the "Trump Stain".
1
The narcissistic leader spreads his or her personality disorder because they never get enough praise, so those around the individual will do anything to please or placate them. Read what Reince Priebus says in his new book. Those around this kind of leader will leave when they can't stand the trouble and chaos that occurs. Others will give in and become just like the leader - lie, misrepresent, exaggerate, demean others, make up stories to cover any scandal, etc. We are in very dangerous waters. The question is what of the American democracy and values will survive or be able to be restored?
Perhaps with the Ides of March approaching, some politicians may be inspired to rebel before the stains are permanently set in the Presidential Seal in the Oval Office carpet.
4
Governments, like fish, rot from the head.
10
expat,
Hmmm...maybe.
It did take a cesspool of 63 million voters to chum the swamp.
Everyone from the god botherers to gun huggers to authoritarians knew what and who he is.
I'd say the rot is in America itself.
THEY DON'T CARE.
3
Kelly has stained himself and our country. It's been 114 days (02.14.18) & DungTongue Don's ignoble lickspittle Four-Star Lily-Livered Liar John Kelly has still Not apologized for his odious Lies about Rep. Frederica Wilson's wonderful FBI speech. Kelly is a Man of Malice. Semper Fie! aka Semper Shame!
6
The case of Congresswoman Wilson was the last straw for me. On watching the tape of the event Kelly denigrated and misrepresented I saw a woman who was charming, non partisan and inclusive. The honorees thought so too and gave her a standing ovation. John Kelly's mean spirited, racially tinged, misogynistic lies revealed his true self. An ultra conservative, woman bashing grouch who, like Trump, lies freely and never says sorry.
2
The problem isn't porn stars, it's having a traitor as President who is supported by 1/3 of Americans who profess to love Jesus.
There is a sickness that is staining America and its name isn't Trump, it's religion.
People so skull locked on protecting Merry Christmas that they turn a blind eye to a President who's a traitor, misogynist, liar, and more simply because he proclaims himself their savior.
Muslims aren't anywhere near the existential threat that is Trump's misunderstanding or misuse of the Constitution.
I would ask the 1/3 of clueless Americans if protecting Merry Christmas is worth losing our Republic, because that's the reality of what's happening.
16
What in the world is wrong with this hypocrite in the White House? Married two immigrants and brought the current White House parents of Melania into America on his dreaded, no-no at all costs, "chain migration" but refuses to respond to press questions about family matters...
With Don-the-Con, it's ALWAYS "Gimme MINE, but no one else can have any!!!"
17
Barbara
I am so glad that you said that about Melania's family. You forgot the sister is also here too. Who else has come from her family through the chain migration. Chain migration is the most offensive terminology but look at the source, Steven Miller and the General John Kelly.
My parents were immigrants and they brought family to the US. Guess I am also part of the chain migration. My family gave more to this country then Donald Trump will ever give or his family.
40
Dear Nicky - Loved your Trump piece. Even brought in Winston for gravitas! But I hope no one catches the parallel to Bill’s 800 K payoff on the rape allegation and Hillary’s role in that whole mess. Otherwise spot on! Jimmy
1
In reality, it is the guts of fish that rot and stink before the head.
2
Not much in that head ... but whatever, this carcass has been around way too long.
3
OK, Republicans in Congress: why not use the Rob Porter scandal and the porn star payoff as your excuse to FINALLY climb off the Trump bandwagon?
Trump and his administration are pretty unsavory now, and it’s only going to get worse. So in spite of the Democrats’ lack of a message and an election-ready standard bearer, Trump is providing an opportunity so golden that even Democrats can’t miss it. If you are still identified with Trump when November 2018 rolls around, you may be swept away by the Blue Wave.
So use your natural disgust at paying off porn stars as an excuse to say Sayonara to Trump and his administration. And do it NOW; there may not be too many more off-ramps before the whole Trump enterprise implodes.
6
The White House today is a place for thugs, bullies, enablers, liars. And this garbage run our country. If decent people who love their country are too lazy to vote the majority out that keeps them in power and protects them then we are lost.
10
Trump's Family stains.
His grandfather was a draft dodger in Germany and did run a bar/brothel around 1900 in the Yukon Territory. His father was a racist.
Maybe as a president he is just continuing the family tradition and/or it is in his blood line. No hope.
8
This White House has become a leper colony. Everything and everybody has been contaminated and there is no hope for a cure. The entire Executive Mansion should be quarantined immediately. This plague was incubated in the Oval Office by the president and has now hatched to spread its terror. The president's leprosy was on full display in 2016 but he assured Americans and his party that it would be okay to drink from his cup. The America of today is his gift to the republic.
5
Yes, Ivana took back her claim of rape but not the fact that Trump pulled out a chunk of her hair when she made fun of the 'pain' from his stupidly narcissistic scalp reduction (to cover up the Bozo Bald Spot). Let that sink in. A chunk of her hair! Is that not assault? What pain that must have caused!
He is a domestic abuser. He is a traitor and will not protect us from Russia. He is making money for himself off his policies (goodbye Estate Tax, hello all those great tax cuts), he is making money from all his hotels and golf carts and golf courses and getting copyrights from the Chinese for his goods made over there....on and on and on.
How are these cowardly Republicans NOT impeaching him? We need to get on the phone as we did in the health care policy making and demand our Senators and Reps impeach him for the safety of our country and her citizens.
The electoral college failed us. Congress is, too. No protection. No safety. I'm not sure we can even make it to November midterms. When are the people going to rise up and demand his ouster? When Social Security and Medicare are completely wiped out and people start dying in the streets again like they did in the 30's?
Our country is failing because we allowed a minority to elect a criminal and there are too many criminals in Congress supporting him. All in the name of Mother Russia.
For god's sake, impeach him!
12
Goo good grief, of course DJT has surrounded himself in the White House with third rate goons! Look who he depended on during his campaign: Newt Gingrich, Chris Christie, Rudy Guilliani. As fine a cast of bullies, washed up hypocrites, and crooks as one could wish for. But DJT also corrupts those who rub shoulders with himn and those who support him. He is like salmonella in a salad bar - all who partake end up violently ill.
8
Ahh, if only we could have a Gulf of Tonkin incident or a mini Pearl Harbor attack, that would surely take our troubles away, America United, one nation under God, no Russia collusion or White House corruption to speak of, where every day is a Easter Day egg hunt except for those sons and daughters who'll come home in a bag.
Please, leave it to The All The Fake News That Fits The False Narrative to dwell on this thin gruel and ignore the greatest scandal in U.S. history with Obama/Clinton/FBI/Steel Dossier/Russia/Clinton. Pathetic!
"The risk is that this stain continues to spread, metastasizing and bringing down everything around it. And to me, it looks as if the Trump administration is now metastasizing."
I think we're at stage 4. Everything from the soul sucking cover ups and lying within the WH to the sycophancy of Congress (exquisite leadership!) has spread. Who in Congress hasn't done a 180? Graham and now it looks like Corker and Trump are besties with Corker reconsidering retirement. And let us not forget the disgraceful attacks on the Justice Department from Nunes, Grassley and Graham (again).
It's pathetic.
An indelible stain is Donald Trump. This stable genius carries with him the fetid odor from his Russian handlers. His lying and deceiving shows he is covered in darkness. He spends time with Putin’s oligarchs, prostitutes, conmen, and military has beens. He is a Russian mafioso financed by Putin. There is no stable large enough to hide this jackass’s treasonous actions against our democracy. Time for the sunlight of Mueller’s investigation to bring him to justice.
5
Porn star who supposedly hitched up with the president, paid off by president’s attorney. President staff member, wife abuser, called a man of integrity by the president’s chief of staff, or whatever his title is. 17 people murdered in a school shoot out, and the president tweets. The Vice President scorns Rocket Man’s sister at the Olympics. An intelligence committee member makes up a memo trying to give face to the president for being friendly with Russians. Over 100 White House staff members are found to have no proper security clearance. The president prays and like preaches with all his Christian pals at the National Prayer get together.
And that’s just what we know......all in just a matter of days of the Donald Trump presidency. So much has already come and gone.
Oh well, tomorrow is Friday. Time to round up Air Force One, at taxpayer expense, and go play golf at Mar-a-Lago. Everything gets forgotten there, doesn’t it? Like Never Never Land.
4
I would like to have one week or even one day go by without having to endure yet another scandal, lie, treasonous act by Trump, his crime family or the cast of fools and degenerates currently in the WH.
Anyone who willingly stays in this WH doesn't deserve respect or the benefit of the doubt- and that certainly includes General Kelly who is proving he fits right in with the rest of these evil liars.
Let me ask the GOP enablers- would you ever in a million years tolerate even one of the daily Trump WH scandals if President Obama were POTUS?
The impeachment would have already been over long ago.
You tolerate this useful idiot because of many reasons- all of which are rotten and hurtful to this once great nation.
8
Dear Media and its' Editors.. Please stop describing Trump as some kind of regular guy.. He is a mobster who as in your piece here has no integrity or moral compass.. He manages, if you want to call it that our country like some kind of "Social Club Capo".. He comes off like Joe Pesci.. in any of his gangster roles .. a smiling, sadistic, narcissist. That's all, just tell it like it is please.
Today our Gangster President put the arm once again on the poor as he set off for Mar a Lago to eat their cake with glee.
4
"Trump aides don't seem to believe in any cause larger than themselves or their leader".
The German word for leader is fuehrer. The German Fuehrer was known to roll around on the floor when he had one of his frequent temper tantrum while biting into the oriental carpets.
Ours just tweets while having a temper tantrum while sitting in his bathrobe in the White House during his sleep deprived nights.
2
but what is the answer, our country can not and should not run this garbage in the White House, l will happy if they will go to the jail instead impeachment, USA can not go like this couple of more years, our living ex presidents , people who loves this country in ether party must do some thing now
The Republican Senators and Congressmen who absolutely refuse to condemn this gangster President and his willing consiglieres are just as guilty. They are a disgrace to this nation.
5
You lost me at sentence #1, quoting Churchill as though he was some sort of major hero. For someone who likes to talk so much about other countries, Nicholas, your lack of education on your chosen hero is showing.
He was a racist war criminal whose doings for the UK were awesome, but whose doings in India were even beyond what the other war criminal, Kissinger, your pal Clinton likes to pall around with.
Imposing current context on history is a fool's game.
With the increasing number of scandals (mishandling of classified information, incomplete security clearances, Senior Staff Kelly and McGhan lies and coverups, porn star accusations) swirling around DJT's cesspool, we must seriously worry about his need to create a major nuclear crisis to halt all these accusations and investigations.
Maybe we let Donnie plan his little military parade to show off his power and might and distract him from his other problems.
... but right-wing, evangelical hypocrites and pseudo christians, they all praise the porno megalomaniac. Something is very wrong in this country. Hurry up, Mueller for the love of God!
2
'But when there is a basic lack of integrity at the top, these do not easily self-correct; rather, they build upon themselves because of an impulse to cover up and layer new deceptions on top of old deceit."
Republicans in general and Trump aides in particular have been sucked into an enormous black hole of dishonesty. Each one of them rationalizes the assistance in covering up "just one" foible that blows up into a full blown scandal. There is a chain reaction of cover ups to hide the initial deceit. And once it becomes common practice and "the other guys are doing it" the dishonesty becomes a way of life -- the Trump White House.
Many of us have come to disbelieve virtually every word that emanates from the White House, from every member of the Cabinet and Staff. Why doesn't this seem to be a despicable situation to everyone in the country? How can someone like Sarah H. Sanders, daughter of a Christian minister, live with herself. Certainly American ally countries are dumbfounded, but no longer trust us as reliable or as a leader of the free world. They have no foundation in America that they can trust. And I, as a citizen, have no confidence that our country will get anything but worse.
2
There is a major difference in your perception: "Every administration suffers embarrassments." Well, the proper term is: "This administration IS an embarrassment." It goes to length to prove it daily, it does not suffer it, it is its modus operandi.
And regarding the "bank robber": just look at Kuschner's deals for 666 5th Ave, the daily violations of the emoluments clause, his hidden taxes, not to mention the self-imposed getting rich scheme that this new tax law represents, etc...
No, this "administration" is the real deal when it comes to circumvent the law at every possible turn. It is more of a criminal enterprise, that's why "abuse, lies, porn, etc" are just minor distractions to the White House: they are condiments, just like the $ 130.000,00.
Mere "Lack of integrity, and moral compass" pale in comparison.....
1
This stain this stain is taking the country into a depression of low moral. People are caring less as this administration attempts to sell off the treasured aspects to private corporations to create a nation of ghettos with little else but money as the motives. His greed is far out doing any other damage then for shadowed in the election!
But, isn't this administration and the current GOP trying to "conserve" the era when white men got away with anything. They are definitely living by their values of conservatism.
Kristof lacks the moral authority to lecture anyone about honor and integrity, having shilled shamelessly for the Clintons for decades as an FOB (Friend of Bill).
If Kristof is concerned about credible rape allegations against American Presidents (and he should be), there are easier and more reliable ways to obtain them than scouring the transcripts of depositions given by Trump's first wife in the heat of a domestic relations dispute.
He might begin with the low hanging fruit: Juanita Broderick's highly credible accusations of being brutally raped by Bill Clinton, a lurid tale that fits squarely into the fashionable #MeToo narrative but one that continues to be ignored by such as Nicholas Kristof.
# Neutral Principles? #Democracy Dies In Darkness?
As for General Kelly, when it comes to honor and integrity, I'll go with the Marine Corps general over the Times gadfly and precious, self-serving Harvard elitist who never spent a day wearing the uniform of his country.
1
In case you missed it, Juanita Broderick’s accusations were investigated an found to be non-credible. Not only did Ken Starr’s OIC find her accusations to be not believable (and remember, the bar the OIC used for credibility was “she said the affair started in November, he said It started in December”... and this is in addition to the fact that Broderick had initially given a signed deposition stating that Clinton never assaulted her) but the media, in an act of rare journalistic effort, actually did real investigation on the allegations. After Broderick was unable to say what month or even year the “assault” happened, the media did a detailed analysis of both of their calendars showed that the two crossed paths only once in the “assault” city over more than a ten year period, that Clinton was across town at an event (with witnesses) the only night they were in town together, and that multiple photos of Broderick taken at a breakfast event the next morning showed absolutely no injuries (ie- the split lip) that she claimed happened.
Juanita Broderick lied.
1
I'm with you. Impeach Trump just like Clinton!
Only a fool would assume a Marine has honor and integrity without actually looking at his words and deeds. How about that Marine colonel that General Kelly vouched for? Would you say he has "honor and integrity"?
[I copied this from another comment]
Google "Kelly serves as character witness for Marine Colonel accused of sexual harassment by two junior officers."
That Marine colonel, Todd Shane Tomko
" After serving two months of jail time in the summer of 2016, Tomko was arrested again in 2017 on seven felony warrants and charged with “indecent liberties with a child,” with some allegations going back as far as 2002 and involving three separate victims.”
Or perhaps the Marine Colonel serving time for abusing a child at Camp Lejune has "honor and integrity"? People demonstrate honor and integrity by acting that way. Not by joining an organization. Not by joining the boy scouts, or the Catholic Church, or the Marines. Not everyone joins the military primarily to serve their country.
1
To quote Rev Barber, we need a moral defibrillator! Millions actually. Step up elected officials.
2
I read "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" years ago. Now I am experiencing it.
4
The trump swamp keeps growing and growing and growing
2
Oh to see the receipt from Stormy Daniels to Cohen - would it state "for services rendered?" Or "for keeping mum about services rendered?" All these lawyers ready to lie on demand, from John Dowd claiming HE composed the tweet regarding Flynn only a few weeks ago to Cohen claiming HE paid off Stormy Daniels. What a mess. I hope they're rehearsing their lies so they don't goof up when talking to the press. Or to Mueller.
The WH sure seems like a fun place to work, what with violence against women being no big deal, visions of the president cavorting in his underwear (augh), and Hope Hicks seemingly flitting from one co-worker to another...OMG. About as professional as mud wrestling. And these people are working for US???
3
Get Bill Clinton's take on this. He knows all about stains.
Absolutely right. Impeach Trump like they did Clinton. Excellent point.
2
Obviously mean abusive people walk among us...often in the capacity of leadership. The average citizen, or employee, can't help but notice when such a person has power. The question comes naturally, 'Why is he in charge? Does integrity not count for anything?' It is a rhetorical question today.
I pray that the Me Too movement and current Headlines of practiced abuse changes this. But,I suspect it will always be difficult to speak truth to power. I praise the people that do.
1
Like readers have stated here before, none of this really matters. We are all preaching to the same choir. How do we get these idiots voted out? in 2018 and 2020 and forever afterwards? That is the key question! Can the country recover from this low point in its long history to something more that we can all be proud about? Or is the American life we can expect moving forward?
2
In modern usage the word "corruption" refers to dishonesty, abuse of power, etc. of some government official. However, there is a much older, much more troubling meaning behind that word: ROT and DECAY. Anyone who happened to have been awake in Sunday School is undoubtedly familiar with the term "corruption" as referring not just to the alleged spiritual corruption of the human race, but to the resultant physical death and decomposition ("dust to dust") of human bodies. With that old-school usage in mind, Trump's corruption was always destined to spread and it was always folly to pretend otherwise.
A person can live, for a time, with corruption somewhere in their body. But nothing short of removal will save them. Full stop. And so it is with Trump. We can pretend not to smell it. We can ignore the flies and maggots (see "The Mooch", Gorka, Miller, Moore, etc.) that seem to be buzzing around us all the time. We can rationalize the fevered delirium (see a Trump rally). But the reality is unforgiving. Our body, like the U.S. Constitution, is designed to sustain itself, but it cannot amputate a gangrenous limb.
And it matters not a bit that Trump was elected. He has shown himself manifestly unfit and corrupt. Rot and decay is spreading out from his administration. The flies are everywhere and the smell is undeniable. It's very unpleasant, but his removal is necessary. If our current immune system (Congress) has been compromised, we'd best fix it fast.
2
"...Trump’s longtime lawyer, Cohen denounced the report as a “false narrative” of “outlandish allegations.”
Oops. Take two. This week, Cohen confirmed the payment in a statement saying that he “facilitated” the transfer with his own cash."
You need a neck brace with these clowns.
2
It's a sad day for me when a favored columnist must refer to ethical behavior from elected officials as "heroic." Isn't there a sworn oath in there somewhere?
2
Integrity is not inborn; rather, it's an acquired taste, a dish not on the White House menu. Those at the top echelon in the White House are more concerned about their own little piece of influence than with honor and integrity. For the most part, like Trump, his minions are feeding on self-interests.
1
At lot of grew up with a simple saying "Show me your friends and I'll tell you who you are." that ironically for those who claim to defend Christian Liberty (let's not kid ourselves it isn't "Religious Liberty") come from Proverbs 13:20 “He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.” (King James Bible)
2
Google "Kelly serves as character witness for Marine Colonel accused of sexual harassment by two junior officers."
That Marine colonel, Todd Shane Tomko
" After serving two months of jail time in the summer of 2016, Tomko was arrested again in 2017 on seven felony warrants and charged with “indecent liberties with a child,” with some allegations going back as far as 2002 and involving three separate victims.”
1
This seems rather naïve: "I don’t think officials would deliberately turn to war as a solution to political problems."
Really?! No bar is too low for this administration.
1
You forgot the video tape Putin has in his possession that shows Donald with prostitutes in Russia during the Miss Universe contest. That little bit of hot evidence now defines our foreign policy.
2
Re Ex-general Kelly --
He was supposed to be Trump's adult in the room. A former 4-star general seemingly respected across the board. And yet he has proven himself to be nasty, mean, misogynistic, racist, and as vile as the man he serves. You related the anecdote of Kelly's praise for a colonel who had been accused of sexually harassing two women. Granted, Kelly may be gone some time soon, but, in the meantime, I think his career deserves a much deeper dive. His support of known sexual abusers does not emerge late in one's life and career from nothing. Remember, too, that he initiated the hateful and vile policies being enacted by ICE today. Where does this come from? What other questionable policies and behaviors has he initiated and supported throughout his career?
This sounds like a fantastic opportunity for one of your interns, because we're certainly not going to see this kind of analysis from the NYT's current collection of sycophantic reporters on the news side.
2
The White House engages in robbery via feathering their already extravagant nests - no need for bank robbery.
They have not figured out how to hide photos of wives with black eyes.
Give them time. Zero integrity.
1
Trump is the natural evolution of a Republican Party that has long since abandoned truth and integrity. They have a collective disdain for science and reject policy based on sound evidence. Now, we have the party of the so-called "moral majority" backing a guy who pays off porn stars and brags about grabbing women by their private parts. Pathetic and sick.
4
Violence has flourished while giving the perpetrators a pass in the name of freedom or survival. We as a people have been taught through the enforcement of our laws that violence is often both necessary and unavoidable,
We are incessently told that everything about us is violent. According to our accepted leaders we are sinners at birth in need of redemption from that moment. How can anything about us be without violence? How can we survive without armies and weapons directed against a "foe" that feels and expresses concern in the same way?
Peace like governance is not rocket science, but we have bought a bill of goods which states clearly the contents can only be handled by professional handlers, tells "we the people" we don't have the moxie to govern without the leadership qualities imparted to the few who graduate from qualifying institutions and we better follow orders.
This is not a disease of any sort rather an example of plain vanilla greed which always comes about thanks to the seeds of ignorance and fear sown by those who know the rewards of being at the top of the heap.
Calling a spade a spade may bring about clubs as the trump suit.
2
Liars with no integrity. Cheaters with no morals. Con men with no conscience. That is who is running our government these days.
4
History is filled with people with a dark side who filled important roles and did great things. JFK is a good example. Sometimes the dark side is overlooked, sometimes it is not.
...and the bright side to Trump is?
Vote full Democrat party line, Nov 2018!
Vote full Democrat party line, Nov 2018!
Vote full Democrat party line, Nov 2018!
Vote full Democrat party line, Nov 2018!
Vote full Democrat party line, Nov 2018!
Vote full Democrat party line, Nov 2018!
Vote full Democrat party line, Nov 2018!
6
Who is going to spur the investigation of total lack of security around classified material? You know kind of like the one the GOP launched against private citizen Hillary Clinton for use of a private server. Didn't that go on for years despite the fact that there was no evidence anybody had obtained these emails outside of Congress and the FBI? Where is the outrage GOP? How will you ever call out bad behavior again?
2
Sam Harris said it best: "Trump is Caligula with an iPhone."
2
With the sordid Stormy Daniels revelations adding one more stain to this White House, Trump puts a whole new meaning to the phrase 'state of affairs'. Since Michael Cohen paid the porn star $130,000, are we to conclude that Cohen, not Trump, had sex with the porn star? I wish someone would ask Sarah Huckabee Sanders that question.
2
Trump is shameless, infact shamelessness defines Trump. Everything he does, or has done in the past, can be explained by this defining character trait. GOP, and conservatives have found their Messiah in this flawed king, and learned to be shameless.
2
Rightfully so, the blame belongs to those who saw this president for what they wanted him to be instead of what he is. That's what happens when you see only the rhetoric and not the reality. Even more culpable are those who saw the reality but thought they could play it for all that it is worth (i.e. evangelicals who would forgive Trump as long as he appointed appropriate judges and didn't grab the privates of THEIR women). No shortage of blame to go around. The question most of us are asking is how bad does the stench have to get before people start leaving the room?
1
I contribute to an online discussion board where I suppose I'd be best characterized as the "token liberal". It used to be fun. My opponents in debate typically struck me as smart, literate people, and ad hominem attacks were frowned upon. During 2016, most of them considered Trump to be a joke, as did I.
But shortly after November 8th of that year, a kaleidoscopic turnaround occurred. "Frenemies" became outright enemies. Personal insults became commonplace as part of a rapid decline in civility.
It's only recently that it occurred to me that what's been happening there is a doppelganger of Donald Trump. Complaints about the lack of character, morality, dignity and ethics resident in the White House - the People's House! - are mocked as "sour grapes" and the phenomenon of "whataboutism" is the routine response to almost any objection to the stench emanating from the place.
It's sickening to think that those people, my fenemies for the most part, have harbored such a wide streak of personal corruption within them, out of sight, for all those years. And now they revel in it. They are by no means alone.
I've an aunt who wrote to me shortly after the 2016 election. She's in her 90s, and if she hasn't seen it all, she's seen most of it. She ended that letter with the heart-rending words: "My poor country."
1
It time to make a statement every day and in every way. One small idea. Place your American flag stamps upside down. That’s the international distress signal. Another is to contribute to the ACLU, Common Cause and other groups who are bringing the law suits that are roadblocking Trump where possible.
2
Ignorant and corrupt to the core
2
Donald J Trump, who is the master of hateful speech and cruel remarks, tells the grieving families "Answer hate with love. Answer cruelty with kindness."
Unbelievable.
1
Mercers, Kochs, and Adelson and their like need to be pursued as traitors. They knew what they were doing and were willing to sell out the country. Check out every board and charitable organization they sit on and shame them out with mass protest.
2
It’s not just them. I, too, have found myself so desensitized to these scandals that I forget it’s not normal—I forget this is not how administrations should work. I think we’ve all to some extent resigned to the fact that we have this absurd leadership, and we forget we can do something about it instead of just watching it like a train wreck.
As for Republicans relentlessly defending Trump, I have one word for that—kompromat. It’s one thing to stay silent or dodge the subject when it comes to Trumps actions, but when you appear obsessed with defending his actions and undermining our intelligence community, there’s only one thing driving you, and it’s not loyalty to Trump. It’s pretty clear who the Russians have dirt on.
I don’t care if you’re my best friend or my boss. I’m not giving anyone $130,000 to cover up an affair with a porn star that had nothing to do with me, especially if I’m a lawyer. A bigger force would have to drive me to abandon all my morals and ethics for a douchbag like Trump—the risk of losing everything.
1
Jimmy Swaggart wasn't forgiven by the Bible Belt for consorting with strippers and then lying about his deeds. Why do they "forgive" Trump?
4
Why mention a false statement you know Churchill didn’t make? Why mention that we have a president who has himself been accused of domestic violence as “an allegation of rape by his first wife” only to add that “she later retracted” her allegation? Why decry the White House’s “initial comments as discounting” domestic violence, only to have prefaced it stating that “President Trump” earlier said “he is against domestic violence,” only to add “But when you have to say that, something is wrong.” Yes, something is wrong! And it’s your logic, Kristof, and your blatantly clumsy anti-Trump effort to seem impartially rational and objective about him.
I came, I saw, I currupted.
4
For me, integrity is the primary manifestation of character. So, what we're seeing here is not so much the spread of an illness but, rather, the expression of the true nature of every single person that works in the White House and, sadly, the nature of many of us who voted for this pestilence. No one who works for Trump has been "infected"; they are all carriers of the same disease.
6
Cohen likely added his billable hours till he was reimbursed.
5
When Donald Trump was elected, everyone knew he was a vile man without a moral compass. Few knew who Rob Porter was and even fewer knew how he had abused his wives. Even fewer knew that Trump had an extra-marital affair with a porn star. Still fewer knew that Trump had entered into a hush-money contract to coverup that affair. Now almost everyone knows.
Sadly, not much has changed. Trump holds court in the White House. John Kelly is still trying to anticipate and defuse the next scandal. Michael Cohen is trying to avoid telling the whole truth.
The saddest truth is that courts and judges charged with upholding the Constitution are willing to entertain lawsuits to enforce hush-money contracts.
6
To-MAY-to, to-MAH-to. Stain to some, fresh air to others. So much blather about "damage to democracy", "assault on institutions", blah, blah, churn, churn. Learn a few things. This nation is not, never was and was not intended as a democracy. The last one of those the planet saw was about 2300 years ago when the only pollution in the Aegean was Persian blood. Despite the false narrative of the Hamiltonian acolytes, like just about every scribe at this publication, this is a Republic specifically designed to subordinate a Federal government to State governments. Presidents are elected depending on how STATES vote, not the populace. Not a difficult concept really, but statists can't get it through their heads because they crave control. Luckily the Jeffersonians won out because more signatories preferred freedom to coercion. Like the States in league with the Tories - NY and NJ specifically - Federalists fancy themselves "philosopher kings" in the Platonic model of born to rule. Phooey. And so said some 63 million 15 months ago. In another 33 months, watch that number grow. Bigly.
Further proof there’s one born every minute. So can even use big words.
My mother, bless her soul, used to warn, “if you lie down with dogs you will get up with fleas.”
And what a stain unscrupulous Trump has been, now spreading, contaminating any and all those coming in contact with him, emboldening them to behave like wild beasts as well, vulgar bullying day in and day out, effectively destroying our cultural values, and respect for the rule of law. Untenable!
3
Trump - Integrity...Oil - Water.
3
My bigger concern is that they are so bad at lying. They just can't lie pursuasively, even with the entire Fox News network behind them! You don't discredit a story by paying someone $130,000 not to tell it.
Sometimes it's in the national interest for a politican to lie but even by this meager standard, we're totally outclassed. Vladimir Putin knows how to lie.
1
Bank robbery suspect on the White House staff? How about
LOOTERS of the US Treasury for the Rich and the Russians.
5
"Be sober-minded and alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in your faith and in the knowledge that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering.…" 1 Peter 8-9
2
Worse.
President Tumpr seems to have metastasized throughout much of the Western world.
4
More crimes committed by current or former members of this administration than by any illegal immigrants.
1
Mr. Kristof, you and your readers deserve the Sanctimonious Righteousness Award for 2018. You jump to the conclusion that Kelly condones domestic violence by keeping Porter on a few months after learning of the domestic abuse allegation. What else could it be but a lack of integrity and the “Trump Stain”. Or did it never occur to you that these men felt loyalty to each other, and the Mr. Kelly showed compassion and gave Porter too much of the benefit of the doubt. Mr. Porter is obviously a man that is deeply flawed and needs help. Hope he gets that help and his victims do as well and they can heal. The fanning of the #metoo hysteria sweeping this nation by the media is irresponsible and you are now a clear part of that hysteria, extrapolating what was most likely a misplaced loyalty into a anti-women mindset within the Trump administration. This whole episode has been elevated way beyond where it should be. I just can’t help but wonder where you were and where you are now on Bill Clinton, his serial sexual abuse of women and his enabler, Hilary. Where is the outrage there? The “Clinton Stain” which touches all the Democratic Party and the winners of the Sanctimonious Righteousness Award.
This is a frustrating piece. It is certainly true that Trump and his minions lack integrity. But it also an understatement of epic proportions. Trump has lied and cheated as a matter of course throughout his business and political careers; he is a pronounced white supremacist and xenophobe; he is deeply ignorant; he is a demagogue; and he is clearly under the thumb of the Putin government. Trump has attracted a rogues gallery of sycophants, liars, tools and clowns into his orbit. Given all of that, I can't imagine why Mr. Kristof doesn't think officials "would deliberately turn to war as a solution to political problems." Perhaps Mr. Kristof is unable to acknowledge the full extent of the horror that resides in the White House and has infected the GOP.
3
Why is Rob Porter considered a scandal really? AIt seems his service in his position was without problems. Yes, we are now in an environment where such allegations and his job are not compatible and so he resigned. But he didn't resign because any of his activities on behalf of the Trump administration were scandalous. Porter isn't fake news exactly but it is fake outrage....he didn't resign enough and Trump didn't beat him up enough for some tastes. So while we are on the topic of past abuse and its significance for federal job eligibility, I think it would be a most interesting exercise to compare Porter and his ex-wifves with Robert Mueller and Steven Hatfill. If abuse is a disqualifier, then let's go rigorously apply it where it fits. I'd say an investigator whose investigation abused the heck out of the wrong guy for years maybe is a worse fit for leading an investigation than Porter is getting staff logistics squared away in the White House.
Tell that to Bill Clinton (and, Lindsey Graham, and all the GP hypocrites) who hounded him on as you so blithely suggest are past indescretions.
But, yeah, no. That wouldn't fit the narrative of the narrow minded us v. them, trumpists like yourself.
Its only wrong if its the other guy, huh? Pathetic.
Nick, it is a requirement to be without integrity, in the Trump regime. No one else could stomach the lack of honor, dignity and simple human decency. Trump is a black hole of spite, ignorance and thievery. Anyone in his orbit is worsened and defiled. Just saying.
2
Yet one and all they are a faithful reflection of the society around them. In a nutshell, the practice of lying about self and assassinating the character of others is the evangelical Christian fast track to glory.
A society in which you must constantly watch your back, and dutifully tow the self-serving interests of any corporate bossman you are unfortunate enough to slave for, is one in which factual truth and integrity play no role. "Shareholder interest, above all else." What a nice-sounding way to bring back monarchy and the sycophantic society it engenders.
1
Trump is like a cancerous growth in our government. And what do surgeons do to get rid of cancer? Treat everything part of the body that has been affected either by removing the affected part or chemotherapy or radiation therapy. That's what's needed today for our government to keep it healthy.
1
Metastasizing?
The tumor is not Trump. It is the already metastasized Republican Party. The republicans are as happy with Trump as pigs are happy in slop. This watch out nonsense confuses symptom with disease.
2
My theory: Cohen was reimbursed by Melania. It was worth $130,000 to her to have Donald involved with someone, anyone, else.
4
“Sometimes politicians, liberals and conservatives alike, are unprincipled in pursuit of principles they are passionate about.” -NK
Consider Sen. Debbie Stabenow.
Stabenow calls for Sen. Al Franken to resign from the Senate, for essentially having a bad sense of humor, and she gives Mr. Thrush (Remember? https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/11/20/16678094/glenn-thrush... an interview https://nyti.ms/2Bsc2N6 to further his career? Franken’s career is over, Thrush kept his job and only had a 90-day NYT time-out.
No, Stabenow is furthering Thrush’s career, but that is not what she is up to.
Stabenow is a political opportunist and the “most liberal Senator” in Congress: Being the most liberal Senator she “get in bed” with anyone to knock 45 and Republicans.
1
I'll feel safer when the other two people in this photo are gone.
The NRA manage, via its minions, to have a law passed that would forbid gathering data and publish analyses on the issue of guns.
Now, think about this for a moment, and tell me we are in a normal state of affairs.
In addition, there is truly only one driver behind the madness, MONEY!
NRA at home and the military-industrial complex abroad.
Spare me the details about the 2nd amendment.
4
Nobody cares to solve the problem of school children being slaughtered with military style assault weapons. Given that, how important is domestic violence or porn star affairs in the public's mind?
3
"The White House would never be caught with a bank robbery suspect on its staff...'
Sure about that?
2
I cannot fathom why anyone with integrity would stoop to work for this administration, which seems to work diligently to make the "swamp" wider, deeper, and populated by nastier creatures. Just a year in, and it is the most blatantly corrupt administration in history.
1
As a trump enabler you also lack integrity. So much of trump/Kelly is traceable to the stain of the lies of the racism of the odious Charles Murray. But you have yet to condemn it. So you reap what you and white America have sown.
1
Agreed, we knew what he was before he was in. Still he got elected. The lack of screaming on the mountaintops about the way this administration views their wrongdoings say vs. Pres. Clinton and Hillary Clinton are stunning. Everything this president accuses others of - he is Guilty of to the 10th Power. AND STILL, people accept whatever he says if he says it enough. Where are our Democrats, where are the Repubs with standards?!?!? Soon we will think ALL are on the take from lobbyist pay-offs. there is nothing they do or can do that is stopped and they are dismantling our beautiful country right before our eyes!
Reminds me of Bill Clinton’s immortal phrase:
“I did not have sex with that woman’.
And it really didn’t matter.
It must matter to people who are still thinking/writing about it 20 years later.
This whole administration is one big fiasco. Humor is the only way to go here. Let's start by calling DJT's upcoming military parade the "Bone Spurs Victory Parade".
1
I wonder if Trump has ever heard the word "integrity" and knows it's meaning. Or maybe he doesn't know how to spell it and therefore cannot look up its meaning in a dictionary. Oh and that goes for his supporters who deal in monosyllables and integrity has 4 syllables.
1
The Fish rots from the Head down !
1
Drumpf spent his entire adult life as a con man, a serial liar, a business and marital cheat, a huckster, a narcissist, and a fraudster. Those of us in the majority of voters in the Russian tainted 2016 election, knew that going in and voted accordingly to keep him out of our lives. To expect him to turn into a moral and successful leader just because he sits in the Oval Office once in a while is an expectation just plain as dumb as he is. He is just playing out his life-long moral bankruptcy in a different place than Drumpf tower...
1
When we elected President a textbook sociopath, a remorseless and incessant liar, a racist, and a sex offender, America was simply poisoned, and will remain so as long as Trump is in office. He was prefigured in "Richard lll": "that bottled spider, that foul bunched-back toad".
There is no conceivable remedy short of his legal removal.
2
A metastasized stain indeed that exposed all the other malignant stains in Congress, and particularly the cast of evil miscreants the orange stain surrounded himself with starting with his witless evil family. They are corrupt know nothing bumbling incompetents tearing up our country and the planet. We HAVE to vote out every republican every single election to clean house. And overturn Citizens United! Resist and persist!!
1
Maybe Cohen was reimbursed by Putin. Or the NRA. Or maybe he was reimbursed by Roger Stone or Sheldon Adelson. It does NOT matter at all. Actually, Trump cavorting with a porn star doesn't matter.
All that matters is that for some reason, Trump is not bothered by the fact that Putin interfered in our elections.
95
Not sure this is true:
"The White House would never be caught with a bank robbery suspect on its staff"
2
The article abruptly escalates toward the end from encounters with porn stars to speculation about "some military clash that changes the subject" and "war as a solution to political problems".
Wow. Perhaps a bit less hyperbole might lower the temperature of our discourse and help to keep our heads clear.
My big question is "Is Trump a typical big businessman?" That is, all all of these "capitans of commerce as dishonest as Trump?" If so, the GOP needs to stop telling us that government should be run like a business.
1
But don't you feel better knowing that he's "totally against domestic violence"? He'll win us all over once he declares that he's also totally against school shootings, totally against cannibalism, and totally against mass starvation.
1
And, I know EXACTLY what specific type of stain, HE leaves, and spreads.
Care to guess ????
It's far worse than a stain or even a black eye. It is a scourge, an infestation, an epidemic, a pestilence, a cancer, or a plague. The body politic needs to have this horrible growth removed.
1
It's time for John Kelly to resign.
1
"The White House would never be caught with a bank robbery suspect on its staff."
Well, T. Rump boasted before the election that he could shoot someone and his base would still support him.
A murderer wannabe. A president wannabe. The question is, what would/will the White House NOT be caught with?
1
A typical bank robber gets away with $10,000 or less. Trump University stole $40 million from trusting "students." The class action lawsuit against Trump U was settled for $25 million. In other words, the typical bank robber is just a piker compared to the Dean Emeritus of Trump University.
I feel extremely sad because we the people elected Trump...most people could not see through him or they agreed with his sexist and racist attitudes. No one called him out...he was rich and famous and made promises...
We should be ashamed of him and of ourselves.
2
"The White House would never be caught with a bank robber on its staff."
Really, you are sure about that? What's your definition of a bank robber? And, even if it is a man in a mask with a gun, I'm not sure, even then.
And, forgive me, but I'm interested in why Ivana retracted her rape charge. What was the price, and who paid it? Michael Cohen?
1
"Bringing down"? Brought down. Everyone who has joined trump, in any capacity, has been brought down. Every utterance is another disgrace on their shredded character. Never will I look at a trump enabler as anything other than a bottom feeder.
2
The Trump stain touches everyone in ways big and small. We've seen how Scott Pruit virtually always travels in first class, private jets, or military aircraft. The same holds true for Steve Mnuchin, who frequently brings his wife along. Tom Price was unable to deliver the health care changes sought by Trump, but he was only finally ousted because of his outrageous travel expenses. This week, David Shulkin who was appointed by Trump to lead Veteran Affairs had his travel scandal. Bear in mind that Shulkin had served quietly and competently as Under-Secretary at the VA in the Obama administration. As Secretary, Shulkin arranged for his wife to accompany him to Europe in first class at taxpayer expense, and accepted a gift of tickets to the women's finals at Wimbledon. This display of entitlement is consistent with a White House that has become just another Trump property. Indeed, it is surely a bizarre White House when Betsy DeVos exhibits the most rectitude with regard to her travel expenses because, as a billionaire, she has a fleet of private jets at her disposal, and does not bill the government for their use. I have to think the associated costs easily outstrip her salary as a member of Trump's Cabinet. We live in a country where some people work for gas, while others work for jet fuel.
1
We know from where that stain emanates. This fishy administration rots from the head, a head which is vacant on most matters, a head which does not have one iota how to govern. The American Electorate goofed. It made a terrible mistake. It was aided and abetted by an Electoral College which did not do its duty by preventing a deranged demagogue from assuming office. That is the main function of the EC. It failed miserably.
Until November rolls around, it is up to the Republicans who control both Houses of Congress to do something to stop this know-nothing president. So far, like the cowardice displayed by the EC Republicans in Congress have failed miserably to uphold the laws of this land. Instead Republicans, if you can fathom this, are looking to blame President Obama, Hillary Clinton, the FBI, the Department of Justice, and every other agency which contradicts Trump and his minions. The White House Press Office and Sara Huckleberry are a joke. The pack of lies she tells daily would make Goebbels proud.
If Republicans continue to fail to do their duty, we will be watching the Democrats to see what they do beside posturing for a presidential run. Dems better beware. We expect them to something for US and not just care about their own self-interest. We are watching.
DD
Manhattan
Those who lie down with dogs get up with fleas, and the Trump white house is nothing but a big fat flea circus.
If there were any decent, smart people before, they left to preserve some self-respect. Those who stay are clueless.
The banana republicans in congress and Trump's execrable base like this junk, though. And we are all held hostage in a nightmare soap opera by the likes of them.
How do you know that a bank robber would not be on the White House payroll?
I put nothing past this Administration. It could very well be Trump who is the bank robber on the payroll.
I doubt that Trump paid the $130,000. out of his own pocket. He probably had his Foundation pay it. Or maybe a loan from the Russians.
Cohen and all the rest of the lawyers around Trump are giving the Law Profession a very bad reputation.
Now I understand why Shakespeare said "First we kill all the lawyers."
The danger of one psychopath in a position of power is that he can manipulate ordinary people to forsake their own reason and integrity. What social psychologists know is that all it takes is one good person to call foul to break up this dastardly pattern. As horrible as things still are at the Whitehouse with our Psychopath in Chief, the tide has turned. Apparently it has taken crimes against women (not gun violence, not black lives matter, not botched natural disaster relief) for good people to confront the evil.
Lawmakers have NOT been turned to enablers and hypocrites, they have always been enablers and hypocrites. It is just now this particular lot of lawmakers is incredibly inept at covering their tracks.
Being lectured by Clintonistas on integrity is almost worth it in amusement.
Reminded of Eliot Spitzer Ashley Dupre story. Spitzer resigned.
"The White House would never by caught with a bank robbery suspect on its staff".
Are you sure about that?
Here's a novel idea: Instead of posting here our energies should be devoted to creating a flood of letters to our members of Congress. On what topic? Not Impeachment! The thrust should focus on introduction of measures to end Citizens United. > Our Congressmen are on par with porn stars with the money they receive to keep either keep quiet at crucial times or to outright vote for poorly conceived measures.
Water, even sewer water, seeks its own level.
We've never had a president like this one. He is the opposite of integrity. Nobody knows how far or how deep the stain will spread. That is saying something, given how much damage the stain has already done.
The photo is a case in point. Mr. Kelly, neither staunchly decent nor competent, will always be remembered for his racist, ignorant tirades. Mr. Kushner, who has lied countless times, might have conspired with an adversary to undermine our democracy. Mr. Porter beat, choked and mauled his wives.
1
The drum beat of war with North Korea is not a coincidence. It is indeed Trump's
ace in the hole if he feels the Investigation of his collusion with Russia in his election and so many other of his soiled activities are about to be revealed. He is a completely selfish being without a moral center and would think nothing of taking this country to a diversionary war to save his own neck. He is absolutely not to be trusted. For this reason Mueller's investigation should be completed soon before Trump can fire him or Rosenstein sp the truth can be set out.
1
As a doctor I g8ve this administration 6 months to live.
Well, we can hope.
To work in the Trump administration one has to not only be a liar but a consummate liar. Sean Spicer was a liar, but just not good enough. Now there is Ms Sanders who delivers prepared lies and can ad lib then lie about the ad lib without taking a breath or blinking. Gen Kelly was called by someone in the administration as a “big, fat liar”. The President’s lawyers don’t want him to testify in front of Mueller because his tendency to lie and exaggerate. What is most worrisome is how the public views this administration; all of this and more is now taken as what is expected. The President’s penchant for being the most, best, greatest has already been achieve by his administration being the most immoral ever - including Caligula’s.
What makes you think "the White House would never be caught with a bank robbery suspect on its staff"? The president himself is a sexual predator, and he's using the office to make money for himself (check out his website, where you can buy a "Make America Great Again" hat--don't be fooled into buying copies). He's doing all this completely in the open, and the Republicans are enabling him, which means they['re complicit.
Oh Nick, "heroic exceptions"? Name one who has acted with integrity, not just said some fine words. Its all well and good for Flake, McCain, and Corker to say some critical things, but until they and others act, they are just participants in the many layers of collusion as the Trump Administration continues to "Make America Second Rate Again".
It’s bad enough that Trump appears to have been cheating on Melania right after she had their baby
Other than the repulsive image of Trump touching anyone, why is this any of your business.
1
He is poison.
I hope everyone who takes a job in that nest of vipers leaves with their reputations in such tatters they can't get a job digging ditches.
As George Bush once famously said about the Oval Office (approximate wording): "It could do with a good scrubbing."
Until Trump I never wondered what it would be like to have a president and administration borne of the sewer. We who have taste and class will always remember the depths to which the know-nothings have dragged this country.
Let's lay out the logic of the Stormy Daniels affair. The important feature of the story is not the hush money. Even if it's proven to be an illegal campaign contribution, it won't bring down the presidency. What's relevant is that it adds credence to the Steele Dossier and the description of the "Golden Shower" episode involving Trump, Russian prostitutes, and urinating on a Moscow hotel bed once slept in by Barack Obama. And stay tuned for Stormy's account of how Trump once begged one of her associates to engage in a threesome, which will lend the Moscow episode further plausibility.
Again, cavorting with prostitutes and porn stars won't bring Trump down. After all, he's bragged that he could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and get away with it. Except for this: what if Putin has a videotape? And what if Putin used it to blackmail Trump into hyping Hillary's hacked emails during the campaign? Remember, Trump wasn't really trying to win the race. He danced to Putin's tune to weaken Hillary's expected presidency. To Trump, "no collusion" actually means "no collusion TO WIN."
But Trump is now president, so he probably could even survive release of the "Golden Shower" videotape. But his fatal mistake during the campaign was actually believing that his voters would have cared a whit about his Moscow escapades. So he succumbed to Putin's blackmail scheme. And now Trump is cornered--Putin is currently blackmailing him about the fact that he previously blackmailed him!
We must recognize a most important fact, everything Trump is doing publicly is a diversion.
Security clearances in the White House? A diversion. The president can approve anybody he wants. There is no there there.
Hush money to a porn star? A diversion. Payments to civilians are not a crime.
Collusion with Russians? A diversion. Collusion is has no standing legally.
Catastrophic budget cuts to social programs? A diversion. Congress will pay no attention to the Donald's delusional budget proposals.
Like a stage magician, the donald waves his left hand around, diverting your attention while his right hand is briskly dismantling government agencies and programs. The foundations of our Democracy are being undermined behind our backs as our attention is being diverted by the media's obsession with the everyday scandals of a three ring circus of the absurd.
Make no mistake, this is an existential and intentional threat to our Democracy. And, so far, it is succeeding according to the nefarious plan.
1
Re your "Trump Stain:- Nick - the photo of today's 'axis of evil' - Kushner Kelly, Porter, by AFP/Kamm) - is witness to the horror of our days. Lack of integrity, whether or not Churchill said so, is becoming the downfall of our society under the "Trump Stain". Domestic violence, spousal abuse can compare with the massacre of high school students here in Florida yesterday. The President's lawyer's personal pay-off to a porn star for a roll in the hay is just another irredeemable factor in the crumbling of our democracy. Using the word 'mestastazing' is chilling in the light of what happened yesterday before this gun violence - AGAIN! - was reported during the late day in Florida. We grieve and weep and not a tear can bring back the lost and innocent ones.
You really hit the nail on the head with the observation about the lack of integrity in the White House. But what is most alarming is the fact that this lack of integrity is permeating the system and goes far beyond the White House. Just read the news about violence against Kardashian wannabe couples in Facebook. Previous taboos have been removed under this president and the bar is so low for decent behavior that what was previously unthinkable is now ho-hum. Semen stained dress??? At this point in our history, it would be almost laughable--unless it could be used for a political end. But there would really be little disgust and recoil. So sad.
Why does your overweening hatred of Trump override basic journalistic norms, such as using a retracted allegation to support the statement: "We have a president who has himself been accused of domestic violence".
the reason churchill never did utter, or sputter the "integrity" remark is likely because he saw the other edge of the blade, not the limited "moral" dimension, "dishonor"" as mr kristof has it in today's reach past signifiance toward further trump bashing (in this light, btw, thanks to NYT for letting the maldives story, a serious geopol problem, so far way underreported, past the scrumbuggery into print).
"integrity" is also a formal classification of a state or condition that carries no moral judgement, the "integrity" of an ecologcial system unspolied, or the lack thereof in the press, losing trust as it dis-integrates into adcovacy, husksterism, if you will.
the same applies to the self, one’s self, and the consistency of one's conduct, which in this case, like him or not, cannot be denied to trump...his integrity in this regard, is uncompromised, unlike the wobbly "don't vote for the bill i wrote" self nancy pelosi is trying to hold together with spit and string while she prepares for her close ups.
or, to this disappointed progressive, the total DISintegration of the democratic party, no self, so there, no wit or wisdom, no mark, no hallmark, no identity...only rage, see the eyes pop and the voices rise as faux dems fulminate, telling anyone who will sit for it that they hate trump, the trump they then call, the national distributor of hate...textbook personality disorder, you could look it up.
Who knew?
During the campaign, he said “I’ve said if Ivanka weren’t my daughter, perhaps I’d be dating her.”
That was ALL I needed to know........
“Looking at the chaos in the White House these days, I worry about inexperience, incompetence and lack of judgment. But maybe I worry most about an utter lack of integrity — and the way it is proving infectious.”
Congress aids and abets this malfeasance in countless alarming ways. Here lies the true worry.
2
"The White House would never be caught with a bank robbery suspect on its staff"
Nevertheless, we have someone in the White House who borrowed millions from banks and then had the loans discharged in bankruptcy - taking money from the bank and not giving it back.
If they wear a wear a hoodie and use a gun, they go to prison, instead if they wear a five thousand dollar suit and commit their theft with a pen, that's okay.
No. THIS White House would be caught with a bank robber on its staff....and have no problem with it.
2
Spot on, as usual. Character and integrity do matter. Period. As insane as it is to have this man as the most powerful leader in the free world, it is equally impossible to understand the millions of U.S. citizens who apparently DON'T care about integrity or personal honor in their elected officials. DT's character, or lack thereof, has been well publicized throughout his life...he is a liar, a racist, a misogynist, proudly ignorant, a cheat, a bully, a case of arrested development, and completely narcissistic. Yet, the GOP, the so-called "religious" right, soccer moms and dads, business leaders, the working poor and neighbors just looked the other way voted for this morally depraved man-child. What does that say about Americans? Every American who supports this morally bankrupt administration is complicit in contributing to the undermining of democracy and principles that uphold freedom and progress.
1
I wish that all the people who have written an answer to this, (so cogent) opinion could get together and DO SOMETHING to cause an upheaval in this phony administration.
But then again, I just saw a re-run of "The Wizard of Oz"; waddaya gonna do?
1
Historians will write that the Trump era was when America hit the point of no return into a steep decline. #FallOfAmericanEmpire
2
There’s something important I think we need to keep in mind when we read about this behavior. (I’m also thinking of individuals such Mr. Shulkin and Ms. Fitzgerald.)
It’s understood that most people in this “administration” are corrupt, venal, and sleazy - those traits would seem to be requirements for employment.
But then we wonder - how can they be so stupid to think they won’t be caught. The answer, frighteningly, must be that most often they don’t get caught. That is, they get away with their bad behavior. We are likely seeing only the proverbial tip of the iceberg.
2
The apparent total lack of concern for this nation's security is frightening. We'll increase the military budgets by billions and let our cyber defenses decay. It simply shows the absolute incompetence of this president and his administration that would rather spend $120,000 on a marital jaunt to Europe than protect American citizenry.
2
And Mr. Kristof forgot to mention that the Porter affair showed that keeping him in place, and the allegations hushed was a bigger priority than the proper protocols regarding the handling of classified materials. Lock him up! Lock him up! Lock him up!
2
The stain of this presidency is no surprise. Before the 2016 election, more than half of us understood that this man was a disgusting human being, mentally unstable, and wholly unfit for office. We saw him pollute everything he touched.
Of course Trump surrounds himself with those who lie the same way that the rest of us breathe. Of course Trump has no problem appointing men who abuse women. This is who he is, and this is who they are. And they will continue to stain our nation, for one simple reason.
And it is this -- his voters have absolutely no problem with any of this disgusting behavior. They weren't gullible people who actually believed he'd bring their blue collar jobs back, or who would provide them "the best" health care. Trump voters are smarter than that. They weren't suckered. They saw him for the dirty, unfit man he was, and this is what they themselves wanted for our nation's highest office.
And Trump supporters will vote him in for a second term. His approval rating among them is unchanged from when he took office.
So we may well look at the continuing stain Trump has visited upon our country, but understand where this stain originated. He didn't seize power in a coup. Tens of millions of people voted him not in spite of, but because of his disgusting behavior. They are just as much a stain on our nation as he is. He is nothing but a reflection of who they are. And our once great country has been so dirtied it will take decades to remove the stench.
4
Somebody should be paying a gift tax on the $130k. Otherwise its tax evasion which is a felony. Lock him up!!
3
This parasitic organism (the trump org) is destroying its host, the GOP, and the GOP is destroying America. The longer they leave this cancer un-treated, as you say Mr. Kristof, the worse it gets.
We can understand the diagnosis and prognosis from trump and his ilk, it's bad, really bad. What explains the GOP's lily-livered non-response to the disease? The possible answers are almost too scary to contemplate.
2
Lack of integrity and blind loyalty to Trump haven't "spread" - they're job requirements in this White House. Comey was fired for NOT having those qualifications.
1
Integrity! My favorite word! Lacking in the entire WHITEHOUSE! Question is how we get rid of them all. My country is disappearing right before my eyes.
Just looking at the three pictured sickens me. Porter, a serial assaulter of women, Kushner, who cannot pass security clearance for failing to accurately complete the clearance paperwork and being under a cloud of suspicion for money-laundering, and Kelly, who has been exposed as a xenophobe and liar. These questions remain: (1) Why isn't Porter facing felony assault charges? (2) Why does Kushner continue to have unfettered access to the nation's most sensitive security information? (3) Why hasn't Kelly resigned of his own volition instead of offering up his resignation to Trump? Drain the swamp? Start by vacuuming out all the filth in the Oval Office. Then move on to the Capitol, where GOP legislators sit on their hands and keep their mouths shut as they watch Trump and associates imperil this country on a daily basis.
I’m still stuck on the fact the FBI did nothing to bring Trump down before he became a candidate, even though the lying, and the fraud, and the money laundering, the Russians, the racism and the misogyny were all there in sufficient quantity to drown him. In other words, the FBI did nothing to protect the nation from this clown, which also means that standards for the presidency are none existent. How did this crook get security clearance? Oh, he got elected; that’s all it takes and we don’t get to ask anymore! It’s a little late now. Damage done. But the burning question for me is: why didn’t they bring him down? What was all that smoke about Hillary's emails? Deserves investigation. Ha Ha.
Anyhow, sewage under the bridge, but the Dems had better have a solid plan in place to capitalize on the firing of Mueller because it’s going to happen. Acting shocked and appalled while being outmaneuvered by low rodent cunning isn’t going to cut it. It’s time to step up their game to counter the biggest con ever run in America; Trump makes Bernie Madoff look like Mother Theresa. It won’t be enough to beat the GOP at the polls; the Republican Party must be thoroughly and permanently discredited. It would be a service to the nation. Stately decorum in the face of this malevolent freak-show is a waste of decency. The good news is that Mueller is shaping up as perfectly irresistible bait for the sting of the century: to catch the crooked President and sink his party.
2
In the end, nobody cares. And the reason nobody cares is that people like Kristof cheerfully ignore excesses, scandals and abuses when politicians they like are involved, and launch into hysterical, pompous denunciations at pretty much any suspicion on the part of politicians they hate. People who supported (and support) Trump do so-- at least in part-- because, whatever else you can say about him, he's got all the right enemies.
"has rippled through much of the G.O.P. (with some heroic exceptions)," Ha, Ha. Name who, what, when, & where. Cheap talk isn't courage or integrity. Please leave the humour to someone who is good at it like Dana Milbank of the Post.
Magnificent column. "Lack of Integrity" is correct of course, but too polite.
Should the Devil Incarnate be described with such subtlety? With Trump, there is exactly one rule: loyalty to him. There are no other rules. None. He owns the White House. He is owning the Justice Department, the State Department, the Treasury, the FBI, the Congress, and with the splendid Tax strategy, he owns the famous 1% that owns American business. He is CEO of our armed services. We are own and controlled by a man with one rule.
The real tragedy here is the inherent lack of integrity demonstrated repeatedly by the Clintons. Bill's amoralism brought us Bush, and Hillary's vulnerability (vulneraBillity?) to the same kind of charges turned off enough voters to create the current catastrophe.
On the other hand, President Obama had integrity to spare, and was vilified and thwarted by his political opponents.
Falstaff spoke of honor, which is integrity distilled:
"What is honor? A word. What is in that word “honor”? What is that 'honor'? Air. A trim reckoning. Who hath it? He that died o' Wednesday. Doth he feel it? No. Doth he hear it? No. 'Tis insensible, then? Yea, to the dead. But will it not live with the living? No. Why? Detraction will not suffer it. Therefore, I’ll none of it. Honor is a mere scutcheon. And so ends my catechism."
Whatever may happen in the months and years to come, I shall never view America with the same optimism I once had. Elected and appointed officials have demonstrated immorality, dishonesty, incompetence, and maliciousness that belie their titles as public servants, but they soon shall pass into history.
The real malignancy, the cancer that may never be cured, is the core of Americans who have elected these people, cheered them, defended them, and enabled them. We thought they were gone, lost with the end of Jim Crow and the Ugly American. They are not. They lurk inside us. We never can forget that they are there.
1
Enablers? Please. They are well beyond complicit.
And hypocrites? How can you use such silly terms for something so serious? And very dark.
My concern is that even when Donald Trump goes, the virus that he has implanted in Washington will be left in little nooks and crannies and metastasize and grow again just as Camus described in his book 'The Plague'
Trump and his administration are more than chaos, they wreak havoc whatever they touch and wherever they go.
They are morally and intellectually bankrupt.
And what about all of these employees who have had access to classified material that they were not entitled to?
1
I don't know about anyone else, but I know for sure that Trump would go to war for a political/personal benefit! Cheney and W did, even though they probably convinced themselves otherwise.
This is no more a country you want your children to grow. They will never know what is right and what is wrong. Another few years like this and we are doomed for generations to come.
The lawlessness and disrespect for the institutions will eventually enter every facet of our life including economy. When that happens we will be like Russia, a huge military power with no economy and that my friends will be the end of United States as we know it today or knew before Trump became the President.
Already metastatized to an entire political party, and only surgical removal can save the Republic.
"I don’t think officials would deliberately turn to war as a solution to political problems,"
I don't think of N Kristof as a naive guy but come on. Of course these people would.
The problem with this, and so many other overwrought and shrill attacks against Trump is that the author's preference was Hillary 2016. Donald Trump will never achieve their level of deceit, rot and corruption. Even if he were the terrible man you endlessly accuse him of, no one will ever compare to the Clintons.
1
There is a bank robber on the President's staff, Mr. Trump.
Congress leaders refuse to do what they are obligated and have sworn to do when a deceitful sociopath has completely sabotaged the proper role of President and undermined the rule of law. Until Congress accepts their sworn responsibilities, the cancer will continue to grow and fester.
Agree completely Except your comment about the White House never letting a bank robber in their midst. This White House would wear that distinction like a badge of honor Liars have to have very long memories
This administration is a train wreck and the cars are piling up. Trump goes low. Then, miraculously he finds a way to go lower...
Nick, it is a lifestyle for fake forty five. He's never known integrity and surrounds himself (mostly his children until the disaster in 2016) with sycophants. He has a capacity to bring people into his orbit who quickly lose any touch to reality and decency (the deplorables to start, GOP leaders, and now the staff). It truly is breathtaking.
1
This moral and ethical decay has been in a slow burn for quite some time - my first recollection is Reagan (“there you go again...’) during the Carter debates. My young and uninformed political mind instantly knew this guy didn’t represent anything in which I believed. I’ve voted Democratic ever since. The republican’s disinformation, dumbing-down of America, gerrymandering, bad-science,and blame-game slow-drip has slowly eroded us to this point with the coup d’etat being the grifter in the WH. The US has been had by this most vile and unAmerican political party - we are now the fully cooked frog in the now boiling water.
People who are proud to be manipulators never recognize nor care about their own crooked tendencies and behavior.
Pure, relentless, lustful greed are at the heart of this administration. All problems stem from that.
RP, chief of staff at the start claims fifty times (worse or chaotic?) than the public had realized.
Ripley says, believe or not. I am not totally shocked, but the
Electoral College is a cruelty joke for not carrying out what the
founders ordered.
Shame.
You could see this tragedy coming for 30 years..... in big bold letters and the brightest of lights... and STILL, the American electorate, just enough of it, welcomed it! Ultimately, we get what we deserve!
Various media are describing the complete lack of morality apparent in WH staff as a stain, a cancer, a disease that is spreading. What utter nonsense.! One is either a moral, ethical person or is not. You don't turn into a sycophant and a liar overnight. Sarah Huckabee Sanders is not being "forced" to stand up and lie every day. There is something called a door. Walk through it even if it costs a fat salary. A soul is a terrible thing to waste.
As for John Kelly, the worst of him was not revealed because of the rigid structures and discipline of the army. Same with Flynn. When away from that environment, their utter incompetence and moral turpitude was revealed. They thought they were entitled to cash in and make big. You can't take their background and poor upbringing away.
Haven't we all met dozens of successful people who just weren't brought up right, who missed out on decency and right and wrong? They don't change their stripes and they aren't infected by other people.
Trump has managed to totally dumb down on what it means to be President and what it means to govern or as in this case not govern America. At least previous Administrations have made an attempt at addressing personal integrity and character as something valuable. Trump makes no such pretentions.
No matter what or how all that matters is results and a brutal and despicable practicality that lacks all honor even corrupting a former Marine general. If this is where we're at and this is where we are headed as a nation I'm not even sure if God can help us.
Woe is me and woe is America with an arrogant bully and fraud with bad orange hair in the White House.
It is true that fish rot first at tha head and that this particular fish is rotten even to its tailfin. The notion, however, that the presidential rot is "turning lawmakers into enablers and hypocrites" misses an important point. Said lawmakers have been enabling hypocrites for a very long time. The current president is the product of such rot, not the other way around.
1
Look at the trump's track record. Follow the money! Three decades of laundering Russian mob money...totally imbedded with the Russians. The degrading of the WH is unprecedented!
It's a little late to bemoan a man who began his presidential campaign ranting about imaginary "Mexican rapists."
"Integrity" issues seem way beside the point.
What makes you so sure this White House would never be caught with a bank robbery suspect on its staff? They'd probably just write it off as business acumen.
I remember well the campaign rhetoric and how Trump bragged about how he'll 'get all the best people'. Well he got wife beaters, Russian spies, white supremacists, and countless run-of-the mill con men, tax cheats, money launderers and common thieves. I'm sure of course that there are a few good people among them, but not mostly. Trump will happily explain how immigration should characterized by 'extreme vetting', but as far as letting people in to the White House goes, any sleazy friend of his is OK.
6
This is a heist, not a presidency, and we need to stop pretending about what this really is before it's too late.
7
"But Trump aides don’t seem to believe in any cause larger than themselves or their leader."
And that's the problem. And the size of that problem is magnified by the fact that the man they enable is not some feeble minded Caspar Milquetoast, but rather a flaming narcissist whose impulsiveness threatens our democracy and the peace of the world.
3
John Kelly decorated 4 star General now is a disgrace to this Country and to the World .
Who knew ?
Months ago Time magazine had a cover picture of John Kelly looking calm and I saved it thinking a picture of reason in trump white house. The day Kelly insulted the Congress woman and the Widow of War Hero I trashed the magazine in my dust bin.
John Kelly never apologized to the War Widow or to the Congress Woman , that tells one about this man.
8
As Scott Adams pointed out on Periscope numerous times, the possibility of a sex scandal has long been baked into the Trump presidency and that Donald is immune short of financial misconduct. This does really enrage the never Trumpers and the Dems, but Trump never promised that he was a saint when he campaigned. We hired a CEO-president and not a monk.
The truth is, not only does Trump lack integrity, but he, along with a third of all Americans (Republicans, evangelical Christians, and other bottom-feeders), doesn't know the meaning of integrity. Trump is in his element.
Of course Kelly is a smart man; he knows the meaning of integrity; he just doesn't have any. Over the past 6-months he has shown such disdain for truth that it is time to investigate his past. Did he ever display integrity? Was he always a Trump staining a uniform? But he is only typical of Trump's league of extraordinarily virtueless men.
It is so very sad that America has fallen so far. Russia is the least of our problems. The heart of our dilemma is the number of Americans who believe Trump is a good role model for their children. How do you teach these people the meaning of integrity? How will our country survive when so many are morally bankrupt?
6
Trump is a stain alright. However, I will refrain from identifying the sort of stain he is on these respectable pages. My only exception to this piece is that I don't necessarily believe a lack integrity is metastasizing, rather it seems more likely to me that anyone who would voluntarily work for Donald Trump (with a few minor exceptions) came to the position with either an ulterior motive, or with a part of his soul missing.
2
It's beginning to look like everyone in the White House is a victim of Stockholm Syndrome.
Trump has some Manson-like charm that persuades people to set aside a lifetime of learned and experienced decency, and to embark on unspeakable evil, while envisioning Trump as a messianic figure. This obviously disregards some people who were evil before arriving, e.g., Pruitt, Mnuchin, Mulvaney. But everyone said Kelly was one of the good guys. What happened? Were we wrong or has he changed?
And there is some 38% percent of the electorate that apparently has pretty much been victimized by Stockholm Syndrome also. Et tu the Evangelicals.
It seems like Trump could sell cow pies to dairy farmers. Scary, dangerous man.
4
"Every administration suffers embarrassments."
I'm struggling to think of one with the Obama administration.
6
Domestic violence--the starting point of Mr. Kristof's column--is indeed a horrible, unacceptable, and tragically sad aspect of life, although apparently not sufficiently horrifying to the current administration to cleanse itself of it, until brought to the surface by the press.
The liar-in-chief has now come out as "totally opposed" to domestic violence
--a profile in courage.
A minor point in the scheme of things: Mr. Kristof's math is off. If "almost 20 people . . . per minute" went to emergency rooms from this scourge of domestic violence, that would come to roughly 10,000,000 victims annually. The correct number (based on 28,000 hospitalized victims/year) is about 3 per hour. No less a horror for that but let's keep innumeracy out of it.
1
Boycott, protest, refuse to pay taxes, call these crooks out from every podium. This has to be stopped. Trump is the most serious pathogen to hit this country in my 69 years.
Get 'em all out, whatever it takes. The American Spring would be a good start, let Biden lead it!
2
The problem is not the hired help the problem is Trump
2
"The problem is not the hired help the problem is Trump".
The problem is the hired help, and Trump, and the despicable GOP congress that enables it all. But let us never forget that the biggest problem, the excruciating problem, is the some 40% of our fellow Americans who support this malignancy (popularity rising in recent polling) and any of the rest of us who fail to live up to our citizenship responsibilities to become informed and to vote. No excuses in 2018.
1
The longer the con, the more opportunity for it to be exposed. The problem is that there is a majority in both Houses willing to facilitate the con and a large percentage of citizenry who do not care that it is a con. Then you have the propaganda machine pile on with people writing revisionist "non-fiction" books to further entrench the con in the minds of people to help keep it going. We need a Dem majority to stop the madness. Am i happy with the Dems? No. But at least they will turn this around and we can clean it up with real leadership in 2020. Hopefully the damage will be reparable. Ignore the Russian trolls and wiki "leaks". VOTE
5
Trump may be more vulnerable in the short-term to "death by a thousand cuts" than by Robert Mueller's investigation. And the "cuts" are accelerating: Bannon, Spicer, Stormy, Melania, Wolff, Priebus, McCain, Romney, Porter, Ivana, Kushner (Where's he been lately?), et al.
4
Wait! Wait! Wait! You're all writing as if it's a done deal. Either nuclear war or a fallen America a la Trump. There are alternatives. Or at the least, an alternative. Impeachment could still happen. I still have hope that Trump supporters will wake up, en masse! Surely, you can't still fool all the people all the time. So cheer up. Say you're prayers, openly and fervently. All us Christians are not so easily fooled. There are those of us who are horrified at what Trump is espousing as "Christian." ACE tactics are not Christian. Immigration policy is not Christian. The way women are treated by Trump et al is not Christian. There is very little Trump does that is Christian. The only thing he does is, perhaps, anti-abortion, and I'm not sure he cares about that. All that aside, the man can't keep on like he's going. Something's going to give, and I have an idea the American people are going to rise up as one and say that's ENOUGH! And when they do. . . And when they do. watch how fast Trump and party run away, like the pests and low life they are.
1
There are not enough negative adjectives to describe Trump and his cohorts. But the issue here is the attitude about women that is as embedded (I'm sorry to say) in every man. Men would deny this assertion but how few would not laugh at a joke made at the expense of a woman, even the best of them. In this White House the horror of the absence of even any pretending to not be a misogynist is what I find scary. In fact, the lack of any pretense to be someone of integrity, to be patriotic is beyond description.
2
the math is off -- alarmingly so. 20 er visits a minute is 1,200 an hour; thus, the annual visits is way off
Would someone really start a war just to distract? Do you not remember Reagan's invasion of Grenada,
very conveniently on the heals of the US Marine barracks bombing in Lebanon?
3
" The White House would never be caught with a bank robbery suspect on its staff, so why tolerate someone alleged to be a wife beater?"
I take your point Mr. Kristof, but don't be so sure about the first clause.
2
Kristof: "The White House would never be caught with a bank robbery suspect on its staff ...." When I read that sentence, my jaw dropped. Of course the Trump White House would have a bank robbery suspect on their staff if they thought the suspect could be useful to them. Trump and all his enablers are morally corrupt beyond anything any of us, in our worst nightmares, could ever have imagined a year ago.
4
The problem with cover-ups and lies is that you have to keep track of them. When you lie more to cover up lies, then you risk losing track of all of them. If you tell the truth, even if it hurts, at least you don't have to worry about your integrity.
BTW, I hope Churchill did say that! Terrific observation!
2
To riff on the slightly disgusting cancer metaphor: Of course it’s spreading. That’s because the immune system, the American electorate, doesn’t feel like shutting it down. In fact, the host has nourished the cancer since the Nixon era. Thanks, people.
3
In another, gentler time, the fact that Trump's lawyer blatantly lied, calling the allegations outlandish before admitting they were true would be grounds for an apology and dismissal. Today, it's barely worth a mention.
That is the cancer that Trump is to this country.
3
Can't we have the midterms now?
I don't know if we'll make it to November!
2
Lack of integrity was a big problem even before Trump entered the White House so of course it has escalated to include everyone else in his circle of greedy co-conspirators.
1
The facts are evident on anyone associated with Donald Trump will lead to only one benefit and that benefit is his alone, the wasteland of careers ended by Mr. Your Fired is destructive to those who work with or for with him will come with great cost to them in the future.
If you are hired....beware! John Kelly!
3
It's not clear whether the stain metastasized to the GOP, or whether that is an independent cancer. Either way, it is horrifying to watch.
1
When you say that you don't think people in the White House would deliberately start a war "to change the subject"--you are being either to generous or too naïve. Look at the accompanying photo: these are cold, calculating, unscrupulous men who will stop at nothing to stay alive. What Trump has succeeded in creating-with much GOP support is a thugocracy not unlike what Putin created in Russia. The rewards for companies and the men who steer taxpayer dollars to them are immense. Want to "save" the poor: give them boxes of food(from Walmart??) and let the private suppliers bill the government. Want good roads and bridges: farm out the work to corporation, with little or no oversight and let them bill the government. Want war without casualties: let private contractors supply mercenaries, and let them bill the government. A government directed by the likes of current department heads who bilk the public and live like the royalty they think they are. Trump is poisonous, but men like Kelly and Porter are not victims, they are complicit.
2
We need an IRS investigation into this matter.
Stormy or Donald received 100,000+ in INCOME from Mr. Cohen. If Cohen paid on behalf of Trump as a gift out of the goodness of his heart, then Trump benefited from an amount that well exceeded any gift allowance. As the ultimate beneficiary, Stormy should have received a 1099 and declared the income on her tax return.
1
The US is headed inexorably to its own demise. I can't see this ending any other way. It might take 2 years, it might take 20, but the outcome is inevitable. The "two solitudes" will become even more entrenched and antagonistic as time goes on and another civil war will eventually happen. As it swings back and forth between Democrat administrations and increasingly more extreme Republican administrations (and a well-armed following increasingly fired up by an unchecked right-wing propaganda media) the divisions and the hatreds will only grow.
Today in the aftermath of the Florida mass murder, Trump said: "We are all joined together as one American family". Perhaps that's the most unhinged, looniest thing he's ever said.
4
Somewhere there's a line about 'the danger with murder is that eventually it leads to people being uncivil with each other.'
Well, the fact is there was an enormous lack of integrity carried out when the Obama administration failed to punish those responsible for the 2008 disaster - the general rationale being that our society couldn't afford justice. People felt in their bones they were betrayed by those on top, and they were. Who cares about integrity when the deck is stacked - it's a useless commodity. Unpricipled people like Trump and those he attracts found their opening and now have full rein, but let's be honest: the groundwork was laid for them. Integrity's difficult - you have to work to restore it when it's most lacking. Prayers for Mueller.
2
When there is a con man at the helm, no true course is set. Presidential lies behest chaos with an "anything" goes agenda. All sins are forgiven as long as the ends justify the means.
Fortunately the bright light of truth is shining, and the dishonest cowards can no longer conduct their misdeeds in secret.
Wake up folks, America is better than this.
1
"The White House would never be caught with a bank robbery suspect on its staff, so why tolerate someone alleged to be a wife beater?"
Because a bank robbery takes your property and a wife beater is simply using his the way he sees fit.
Relegating women to possessions, to objects, is part of MAGA. Make America great "again" is a throwback to the time when it was a woman's duty to cover-up her shiner with makeup. Straight white "Christian" men could do what they wanted with impunity. That's what the Trump supporters want.
In the eyes of Trump and his army of decency-free enablers, the only problem with Porter is that he didn't buy off his ex-wives' silence.
3
Your integrity, Mr. Kristof, is front and center in your little essay. All through the presidential election process, you and your paper, loudly proclaimed that Hillary was and would win by a landslide. Nevermind that this paper was part of the secret effort to cheat and lie her way into the office. In other words, you and your paper attempted to actually create news, not just report it. And here it's the same sad story. If you spent a tenth of the energy you devote to your ongoing obsession with Mr. Trump to real scandals, like serious abuses of power in the FBI and the DOJ, maybe, just maybe you'd be able to hold your head up high.
Trump is more than a stain, he's a blight, a pall, a disease. He has a lot of company. The worst among us scrambled to serve him and now at a dizzying rate they fall by the wayside when their crimes or incompetence, or both, get exposed.
It's only because of the real media, a few good men and women and the leakers that there's been any accountability. Keep up the heat or the stain will never be removed.
3
By accepting and trying to rationalize Trump behavior opens the door for all the many other unethical and immoral people to be accepted. The standards are lowered and what was once thought to be unacceptable becomes OK. These people who become part of the administration are a good example of the "rotten apple' idea. Now its the Republican party that is beginning to rotten.
Yes this administration is very depressing. Trump is running the whitehouse like he runs his business. In his world the end justifies the means and laws are suggestions meant to be ignored. Of course the people surrounding him are repugnant and scandal prone because no one honorable wants to be anywhere near this administration. Trump is only capable of attracting the bottom of the barrel.
But we need to remember that Trump only one because of a fluke. He lost by nearly 3 million votes because most Americans would rather have an honorable person as president not a crook who has taken advantage of people his entire life. The American people are energized and this might just be the best thing that has happened to our country. We're being forced to decide what kind of country we want to be.
The Trump administration has opened a Pandora's box of evil and corruption. Trump's presidency will end, one way or the other, but can the hatred and deceit that have tainted our body politic ever be crammed back into the box?
What a heroic bunch of men and women...Sticking it out through the last desperate hours, wishing for swift relief. Or maybe, trying to figure out how much more spin you can put on spin before it becomes a contorted mess.
Trump has drained the integrity from every thing he has contacted
1
There are men in this world who have always been a cancer on civilization and basic civility. No one ever imagined one would be elected president. But he was, and knowing that, means Americans need to stand up against him. That begins with the Republicans, if they are truly still Americans. But as yet, they have done nothing to give us hope to that fact. Worse, they have given succor to the beast.
". . . dishonor is like a cancer that spreads inexorably as it feeds upon ambition, protects itself with lies and doubles down with cover-ups."
This is Trump, the WH and the GOP in a nutshell. What are we going to do about it?
'Oh what a tangled web we weave when at first we do deceive'.
There is one exception to Trump's lack of empathy for women: the women accusing Bill Clinton of abuse.
He continues because Dems still cannot put forth a simple message. Headlines and sound bites matter. Lectures do not. Trump is bankrupting the country the same as he bankrupted his casino. Say it. Kelly lied. Say it.
The stain will spread if we let it spread.
This country belongs to We the People.
We have to do better.
Give control of Congress to the Democrats in November.
1
"To be clear, I don’t think officials would deliberately turn to war as a solution to political problems".
Are you kidding Mr. Kristoff? Integrity begins with a sound intellect.
This House of Con Artists has discovered something amazing and revolting. There is no punishment for their actions. When Congress abdicated it's responsibility to be a check on the presidency and the president himself turns a blind eye to his sycophants, its the Wild Wild West at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Morality, integrity and conscience are gone. Perhaps the most truthful statement from the leader of this gang of low-lifes came nearly two years ago when he declared he could go on to the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot someone and his supporters wouldn't care. What he couldn't know then was that neither would most elected Republican officials.
All of these assertions are based on what dribs of information are publicly available. I can't imagine what is kept from us. Perhaps I don't want to know.
2
Seventeen days before Trump was sworn in as president, the Republicans wanted to gut the independent Congressional Ethics Office.
4
Then they turned their attention to making mentally ill people could still buy guns.
The comparison to cancer and the metasizing of bad cells once the white cells are overrun is an apt one for this deplorable Trump presidency. There are as many choices to make in terms of why this group seems so incredibly sordid, from Trump's own competence and moral authority to the same current of immorality in the country, spread from television, music, yes "church" as in the evangelicals who give passes (what is the golf term? I don't play) for serious examples of bad behavior, even illegal behavior. Forgiveness of sin a big part of the Gospel, with various branches taking that part of the Gospel to extremes. The other parts about caring for your brother less emphasized by these same people. The widening gap between decorum and discipline, decency and discretion is now so broad and wide that building bridges seems indeed a bridge too far. Trump's gall is admired by many as appropriate, those who feel they've been maligned by either political party or those in power who have left them/us by the side of the road. This is more than the human stain of which Philip Roth wrote, this stain permeates and corrupts our government at the highest level. Trickle-down theory at its very worst!
Does this really matter? The right-wing press, the Evangelical con-men, and the Trump enablers have already sanitized this incident for 35-40% of the country. As for the smaller number of Trump's diehard deplorables, they consider Trump's dalliance as a feature, not a bug.
At some point the mainstream media become enablers themselves. Trading in false equivalence like, "Sometimes politicians, liberals and conservatives alike, are unprincipled in pursuit of principles they are passionate about." Lines like this doesn't help. I understand that Kristof is just trying to be fair.
It is unfair, however, when you ignore the manifest difference in the behavior of the GOP/Conservatives and the Democrats/Liberals. Democrats cast out their abusers and harassers. The GOP defends and supports them.
When the mainstream media puts their own vanity about being neutral above the truth they become as much of an enabler as Kelly or the congressional GOP.
1
Nick and Charles Blow provide excellent commentary on the 'stain' that the US is afflicted with today. It is only possible that Murdoch and Putin are working together to corrupt and destroy open societies as we see with their efforts in the UK and the US. But, together they have been very effective.
On the lying bit: Trump's pathology is congenital I believe - he was born a liar. I have known a few and it is inexplicable when you are actually confronted with it. A congenital liar believes the lie as it is presented, even when they don't have to lie. They just can't help it. When confronted with the truth they may just deny that they said it, as Trump does. "Something is wrong with you bud, not me".
The sickness here is so obvious and our concern is that the 'checks and balances' are not working. It can be viewed as the 'long con' it is as run by the GOP. We D's and I's need to get our act together now.
1
Our Declaration of Independence says very clearly that it is morally justified to refuse and oppose -- even overthrow -- a corrupt and evil government.
Will we?
2
I am so weary of Kelly being thought of as some sort of moral paragon because he was a Marine. And although his son was tragically killed, it doesn’t change what is in Kelly’s heart. He traffics in the same misogyny and racism as his boss.
3
By electing Trump President, the people who voted for him (i.e. his base) we now have a President that acts as if he is in kindergarten. Along with that, he has plenty of "class mates" that he has infected with his un-Presidential/childish behavior. Military Parade anyone?
2
A fish rots from the head. Old Eastern European proverb. True as it ever was.
1
Integrity. Great word and more importantly a great way to live one's life. Shame Trump never incorporated it into his life. Lies. lies and more lies throughout his life from lawsuits of workers, contractors, shareholders, bankruptcies, divorces, and a campaign based on a tissue of what he believed. His base believed the lies even as the press recounted his history chapter and verse.
His republican opponents outlined a cartoon character to no effect as apologists said look at a successful businessman who will drain the swamp.
HRC portrayed as a crook, enabler of Bill and witch of witches was the evil one. That his supporters accepted with shouts of 'Lock her UP!" Trump just a refreshing non-pol , rough around the edges, but he'd shake things up. Sure has. No morals, ethics, INTEGRITY, and an attention span of a gnat has sent careening his administration from scandal to scandal. However, the incompetence, misguided policies- stimulating an economy doing well, North Korea, environment, DACA, trade, energy, National Parks, infrastructure- are all compounded by a man, party which has lost the noble idea of INTEGRITY and whom they serve- the man or the country.
1
I don't think this is a cancer, I think it's a way of life. And here we have the 2nd General who doesn't have the slightest compunction against lying. "Whatever it takes".
1
I'm not a Trump supporter but what does your non stop bashing of Trump accomplish? You used to have really good, thoughtful Op-Ed pieces. We have to pray that our president, whoever it is, that was legitimately elected by the American people is successful for the American people.
The overarching principle in any organization is its drive to protect itself and its hegemony. We see it when doctors and hospitals protect their institutions over their patients. We see it when Senators (e.g. McConnell) protect their parochial interests over their sworn oaths. We see it when an administration favors sycophancy over substance, servitude to the Great Leader over service to country.
Sic transit gloria mundi.
The Trump stain has not only percolated through his administration and his sycophants in Congress, but also into the psychological well being of sixty five percent of the citizens of our country. Successful leadership usually requires a certain degree of moral and ethical comportment. Trump lacks any of that and we as citizens feel the effects. It is why I always seem to have use a curse word descriptor before or after the word "Trump".
Interesting that you didn't name any names when you mentioned the "heroic exceptions" among Republicans. I'd like to know who you had in mind; personally I can't think of any.
And as for the statement you casually toss off as a comparison, that "the White House would never be caught with a bank robbery suspect on its staff." Are you sure? With this gang, it wouldn't surprise me one bit.
1
It is baffling that the national narrative allows people to say over and over that a violent man in private was a great guy in public. Have we not understood for a long time that this is the dynamic of abuse? It is done in intimacy, secrecy, only to those nearest and dearest? It reminds me of interviews with neighbors of serial killers or murder/suicides, who often describe the perpetrators in surprised tones as nice people. Can we not hold two contradictory things in our heads at the same time? This is not new information. Anyone informed about domestic violence knows that abusers can be charming, affable, high performing in other compartments of their lives. Kelly, Trump, all the others can "hate domestic violence" the concept, but they do untold harm when they fail (because of personal involvement or denial or ignorance) to stand up to the complex nature of this violence. I'd like to see more of this realization every single time someone says something stupid like this. Call it out every time so we don't have to keep perpetuating the myths that are so destructive.
Mr. Trump, forget about yourself for a moment. Listen once again to those gunshots within a Florida school and listen to the screams of the other children who heard them, knew what they were. For God's sake, Mr. Trump, act with some decency for once. For once. For once.
"To be clear, I don’t think officials would deliberately turn to war as a solution to political problems..."
Are you willing to bet real money on that assumption? I'm not.
The article is good but the problem is wider than El Trumpo and his stain. Please list these alleged exceptions, I think you will find that exception is an aberration from their usual behavior.
America used to be the place where how you did it was as important as what you were doing and achieving the goal. We all knew that doing your best is a reward in itself even if you fail.
At some point that conception of being a person has fallen by the wayside. It isn't even remarked upon as the marker of an untrustworthy morally deficient person when we see people who "do whatever it takes" because winning is the only thing that counts.
This moral failure applies to nearly all public officials who work for us.
Integrity does not exist in the souls of Trump or the GOP. Do not expect them to change their ways, ever. Their lack of integrity is in their DNA. Nixon was removed because there were some Republicans at the time with integrity. Those days are long gone. This current bunch of GOP members need to be removed before their disease metastasizes beyond repair.
1
Nicholas Kristof has identified the prism through which every action of this President and administration and its Republican sycophants should be judged. It is a fundamental lack of integrity which allows them to spout falsehoods, believe fantasies, excuse misbehavior and have a laser focus on "is it good for me personally." This is not the way I was raised nor did I raise my children this way -- and I think most Americans would agree. But unless we identify and support candidates who believe similarly nothing will change.
1
"To be clear, I don’t think officials would deliberately turn to war as a solution to political problems". I wish I could agree with this statement, but I can't. From what I've seen, the brainwashed Trumpists definitely have the capability of starting a war to distract from their indictments. No doubt about it.
1
With apologies to Hannah Arrendt, what we see with the Trump team is the banality of corruption. The happiest American in history right now is U.S. Grant whos administration has been lapped as the most corrupt in our history.
One look at Trump's past shows that one cannot enter his orbit in any form and come away with your ethics and morals intact.
I fear for our country.
"To be clear, I don’t think officials would deliberately turn to war as a solution to political problems"
I wish I could be as confident in this statement, but sadly I am not. Anything is possible with this nasty crowd.
For the last hour, I've been listening to an NPR program on Russian interference in our election. One idea that ran through the discussion was that Putin's Russia is opposed to the success of democracy anywhere. One of their primary goals is to create doubt in the legitimacy of the process in all democratic countries. Seems to me they have won here. Our recent election generated Donald Trump as the winner of the presidential election. Either the democratic process is deeply flawed or many of my fellow Americans are hopeless toads, or both. Donald Trump is a symptom. The pervasive lack of integrity was an antecedent that he has brought into the open.
I have said this every day since Trump's election that until the Republicans--and specifically Mitch McConnell-- put common sense over party, put what is morally right over party, lose their NRA support, become adults and call out Trump, nothing will change. You can write, complain, call, all you want but every single Republican who sits silently is Trump's enabler.
Metastasizing is a good way to put it. It no doubt is spreading out of control. Consuming everything in its path and turning otherwise once good people into poison. It was pretty obvious from day one what was coming and to be honest I am not sure it is any worse than what I personally expected. Time to begin a national chemo program and hope for the best. It can't get any worse, can it?
1
"And to me, it looks as if the Trump administration is now metastasizing."
Oh, Nick, I hope so. How I hope you are right. We all know what happens after a disease metastasizes--the organism dies. I hope Trump doesn't try to take us all down with him.
1
Many years ago, a "credibility gap" was identified as problematic, to be avoided as toxic. Concern about credibility has been lost in our society, perhaps substance for comedians or another theme of "fake news." LIES need to confronted as lies. Not confronting the lies feeds the confidence of the LIAR. Integrity is considered now as politically correct, so what!
The barbarians are now in control of the palace. And they didn't storm the walls. They were invited in by a significant section of the populace, with the blessing of "the righteous."
"So, this is how Democracy dies. To thunderous applause."
Donald Trump couldn't pass security clearance if he didn't happen to be President.
Having worked with lawyers for over twenty years and getting a sense of how it all works, I marvel at the lack of integrity and the dissembling and out and out contradictory lying that goes on among Trump's attorneys, Cohen in particular, first vehemently denying the Daniels affair and then fully embracing it and saying he paid for it. Now he has no credibility left either, so he can go ahead and write that tell-all book praising the undetectable virtues of Donald Trump. My suspicion is there is a quid pro quo here with Cohen taking the heat in exchange for a stamp of approval on this book that may not make him the 7 million Wolf's book supposedly is making him but nevertheless the payoff is likely to be retirement income level money. The departure of integrity and honor with the arrival of the grifter Donald J. Trump is appalling. It sickens me daily, and not just once a day but a barrage of Tweets and scandals and threats and vengeance coming since the poisonous Mr. Trump cheated his way into the White House and now refuses any voting protections from the hacking of the Russians. And it seems decency throws itself against the fortress doors with barely a scratch being made. It's terrifying to see that decency, honor and doing the right thing only exists on the thin base that we all agree to abide by certain rules to hold it all together and prevent threats to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. When we stop doing that, it's pretty much over as a civil society.
1
Trump claimed that he was opposed to domestic violence “in any form.” That should include public scorn, like leaving one’s wife to make her own way out of a limousine, gift in hand, while he bounded up the steps to greet the Obamas on Inauguration Day. Nothing murky here—it was there for the world to witness, first day. If one wished to argue that this doesn’t rise to the level of domestic violence, they would at least have to admit that it demonstrated a complete lack of common decency.
Can someone explain to me why trump has a Top Secret security clearance? Was HE ever vetted? Shouldn't that be a requirement for even entering a presidential primary?
I for one do not believe it is beyond Donald Trump to start a war to deflect and coverup his own troubles in the White House. Trump has absolutely no empathy for any other human, so a few tens of thousands or evern millions of foreign deaths would not affect Trump one bit. Even ten or twenty thousand American deaths would barely budge Trump’s ego and narcissism.
General Kelly does not belong in the White House staff.
He knows a lot about abuse of power from his past tenure at some very delicate posts. He, among others, is the helping cause of the metastasis we are now witnessing. The US Congress could provide us with some sessions of chemotherapy...shh, they are deliberating.
Swamp Gas- methane that builds up from decaying debris which spontaneously ignites into destructive fires. The D.C. swamp has been building up since Watergate. Lies, misinformation, deals with corporations, banks and the industrial military complex have built the base for a bonfire that the Trump election has ignited. Let's hope the evil and the hate burns itself out before it burns our country up.
1
"To be clear, I don’t think officials would deliberately turn to war as a solution to political problems...."
Really? American leaders - both Democratic and Republican - have been doing exactly this since the founding of the Republic. The United States is a deeply racist, fundamentally imperialistic country.
Liberals need to face up to the fact that the cancer is a lot more widespread than such simplistic analysis suggests.
Stormy will tell her story about Trump.
And it will be the perfect storm for Trump
and the GOP this November.
1
It still amazes me that the "religious" right and the evangelicals continue to support such a man. It is a stain that they will never be able to clean.
Sometimes it is impossible to deal with specific substances without getting one's hands dirty.
Toilet paper was invented for a reason.
1
Every time any one of us excuses or dismisses moral failure in our leaders, because of "all the good they do," or ourselves, because after all we're mostly good people, we are complicit in this overwhelming failure of morality.
Did any of us dismiss Bill Clinton's perpetual infidelity and predatory behavior? Did we despise the Republicans for trying to remove a president who committed a felony? Do we join with those who say, "We didn't elect him to be a moral giant - we elected him to do his job, and he's doing that!" for either Clinton or DT?
No, I'm not drawing any equivalence here, so please spare me the outrage - but we all need to take a deep breath and look at our own behaviors as well as those of our leaders. We need to stop making excuses. If it's wrong, say so - without the "yes, but ..." Stop this insane tribalism.
None of these people got where they are by accident or self-will. The American people elected them - or the people who hired them. DT bragged about committing sexual assault, was accused of sexual assault by numerous credible adults, hid his financial transactions by refusing to release his taxes, established a clear and consistent pattern of bullying, dishonesty, misogyny, and racism - and the American people elected him anyway.
Want to clean out the swamp? It's a safe bet that electing a notorious swamp creature is not the appropriate way to do it. As always, integrity begins in the mirror.
The American people did NOT elect him, the Electoral College did.
Mr. Kristoff is correct in observing how a lack of moral compass and core integrity metastasizes and infects others. What is even more extraordinary with Mr. Trump and his more aggressive enablers is that they have this ability to project their worst failings onto others and then justify their behavior through twisted moral equivalence. Obama did it, Hilary was guilty of it, Bill was responsible for it. And yet, invariably such rationalizations, whether founded in reality or partisan fantasy, do not excuse anything. Bad behavior is bad behavior.
Meanwhile, Pruitt and Zinke systematically find ways to exploit our environment for profit, Ivanka & Kusher are out drumming up business for themselves on our tax dollars, Devos complains of bureaucratic hassles while trying to privatize the education system, and Sessions is determined bring down the deadly cannabis "crisis" (never mind that it's a multi-million, soon to be billion dollar industry)...
...and on and on. I just keep hoping there will be something, someone in the White House, or Congress that will show some kind of backbone, and say, "Enough -- we've all had enough." Our democracy is crumbling, and the Trumpistas, and Fox, just keeping on keeping on, and the base yells louder in support.
It is on us to make the change. The upcoming elections are the first step. BE THERE!
146
"...Trump aides don’t seem to believe in any cause larger than themselves or their leader." And that makes them unfit to serve the country. The same can be said for the GOP. In serving Trump they are not serving America. There is no integrity in the White House or in the GOP. But we knew that the GOP had no integrity when they decided as soon as Obama was elected in 2008, not to work with him.
Trump is the ultimate swamp creature in that he creates a swamp wherever he goes. What we should do is build a fence around the White House after we confine the leadership of the GOP to the same White House. After that we should hold new elections. Draining the swamp with Trump in it is a waste of time and money. A severe drought in admiration might be all we need to make the creatures vanish.
8
Could Cohen deduct the "payment" as a "business expense?" Or write it off as an unrecoverable debt?
And for the Evangelicals who support Trump do they justify spousal abuse by saying "There is no Commandment against 'wife beating'" so it is not a sin. "Colluding with Russians" was also not mentioned in the Ten Commandments.
Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country.
18
Mr. Kristof: When a writer is so predictably, relentlessly anti Trump, readers will begin to find that writer tiring to read, saying to themselves , "There he goes again!Haven't we heard and read the same thing before from him? What's new?He's crying wolf again!" Having known the author of "Don't Cry Wolf," a delightful children's book, Geoffrey Bocca, I know whereof I speak.Above is why Mr. Stephens and Mr. Brooks are refreshing to read: They are not tied into the same old dogma,the anti Trump mantra. They give credit where credit is due. Believe that you underestimate intelligence of your many readers by tapping on the same nail, time and time again.61 million of us voted for The Donald and are happy to see their taxes lowered,more in their paychecks, a recognition that illegal immigration is a threat to the American worker and citizen and must be curbed. What . precisely are your alternatives to president's policies to make America great again for the citizenry?Kate's Law, for or against? Chain migration, sanctuary cities, for or against? Repatriation of billions to this country by tech giants, for or against?Belief that a country does not become wealthy, or remain so by importing millions of poor folks, for or against?Be specific. As that line goes in the film "History Boys," there is no such thing as general studies!
1
Every four years, one or the other party manages to elect a president. Their policies may prove to be good for most Americans or not. I would guess that any other Republican president would have the same results you laud, maybe even more so. After all, they control all of government. But now, with this president, at what cost? Does the possible intervention of Russia not give you pause? Please consider that it's possible to be alarmed about possible conspiracy and the dismantling of State and other departments and still be pleased with the tax "reform", etc. You don't need Trump for that. The question for me is, after Trump, will we find out we're in too deep to recover?
1
It isn't the writer mentioning tRump's sins, cruelties and face it, acts of treason, it it the bad actor's actions that are tiresome.
Coupled with the tacit approval and support of a morally bankrupt Republican Red party Mr. Kristof is merely the canary in a mine reminding us, warning us of disasters to come.
if you actually believe your taxes have been and will stay lowered you may be a lot more naive than many others.
1
I recently took a survey sponsored by our federal government in Canada that asked questions like "When you think of the United States, what do you see?" That was today so "mass shootings" was at the top of my mind, but I mulled my answer and put down "Donald Trump". He has become the ONLY face of America to the rest of the world. Believe me, that's not what I want to see. I want to picture the U.S. that I loved exploring on vacation - New Orleans, the Grand Canyon, NYC, Nashville. Places like Yellowstone, and Sedona - places I won't be visiting again until your self inflicted nightmare is finally over. Over 60 million people voted for him - which astounds me - but there are 235 million eligible to vote in the U.S. and most of us outsiders hope the next elections will put an end to this dangerous lunacy.
26
Except...that Mr. Kristof's premise is only true if you believe that the catalog of issues he addresses somehow violate principles that are widely held in the Republican Party. There is no evidence that adultery, domestic abuse, or payoffs are inconsistent with core party principles. In fact, one could argue that these behaviors are celebrated by much of the party faithful.
13
Then, 'celebrated by much of the party faithful' Lee is a bit scary though easy to believe now. If Trump is their messiah then we have to assume that many of them also have the same basic pathology as Trump. That is, they are congenital liars, cheats, philanderers, can't help it folks.
On the flip side of the argument, which nobody seems to acknowledge, is that during a nasty divorce, both parties have a tendency to say some unkind, malicious, often untrue, stuff about their ex-partners. When I split with my first wife, quite a bit was said which was either embarrassing, misrepresentations, half-truths or plain out lies.
This new policy of judging everyone "Guilty until proven innocent" by the media isn't going to have a happy ending.
1
Why tolerate someone with an ALLEGATION of domestic violence? Because it is only an accusation. Anyone who has watched a bitter divorce has seen questionable allegations of domestic violence meant either as bitter recrimination or as a legal maneuver. Just as certainly, there are many cases of domestic assault. How do I know? Because I was a victim of domestic assault, but I happen to male. I know exactly what it feels like to report and not be believed. I know what it is like to watch agencies and the police fabricate evidence and coach my spouse into making serious but utterly false accusations to avoid the consequences of domestic violence. I know what it is like to spend years fighting opaque agencies to get access to information tangible enough to take into court and PROVE my innocence - to PROVE that I was the one assaulted ... and now I read that what really matters is the allegation (not mine of course, I am not a stereotypical wife).
A life time of honor, years of anguish to prove innocence while being subjected to every imaginable insinuation and disdain, all are in vain because of an allegation.
If allegations alone are now sufficient to ruin lives, all we are accomplishing is the enabling of a very different kind of monster - ones who destroy lives through fabrication rather than physical violence.
Allegations are not always true, and even true allegations with proof don't seem to matter if they do not fit the PC stereotype.
Security clearances and access to classified information are not granted to anyone "not proven" or not convicted of acts of violence or issues poor judgement or loss of self-control. Unsubstantiated accusations are one thing, what about after seven months of investigations and two investigations reaching the same conclusion that substantiate the allegations? What about accusations of espionage or being an agent of a foreign government?
You may not know that Porter was denied the clearance because of the Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) and that the FBI believed the picture and the women. Apparently the picture of the black eye was taken by Porter himself after she demanded he take it in an act of contrition I suppose.
The issue here is not false accusations it is the fact that these allegation were in fact true and everyone seems to be aware of that fact for at least 7 months and still let him work in the WH.
I do know that the place to adjudicate this is not in the Press for partisan political purposes.
As a male domestic abuse victim, watching the extra-judicial shaming of Porter based on conjecture is absolutely worst nightmare playing out. How many people will believe that it was my spouse that assaulted me? How do you prove your innocence?
But its nice to know that if I move on with my life that there is the ever present threat that, should I succeed at something, the Press will print my abusive former spouse's allegations (made after reports of her assault) will be made public and ONCE again I will have to prove innocence - if such a thing is even possible ... or will it matter if I do - again? And again? And again?
Please not that as much as I respect Mr. Kristof, his article lists mere allegation as sufficient to disqualify. And there is my nightmare playing out in the National Press with the full realization that this process is enabling a highly abusive spouse with penchant for lying and conscience that does not care.
It's not like these women are showing up in the Press now are they? So who exactly are we encouraging? Maybe the Times could come down of its lofty post and interview a few men who have been through the anguish of false domestic violence accusation before we start demanding heads based on press reports.
The regular White House administration is presumably trying to emulate respect for an office personified in a man not worthy of their respect. The situation sets up an interesting dynamic. The boss is down-shilling unethical behavior. Trump's interlopers aside, the typical ethical person is placed in a very awkward position.
Let me give you an example. When I was a teenager, I used an old car to deliver pizzas because that's what you did when you were young and had access to a car. At the time, transactions were mostly handled in cash but credit cards were increasingly prevalent. Even when paying with card, most people would still tip in cash.
A co-worker once told me anytime I received a credit card receipt without the tip or total box filled out, I should fill out my own tip at the end of the night. Just don't make it obvious or you'll get caught.
Coming from a co-worker, I was able to laugh my way out of the conversation. Mental note: Stay away from that guy and never take his advice. I considered reporting him to the boss too but I wasn't confident enough at the time.
However, if I received the same instruction from the boss, my reaction would have been different. There's a power structure at play. If the boss says "keep your incomplete receipts in a separate pile," I probably wouldn't have had the wisdom to talk him down and walk away.
That's Trump's influence on otherwise ethical people. He's the boss and he wants unethical behavior from his employees.
11
Yes, the "if the president uses his office to market his properties and do real estate deals I might as well take private jet flights on the taxpayer dime" ethos seems to have percolated through all levels of this administration.
11
How can you say that " I don’t think officials would deliberately turn to war as a solution to political problems", when your whole article is a counter argument to that statement?
3
Absolutely brilliant. I'm a progressive so in offering the following, I am not in any way discounting the gravity of Kristof's profound truth. However, consider the following. The runup to the 2008 collapse was built on deception at every level. This was enabled by policy and deregulation. The law was broken at every level of the transaction that culminated in a global economic meltdown. In the aftermath, we provided emergency funding that if used for other initiatives could have reinvented American society 10 x's over. Instead, we wound up with your second paragraph, only at every level of government and Wall Street. In my opinion, it why we ended up with the likes of Trump and the reason for this profound thinking. What happens when lawlessness becomes the lifeblood of a system that's completely in on it? Yes, integrity is all that matters and integrity has been dead for some time.
4
Sadly, the people who need to read this will not. They prefer a twitter message from their leader or conspiracy theories from Hannity, Limbaugh, etc... Schools have a gret responsibility today; helping students to distinguish between fact and lies. It is the only way to save America.
7
Not a Tea Party admirer. Think Tea Party types are one of the sources of the spreading stain on our nation. Most Government employees are dedicated, hard working and productive. The problem we have is numerous Agencies with ingrained institutional arrogance. Defending their bosses and their department decisions often comes with a loss of integrity and common sense. Trump "presidency" brings this problem to the fore. But, I also have experienced this problem at the State and Local government level. Ethics clearly needs far greater emphasis in all of us.
2
After the last election I said that this constituted the Lawyers' Employment Act of 2018. The everyday news reports verify that prediction. History has shown that the majority of businessmen make poor presidents...
4
The countenancing of domestic violence is bad enough, but the other issue is allowing someone who doesn't have a full security clearance to be working in the White House in the first place. If and when the full history of this disastrous period in U.S. is written, it will be clear how much danger we are currently in.
3
Nick--while you say that the White House would never be caught with a bank robbery suspect on its staff, remember that there are more ways to rob a bank than with a mask and gun. Obtaining a bank loan with intent to default is the way 'smart' people do it --- one way particularly popular with a certain high ranking official residing there.
6
"But when there is a basic lack of integrity at the top, these do not easily self-correct; rather, they build upon themselves because of an impulse to cover up and layer new deceptions on top of old deceit." I think Mr. Kristof strikes at the heart of the problem in the Oval Office.
4
I continue to be amazed that the New York Time's editorial page works overtime to enlighten me on the threat Trump poses to our democracy while its White House correspondents are invariably devoted to normalizing Trump's behavior.
You don't give Trump enough credit, Nick, when you say "the White House would never be caught with a bank robbery suspect on its staff..." There's more than one way to rob a bank, and if there's something in it for Trump, well...it is. first and foremost, always and ever, about Trump.
6
As a retired long-term federal employee I urge Kristof and the investigative staff to inquire in procurement practices of this den of thieves. The violations of travel regulations likely are merely the tip of the iceberg. The rot extends likely much deeper and with far greater consequences to taxpayers. There are two problems at the root of this. First, these people feel entitled. Hence, for example, the travel scandals. Second, they hate government. That hatred often is directed at all regulations, including procurement regulations intended to protect the public purse. They simply ignore the regulations as a nuisance. That is where the corruption starts.
5
Mr. Trump and the Republican Congressional majority are pursuing a course leading a reasonable person to conclude that nothing, including war, is excluded as a means to maintain political power. High crimes and misdemeanors committed by and for the Trump Administration have undermined U.S. alliances worldwide, enabled strongman leaders assaulting democracies worldwide, corrupted our own systems of laws and have transgressed the separation of powers upon which our Constitution is based. Nothing, including war, is beneath Mr. Trump and the GOP leadership.
4
It is, of course, easy to agree with everything in this column. However, this is one of about 100,000 columns, op-ed pieces, investigatory pieces and the like written about the lies, shamelessness, narcissism, egomania, obvious Russian connections, immorality and lack of ethics of Donald Trump and his administration. Does the GOP in Congress ever wake up and ask themselves whether a bunch of tax cuts for the Koch Brothers and Mercers is worth destroying our country? Is Devin Nunes' memo full of half-lies worth destroying the FBI? The GOP has lost all moral compass and has completely forgotten the Constitution, their oath of office and their duty.
This has nothing to do with Mr. Kristof but, frankly, I am sick and tired of reading about Donald Trump. He has made me ashamed to be an American. When I go overseas or meet international colleagues, I am sick and tired of trying to explain him and the people who elected him.
And, slightly off topic, we wake up today horrified by yet another mass shooting with an AR-15, this one at a high school in Florida. And yet another call for "thoughts and prayers" by the prostituted GOP, bought and paid for by the NRA. Nothing will be done about it by this Congress. Nothing.
When does this all stop? Is there anyone with any sense of decency left in the Republican Party?
7
Everyone who works for Trump is saturated by his stench. One would hope that this follows them wherever they go after the Trump regime is toppled. But look at how many of the George W. Bush enablers are still in the public eye, working for cushy salaries, and appearing on talk shows to hold forth on their political wisdom. The people that lied us into a needless war and crashed the economy have no shame, they only (as C. Rice put it) "wish the intelligence were better." The Trump bottom-dwellers will rise again, mark my words, wearing their stench like a badge of honor. Because, after all, they are Republicans.
4
The stain is the Republican Party. Trump is symbolic of the problem, but he didn't cause the problem. Ryan, McConnell, Sessions, etc. may not have paid off any hookers, but they are part of the effort that Put Trump at the helm, and are responsible for much of the damage being done. Trump's lack of integrity was well known decades before he became president. It did not matter to them for obvious reasons.
12
Or, is it the other way around?
1
Wake up, Republicans in Congress! Democrats have been willing to impeach Trump and live with Pence, for pete’s sake, a man after your own hearts who might stand a chance of being elected in 2020. But no, you continue to prop up a consistently outrageous presidency that is driving a critical mass of voters away from the Republican Party and will only continue to get worse until November, when Democrats will not only take back Congress by a landslide but will also impeach Trump anyway.
You can lose your job now by standing up to Trump and salvaging a grain of your dignity, or you can lose your jobs in November in unvarnished disgrace.
7
On a sane planet everyone would understand that lying is a symptom of addiction and insanity. Instead of being elected POTUS, Trump would be marginalized, pitied, and offered treatment. DT and his lackeys are providing important insights into how dishonesty and depravity are running rampant, from the Evangelicals selling their souls in order to support the lies about why they support Trump to the GOP congress selling out the country to the highest bidders.
3
"The White House would never be caught with a bank robbery suspect on its staff..."
"I don’t think officials would deliberately turn to war as a solution to political problems..."
Folks, I believe this is called foreshadowing.
2
Sorry America it is going to get much much worse before we see the end of this stain upon the the office of President.
5
Are they getting worse or are we just getting to know them better?
1
Those who voted for and still support this venomous snake do not care about integrity. I’m sorry, but this is not a case of there being “good” people on both sides of the divide. We are in dire straits.
5
Kristof: "The White House would never be caught with a bank robbery suspect on its staff ...."
When I read that sentence, my jaw dropped. Of course the Trump White House would have a bank robber on their staff if they thought the robber could be useful to them. Trump and all his enablers are morally corrupt beyond anything any of us, in our worst nightmares, could ever have imagined a year ago.
6
Well, really, what do you - we - anyone - expect when the super-ignorant American public elects a man who obviously had - has - all the moral rectitude of, essentially, "Al Capone" to be President of the United States?! I mean, really! Where's the surprise? None for me - or anyone with any ability to see what the basic situation was at election time. I say the biggest problem America has is a widespread epidemic of gross ignorance and inability to understand what the real problems are and who are the people most capable of leading us through the dark jungle. And I don't see that anyone is doing anything about it!
I weep for my country and the future that this woefully narcissistic braggart - buffoon - dreadfully ignorant "gangster" (in my view) is creating for the people of America - and the world.
Truly sad. Tragic. We will be paying a price for this widespread, deep, all-encompassing ignorance for many, many years to come. And that, in a certain sense, is exactly what we deserve. Until we do something about it.
Which doesn't seem particularly likely to me.
Sad. Tragic.
4
There is another tragic illness Americans suffer. It is the addiction to Fox "News" and the ilks of Rush Limblabb. At first it's entertaining, then it seems to make sense, than all critical thinking (if there ever was any) is pushed aside and the circus is far more interesting and entertaining than reality. We need to teach critical thinking in our schools and consistently address it in the news. Sadly, many of our news sources have failed us. It began when "both sides" were deemed worthy of being heard. As we now realize, this is a crock, especially when the side that is true becomes discounted.
So the question is, how do you get people to evaluate clearly the qualities of those we elect? We could begin by watching, yes, watching. Watching Trump's body movements, facial expressions et al tells us all we need to know. Turn off the TV sound and watch. If everyone had done that during the stalking debate, I doubt that Trump would be in the White House now.
When I heard him read his statement about the school shooting this a.m. it sounded like what anyone age 4 or more would have been coached to say. It had no passion, no substance and I believe Mr. Trump had no emotional connection to the words he spoke. How well we remember Obama's tears at Sandy Hook. I won't hold my breath waiting for Mr. Trump to show any sign of common emotional decency in any situation. He never laughs, he never cries. Too critical? I don't think so.
Time to quit harping on the fatal flaws of Trump. Focus on the broken election system that allowed him to take the White House. Russian sabotage and pandemic gerrymandering were never needed to steal the election. Expose Kris Kobach and "Interstate Crosscheck". This racist, illegal Republican voter suppression campaign blocked over one million overwhelmingly Democratic votes. Far more than enough to steal the election. Trump was not elected. He is not the president.
6
Some stains are impossible to remove, no matter what methods used. The solution: throw out the stained item. Replace. ASAP.
3
The Trump Stain Spreads, this is why reports of White House insiders complaining that Chief of Staff John Kelly is 'lying' and asking them to lie, while doubtless true, is hard to take seriously without a smack to the forehead. Who doesn't lie in that place? Sarah Huckabee Sanders is a virtuoso at lying, quite honestly whenever I hear a few minutes of her briefings while lunging for the remote control to mute, an image of her in a military uniform enters my mind with her scowling demeanor, laced with sarcasm and insults for the press. I can only imagine how difficult it is to cover these so called press conferences, but watching the press being scolded and undercut daily while they sit there without protest or outrage is a perfect example of verbal abuse IMO.
3
I cringe every time I see 30-something, unqualified, son-in-law Jared Kushner's title of "Senior Adviser."
6
Dear Pat,
he is the "senior advisor" to embezzlement and selling the "dreamers" residency spots to the highest bidders for his apartment buildings....
The stains of poverty and billionaire's concentrated wealth and power are on us. The stains of selfism and corruption are on us. The greedy, bully-in-Chief's stains are on us. US.
Until we become the citizens a democracy requires, a moral community is made of, a humane and compassionate world cry for, we remain the lost world run by the billionaires and demagogues and immorality.
3
Exhibit A of Mr. Kristof's point could be General Kelly. Could be? He may be part of the stain himself with his record of unabashed, blatant lying. Trump chose wisely with Kelly, a reflection of his own lying self.
3
No self respecting, law abiding, American citizen would work with or for Trump. That leaves the liars, manipulators, and opportunists available for employment by Trump and company. There isn't a single person working in the White House who is willing to tell the truth. I hope their individual and collective misdeeds gives them nightmares, particularly that professional liar, Sarah Sanders.
6
I think that this affair will be the downfall of the Trump presidency. Unlike the Russian investigation which can easily be spun into a political witch hunt, a sex scandal has a way of spinning out of control in unpredictable ways as we are seeing now with Cohen. Everyone understands in some visceral way that cheating on one’s post natal spouse is the marker of a corrupt soul. But to violate the marriage bed in such a outsized manner with a porn star adds an undeniable sleaze factor that rankles core moral value that even Trump’s most craven supporters share.
2
The columnist's 7th paragraph highlights so much of what is wrong with journalism and society today. He openly touts how the President has been accused of abuse by a former wife as evidence of his evil..before casually noting these allegations have been retracted. Allegations are not crimes. Society has due process and a legal system for a reason. Yet journalists have turned allegations into weapons and pretend they deserve immediate punishment. The decline of society continues as journalism dies.
The journalists did it. Got it.
And to me, it looks as if the Trump administration is now metastasizing.
One can only hope.
5
Why do you not think that an administration would go to war to gain political support or avert prosecution?
1. Gulf of Tonkin Incident
2. Argentina, Falkland Islands
3. Cheney, Meet the Press, 3/16/03, Direct verifiable evidence that Iraq and Al Qaeda colluded in 911 attacks.
All it will take is the lie that North Korea downed an American fighter in international air space. The name of the pilot is being withheld until he is recovered (or just a fake name, KIA). That may be the end of the world as we know it.
We know the Russians tried to penetrate voting machines. They may very well have succeeded.
21
I don't have so rosy a view of politicians that I believe most would conduct themselves with integrity but for fear of consequences. If they behave, it's because we have mechanisms of transparency and accountability.
The problem with the Trump administration is that Trump's "I can shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue" attitude pervades the entire administration. This is an administration that seems to be convinced that it can get away with anything and everything, and nobody has proven it wrong yet. From Trump's "grab 'em" comment to taxpayer-funded trips to Mar-a-Lago to refusing to divest himself from his commercial interests, Trump has basically gotten away with everything. How can we expect Trump and his subordinates to stop when we, as a country, keeps letting them get away with it?
297
He also strongly hinted at an incestuous relationship with Ivanka when he said "My daughter is hot! But I can't marry her." He can't marry her for sure, but consensual incest between adults is NOT a crime in New York or New Jersey.
1
Absolutely!
Just like spoiled brats who never have to own up to their misconduct. ecpotus has gotten away with all his misdeeds since he was a child and has never had to own up to his failures. I fear for my country ever day with this group of grifters, liars and con artists in charge of our administration.
3
Just looking at the photo... these will be 3 men (2 young, one old).... that will be marked by history as being flawed, in one way or another. And not just flawed as in “nobody’s perfect”, much worse than that.
7
I absolutely agree with Mr. Kristof who has captured what may become the most distressing legacy of this unfortunate Presidency. The complete lack of integrity and reasonable ethical standard in the White House becomes a model for the entire country. You can see the creeping infiltration of acceptance of continuous deceit and can only wonder how many months and years of this constant barrage of lies it will take to transform our people into a completely corrupt society. I only hope I live long enough to see us recover from this nightmare.
17
As someone wisely said, we only get to know what the media reports and discovers. Can you imagine all the mess and chaos and dumbing down and criminal activities and thievery of the treasury that is really going on behind the scenes? When Trump does leave, the mess will be so incredible, the next admin will spend 4 years just dealing with that instead of moving forward. Trump does not care about America. He is using this platform to lash back at those who refused to lend him money. He is using the coffers to line his pockets and he don't care about the people. Not one iota. And Mcconnell and his goons are as complicit as ever. Jared and Ivanka are daddy's eyes and ears at every meeting at which they should not be allowed to attend being volunteers. they are spies, no doubt.
15
Donald Trump's first wife did retract her allegation of rape, in a word-mincing way, but as far as I can tell she did not retract her account of the horrific physical assault that preceded the sex act. That's appalling enough in itself.
I wonder whether the Trump era will cause future generations of Americans to be numb to things that ought to outrage them, or whether they'll become numb with incredulity when learning what America tolerated back in this era.
10
I think our officials are already contemplating war to divert our attention.
15
The reality is not enough Americans are outraged by the deceitful and suspicious acts of the President, his staff, his family, and political allies.
7
Many previous administrations also lack integrity,lets mention a few,Bush deliberate falsehoods resulting in the invasion of Iraq,Kennedy falsehoods pertaining to the missle gap,Johnson domino theory justifying the Vietnam War,at least Trump falsefoods have yet to result in war and many deaths,his lack of integrity so far is only the soap opera reality.
1
The Porter scandal is two scandals: His employment at the White House when he was a known wife-beater and his ability to obtain a temporary clearance to review classified materials. The fear among some in the FBI was that he would be vulnerable to blackmail because of his past. So, that leads us to Trump and an obvious question: By what rationale, other than that he is president, does Trump merit a security clearance? Clearly, he does not as his past is more sordid that Porters.
356
good point.
1
If vulnerability to blackmail is a red flag then how could President Trump pass a security clearance?
3
Hi Barney, sadly, the narcissist in chief was elected and does not have to be cleared.
1
Human nature is an incredibly complex array of behavioral predilections. Although most of us engage in virtuous, and evil, actions in our lives, most of us, as adults, develop some predictable pattern of behavior, conscious or unconscious, that is predominantly moral, amoral or immoral. Trump is an artful narcissist, and like all narcissists, absent a moral compass.
There are many in our society that are more like him than many of us want to admit.
It is difficult for empathic people like Mr Kristof to appreciate how much evil has come to permeate American society. By winning the single most powerful position in this country, he attracted a following of "respectable" criminals who share his amorality. They are adults. Trump gave them an opportunity to manifest their amorality, in an arena that attracts the attention of many of us, our governance. If the evil in us disrupts the dominance of homo sapiens on the planet, at least many other species of living beings will be better off.
7
So true. We are in free fall. There is no bottom.
6
The question is not why Trump's administration follows his corrupt lead. Of course they do. He gets away with it; why shouldn't they? The real question is, why do roughly 40% of Americans tolerate, let alone approve of him? Because it is a difference of degree, not of kind.
American government was corrupt before Trump. Getting into politics requires money. Getting money requires politicians to act as donors desire. The constitution requires that donors be allowed to give, politicians to receive. The quid pro quo is fine too, as long as it is not on tape.
There is also the matter of self-fulfilling prophecy. Since 1980, the GOP has been arguing that government is the problem, that it can only do bad, that election leads inevitably to corruption. Is it any wonder that Republicans tolerate corruption? Why should they expect anything else?
5
There is no doubt in my mind that "officials" would turn to war as a solution to political problems. God help us.
9
The minority of Americans who voted for Trum were aware of Trump's flaws when they voted for him. Most, however, thought he was less corrupt than Clinton. Congress has proven complicit in Trump's corruption by refusing to check his excesses. There is no excuse for Congress' failure to pass laws to protect Mueller or to prevent the nepotism that is adding to the problems in the White House. Trump is a problem, but Congress is enabling him.
6
If you didn't want a President Trump, you should have nominated Sanders. Or Biden. Or Warren. Or the local dogcatcher, for that matter. People talk about how unpopular Trump was, but don't mention that Clinton had a 35% popularity rating, well within the margin of error of being the same as Trump. Ask yourself why the DNC pressured all of the quality candidates not to run, because it was "Her Turn", then when she couldn't even beat the "Straw Man" token candidate Sanders, they tilted the playing field in her favor to make sure she won anyway.
Ask yourself if the 2016 election was any different than any election that came before it. Every election the party picks a favorite. The GOP clearly rejected Trump during this election, but all media helped him become the nominee anyway due to "watching the train wreck."
"John Kelly, the White House chief of staff, claimed...." I have heard much praise for John Kelly as a military man. Personally, I don't know him before his becoming chief of staff for Trump. And all I have seen and heard is a man who easily lies and never retracts, apologizes, ... admits any wrong doing. I have no reason to believe or accept anything Kelly has to say because his past months there have been too many lies. Sadly, he works for a president who lies as well.
12
Nobody who works for this president is immune to lying...it comes with the territory.
It's a well-known fact that a lot of Trump supporters aren't bothered by his lies or crassness or adultery or "speaking-his-mind." It seems that Americans themselves have either forgotten their own values or, more likely, they have always condoned such behavior. I think a lot of people in the U.S. are fundamentally a-moral even while praising Jesus. Their morals are negotiable. They have embraced the "prosperity gospels" which are a license to do, or say or act in any way that puts money in their pocket.
Just start digging. The bar is being set very, very low these days.
18
Mugabe when he came to power attacked the press and the judiciary, he surrounded himself with his family and the military, and hollowed out the civil service. Sounds familiar.
7
Unfortunately so much of this 'tolerance' for White House and Republican malfeasance can be traced back to the noxious influence of evangelical preaching that has poisoned this country for the last thirty years. For many evangelicals women are born with the devil in them and it is a man's duty to contain this evil by any means including beating. This might even explain the jump in Trump's approval ratings since this latest scandal broke out.
In my own family my 9 month old niece was beaten with a wooden spoon because of her night time crying on the preacher's orders.
It is time the United States really separated church from state and deny these institutions of hate mongering and the preaching of middle age practices their tax exempt status.
15
What happened to your 9 month old niece is, legally speaking, "child abuse." Have the parents no brains or love for their own child that they would follow such poisonous advice? Is that how low is the intelligence of evangelical "christians"?
1
As an adult she wound up getting addicted to painkillers. Had to go through rehab. Jesus really does save!!! These charlatans of religion are the models for our charlatans of politics.
Lack of integrity is putting it mildly. Our President lacks any semblance of a moral center. He is simply devoid of empathy for anyone who is not a white male doing his bidding.
What is most terrifying is the sense that Republicans and at least some of the voters are okay with it.
When did we become a country unwilling to take a stand for what is right and compassionate and just? Just as we failed to even attempt to address the slaughter of children at Sandy Hook and now have a school shooting a month, we are failing to stand up to a morally bankrupt leader.
In the height of Watergate and Vietnam and even the Civil Rights movement, I always felt that we would, in the end, move in the direction of goodness and justice. Not so sure about that anymore.
352
What is striking about the Republican Congress - and it applies to many Democrats as well - is that many seem like full-size cardboard cut-outs on the drug-store display floor. There is no thinking there. If someone were to say, okay, now we eat dirt, they would all go out and eat dirt, and say this is great. I think they are completely unprincipled. Knee-jerk evangelicalism and tea part-ism and Trumpism have become substitutes for responsibility, judgement and thought.
2
>When did we become a country unwilling to take a stand for what is right and compassionate and just?<
Good question. Maybe it was when we nearly annihilated the Native Americans. Or perhaps it was during WWI when speaking German and even having a German name would get you incarcerated? The 1920s Red Raids? How about when being of Japanese descent would get your property and freedom stolen? And let’s not forget Joseph McCarthy, HUAC, the atrocities committed by the CIA at home and abroad, etc.
You sound as if you think political incompetence and moral bankruptcy are only of recent creation. I can tell you that that isn’t the case.
Sir,l would suggest to you that the onset of moral inhumanity in this country,began when is written constitution delineated that Black People are not Human.
The bedrock of America's integrity has been, or so our religious leaders have told us, our fidelity to Christian principles. The bitter and heartbreaking irony here is that Trumps support draws almost entirely from the evangelical Christian community.
12
I no longer consider evangelicals as real Christians....they are the proverbial "Wolves in sheep's clothing" as Jesus said.
The enablers, furthermore, will likely help DT get away with evasion of the increasingly obvious treasonous collusion with our adversaries. Such seems to be the normal state of affairs in our now corrupt politics.
7
I love the quote from one of the accuse man's wives.
She said that she wouldn't live with him but she knew he'd be very important to the functioning of that office.
This kinda makes it hard to propagandize against a man who has already over-seen the re-invigoration of the American economy, doesn't it?
The Churchill quote perfectly states why no patriot could countenance a Barack Obama being handed the presidency. He had NO integrity toward our Constitution, the separation of powers it calls for, or the basic rule of law. He was pretty, dressed well, and could tell jokes and sing. Truth came in last in his world.
2
Trump’s campaign was built on a foundation of lies. His so-called business empire was built on a foundation of lies. Lies play a role in his multiple marriages and affairs. His political team have mastered the art of lying. Just like their boss. Trump is ready for his next best seller— The Art of the Lie.
9
There is nothing that they can't or won't lie about. The reflexive, institutional response from this Administration is to lie.
8
The stain on this White House is beyond repair. We have never elected a president so morally, intellectually and ethically unfit for the job. This is compounded by a lack of check on this presidency due to a congress that is equally unfit and complicit in endorsement of this President. There is so much
malfeasance here it is painful to see and it is destructive to our democracy.
Every day we are pummeled with more and more displays of indifference to the rule of law and the basic tenets of decency. We are in a period of shame in this great country and all our alarm bells are ringing. When will it end, and how will it end, that is the question.
412
This is letter perfect.
Any idea why the GOP keeps supporting him?
to Martjin: Tax cuts, deregulation, the Republican agenda as usual. And, they've lost their way - a culture shift as well that sheds decency and statesmanship. Money rules and their backers are right wing zealots.
2
Absolutely, as Mencius said, righteousness, integrity and benevolence are the provenance of the ruler. The brown stuff flows down from the top and pervades all under heaven.
1
I firmly believe Trump's entire Presidency is hollow. To him it was all about being elected at any cost. He identified a swath of America he thought would latch onto with a clever marketing campaign he personally did not believe in. He flew his airplane around the country to impress them with his wealth. He lied to the Evangelicals, he's no Christian, he's a manifest destiny guy.
Now he's stuck, he's in a job for which he's ill suited, surrounded by political neophytes because the smart and experienced people in government won't work for him. "The Trump Stain Spreads" because politics is not a brand and he has no idea how to manage it. He is trying to hold the 30% of the Country who bought into his hocus pocus and eventually they will leave him. Our Country is at risk when the easily herded sheep follow someone who is frankly inept when it comes to anything but marketing.
270
I think we're going to find out that he's not that adept at marketing. If 70% hate your product you're not going to be able to maintain it.
1
Trump needs to be evicted from office. The best thing to do with metastasizing cancer is to surgically cut it out – to get rid of it.
Trump is too much of a danger to our country. Consider degradation of relations with our international partners, including the perils of nuclear war and climate change: the Atomic Scientists say it is two minutes to midnight, the closest the Doomsday Clock has been to that hour since the height of the Cold War in 1953. Consider long-term threats to the economy and jobs from the recent tax cuts for the wealthy, the lack of a viable plan for the nation’s infrastructure, privatization of education to benefit the rich, environmental damage from offshore drilling, threats to the social safety net with Obamacare, Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security, threats to the Dreamers and other immigrants looking for the freedom and hope that America has to offer.
Who knows what will happen with the upcoming elections? Have purple-state voters sufficiently come to terms with the errors of their ways in 2016? Or all those who abdicated their responsibilities in not voting, or engaging in protest voting, at that time? And who knows what will happen with the Mueller investigation?
Democrats don’t like or respect Trump, but they can still learn from him – about potent messaging and persuasion, using the Trump stain to their advantage. Tweet it out: Cheating Donald, Kowtowing Kelly, Punching Porter. Fight fire with fire. That’s the name of this game.
7
I am an American citizen who moved my family of five to Spain two months after Donald Trump was elected. I believe the United States is in a state of civil war, and that this war is escalating rapidly now. A lack of integrity means one is able to compartmentalise anything in the name of some perceived cause. School shootings, racism, wife beating, misogyny, homophobia...and many more clear perversities somehow quickly manage to become yesterday's news as the Trump establishment of right-wing media, Republican politicians, billionaire funding and White House spin doctors distort the narrative with a wink to the deplorables who are their base voter. I take issue with one statement Mr. Kristof makes in this piece. He says: "To be clear, I don’t think officials would deliberately turn to war as a solution to political problems..." Why don't you think this? Of course officials in he current leadership of the United States would turn to war as a solution if forced to. This is why a lack of integrity is so dangerous. There are no limits to what can happen once people find ways to hide the truth from themselves through rationalisations and outright lies. Once war starts, no one will question the real reasons. A lack of integrity is simply a lack of conscience. This is why I moved to Spain. I am ashamed of my country and fearful for my family...and there appears to be no relief in sight.
12
Mr. Kristoff is exactly right and all the other articles in today’s news bear witness. From the article in The Atlantic about Reince Priebus and how he was “forced” to wallow in dishonesty from the first day, sacrificing his integrity. To, most disturbingly, the article about how too many of the standards of behavior in government were based on the assumption of integrity and following rules, not law. That the people in the Administration would live up to certain ethics norms, honesty among them. That security clearance is expected to work in the Administration, but unlike, say, in the military, is not codified and can be overridden by the Executive, and we may never know why the person is considered a security risk by the FBI.
The toadies lining up to help the Trump White House from within or from just down the mall are throwing away with abandon the one thing you can never regain, their good name, to be a lickspittle to a man who would throw his mother under the bus.
Ask Priebus, or Flynn, or Bannon, or Spicer, or...
4
A lack of integrity can be termed corruption, and this is now spreading downward into the country.
3
Integrity was taken out of the GOP recipe book long before Trump distilled deceit into a 100 proof spirit delivered straight up.
When just about every standing Republican Senator and Congressmen can look the camera straight into the lens and declare man-made climate change a lie perpetuated by crooked scientists in pursuit of grant money, we have passed a threshold of the basic decency required to sustain a modern democracy.
Donald Trump was able to win the presidency because outright lies were already well established and accepted as truth in the minds of many Americans. It is one thing to falsely call other politicians liars, but when you extend false accusations to private citizen scientists you are burning down the house that shelters civilization.
5
Not only is domestic violence victimizing countless women daily, it is also a prime indicator of men who will go on mass shooting sprees. Not taking domestic violence seriously leads to this epidemic of mass killings. Having our leadership accept domestic abusers in their midst shows their utter contempt at trying to fix any of this country’s problems.
4
I was pleased to see that the American dictionary has withdrawn the words ' unethical', 'fact' and 'misinformation' from their lists as they are words that are no longer in common usage.
1
It continues to suit the new government for its leader to mesmerize us with red meat, exposures of silliness in personal conduct, to distract from the cold blooded clawing at the nation's fibre. The crisis this week is not Porter, it is whether the government of the United States will institute restraints on immigration which are hostile to the family and to childhood security. That's it. That is what this government wants to do. Who will be deflected by the carnival?
1
It is now reported that 100 people in the White House did not have permanent security clearances as of November, including both Jared and Ivanka. So how can so many people be allowed access to classified material without proper clearance, and Trump is too easy to read the National Security zbriefing. He has better things to do like watching Morning Fox. Distributing classified material to unauthorized people is criminal. Lock them all up including Trump.
6
So much for the claim that we needed a businessman, a CEO who knows how to get things done. This businessman President (and Jared Kushner) comes from a culture of deceit, that is commercial real estate especially in New York. One would have hoped that a Marine general of heroic stature would've been immune to the stain of Trump but no Kelley is a fish out of water in the White House where dereliction of duty goes unpunished unlike in the USMC. Kelley's buffoonery reminds me of a military man who thought he was in charge when Reagan was shot, Gen. Alexander Haig.
5
As one who has held a fairly high security clearance, it boggles my mind that Trump or anyone in his gang of thieves (with the exception of Kelly and Mattis) could even be considered for security clearances.
5
How many presidents who lack integrity must we endure before we Americans declare a moratorium on dishonest White House administrations.
We have now stooped so low that we are expressing gratitude for Obama's integrity as his primary contribution to America with very little said about his actual accomplishments.
Does America need an even greater catastrophe than Trump stealing our souls before we acknowledge a national need to regain integrity for our country?
1
The press always gives the president too much power. It is the personality of the president that attacks similar personalities.
This is how John Kelly really is, this is John Kelly without the regs and manners required by the US Marine Corps. "Always a marine..." is not true for all when leaving service. He started to display this when he was head of Homeland Security.
It is not a Trump stain, it is birds of a feather.
3
To understand what is going on perhaps this will help: the entire world knows America lost a cyber war to Russia in 2016, the result of which was the election of Donald Trump; that is, everywhere except America which is struggling to pretend it’s business as usual, trying to ensure behaviour by the usual standards. It’s why the media and the Dems can’t seem to get a grip on Trump. Paradigm shift! The destruction, discord and instability that Trump is wreaking are precisely what the Russians wanted and have achieved beyond their wildest expectations. All they had to do was wind him up and send him out there! They knew better than us apparently what he is about. Is that not perfectly clear by now? And they will continue to back Trump and the GOP by any means. That is a safe assumption. The Russians know useful fools when they see them: Manafort, Flynn, Page, Kushner and the Trumps were ripe for the plucking, a dream team. And the GOP has a veritable larder-full, primed for sleaze by the Mercers, the Kochs, the NRA and worse, the guys who backed this alliance to the hilt to build their little Ayn Randian Utopia. Defeat is very hard thing to admit, but that is exactly what Trump represents; every day that goes by without facing the fact that America lost when Trump won makes matters worse, because it is still going on. Our pride is blinding. This is no time for parades; the biggest cover-up in American history is underway.
6
It's the con man in Trump that finds the weak point in every one of his marks, and even when the mark hasn't even met him, they'll take the con.
The recent tax cuts aren't going to help the middle class as much as the working class, where an extra $50 a paycheck means shoes for the kids or a night out with the wife. They're the ones who will believe the Trumpian shill, and with the $24,000 standard deduction, they'll wind up paying next to nothing in taxes. Trump and his likeminded Republicans will play to this base, and be the false heroes. Their America will seem great again. That is, until their Social Security and Medicare disappear. By then, The Great Con will have long since retreated to Mar a Lago and the rest of the liars long since scattered.
Too bad the 2018 mid-terms come before their middle class shills fill out their 2018 tax forms and realize just how much they were had. Maybe there's more in their weekly paycheck now, but there won't be come 15Apr2019.
272
BUT the 2018 elections will come about the same time companies send out their information about health insurance selections for the upcoming year. Here is where people will realize their health insurance premiums will go up 20%. THAT is on the GOP and ecpotus.
1
There is no tax cut-- it's a tax transfer. It's going from us today onto our kids tomorrow.
Mae West, that Brooklyn-born wonder, was known for her wit. In one of her plays (or movies--and she co-wrote the scripts, often from one of her plays), she had a great line. Looking up and down a hunky guy, she would say, "You...can be had!"
Trump voters can be had...for a very small price, such as $1.50 in their weekly net paycheck. They are insulting themselves for less than when Frank Sinatra called someone a "two-buck broad."
Well said. But despite the obvious moral sinkhole I'm guessing that anytime soon Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council and fellow evangelical "values voters" will proclaim the whole executive team deserves another "Mulligan" and a "Do Over" on this one. To forgive is Divine!
3
I like what Michael Steele said about these "christians." I paraphrase, but it was to the effect that he did not want these people to ever tell him what to say, what to pray, what to believe ever again. They have lost their moral authority ( the authority that they assumed) by supporting a lying, cheating, immoral man.
The contagion spreads? “Oh what tangled webs we weave when first we choose to deceive.”
It would be hard to track down just when Trump decided to deceive: it goes back a very long way. And he’s caught a lot of flies in his web.
3
It is hard not to get the feeling that the weight of the extraordinary activities and events in the White House and within the GOP is near a tipping point to bring the whole house of cards down. Just a view from the outside.
8
To Mr Kristof
I would never defend Trump and his ilk. Unfortunately he represents the new breed of American pragmatist willing to forsake all common decency and propriety for 'weightier issues'. That is how his many supporters across the land view the snowball of scandals characterizing the Trump regime since he was inaugurated. It's the fault of the ordinary voter that Trump is able to prosper in his sordid ways, perhaps these citizens actually like the idea of an outlaw president in power 'sticking' it to the 'boring' stuffed shirts on a bipartisan level. Irrationality is a common factor in the human condition, Americans are not immune to its power.
6
When we elected Donald Trump president we forgot Martin Luther King's simple elegant request that we judge people by the content of their character. We are daily reminded of the cost of ignoring his advice.
10
And this incident has also brought forward another area they apparently don't care about: national security.
Porter didn't have clearance; Kushner doesn't; and Trump blurts out whatever he feels like to the Russians.
Republicans in Congress are shaming themselves, over and over again, with the growing list of issues that no longer matter to them.
8
The Trump effect has infected the GOP and there are no heroes only varying degrees of culpability. He has annihilated the GOP without a fight a once reluctant Ryan jumped on the bandwagon. One year in and with another three the party and maybe this country will be unrecognizable.
1
The antics and words of the Trump administration begs the questions "What happened the Patriotic GOP Senators? Those who profess a love of Country? Is this Presidency worth losing one's professional integrity and violating one's core principals over?"
One year ago, I would have had different answers than the facts in front of us require one to conclude. IMO Trump will go soon, but the legacy effects on the GOP will last decades.
3
Integrity, shmintegrity. When one thinks they are above the law, above proper procedure, and rules don't apply to them, those around you follow your lead.
And supporters will give you a pass. Soon, Trump supporters will think it is ok if they themselves are above the law. Good times ahead...
3
One is tempted to see the extreme, hateful partisanship at the core of lacking integrity - our truth vs their truth. I think it goes deeper:
when half of the population believes in creationism it means that half of the population regards science as basically lying, as drumming up "their" reality vs "our" reality. It is no more about finding out truth, it is only about "our" truth, "our" believe, "our" folks.
Compared to modern, secular societies ( Europe, South-America, Australia, Canada, even most of Asia and Africa), the USA are still a fundamentalist country.
5
Why don’t you think officials would deliberately turn to war as a solution to political problems? Trump has continually proven to surpass the depths to which we have thought he could descend.
394
I have no confidence that Trump would not "deliberately turn to war as a solution to political problems". Nor that he would not create a situation in which he could cancel an election and/or declare martial law. I have no confidence that Congress would stop him. I do fear that that is exactly where we are headed.
1
War, sure why not? It's easy, and it's a money maker. Look at how the Bush administration manufactured an excuse to attack Iraq wish the Iraqis would pay for with their oil.
I agree. Bombing North Korea to try and change the subject is totally in it's wheelhouse and it's obvious that the boot lickers surrounding it won't do a thing.
2
.."I don’t think officials would deliberately turn to war as a solution to political problems.." Maybe not. Political distraction includes foreign policy and we are in a time where the president is planning an extraordinary military parade.
A war as a distraction is not off limits for a president that is trying so hard to hide his sex life, his taxes, whatever Putin has on him and, whatever more we do not know. If war happens, it will be deliberate.
5
Of course Cohen wasn't reimbursed from the Trump Organization or the Trump presidential campaign. Trump has a foundation for that kind of expense! It already has been used to pay off various Trump legal obligations. What's one more?
3
"...we all have a remarkable ability to persuade ourselves that what is good for us is also good for the country." A tiny fraction of us are ever in a position to make this calculation. Those who are have been selling out the country and its people since WWII. This crowd understands they can be blatantly corrupt with impunity. At least so far.
1
Mr. Krisoff uses the word metastasizing accurately. As an RN I saw first-hand, as we all have seen in our personal lives, what a spreading cancer can do if caught too late. It is deathly, painful for the sufferer as well as his/her loved ones.
We are now witnessing a disease of immorality spreading throughout this administration, starting and encouraged by a most unethical president. Anything goes, anything can be done...just cover your tracks and don't get caught.
And as with incurable diseases, the lack of integrity and a moral compass will cause our body of government to crumble, a death warrant, so to speak, for our democracy.
It's not too late, however. The cure of this present decay is in our hands. We can make the difference and the change we are all so desperate for. We have more power than we allow ourselves to think.
394
Kathy,
These are all wonderful points but as Russia has pointed out, our elections are easily hackable and our Government is opening the path wide.
There are three issues here, the first is Citizens United which has placed elections in the hands of Corporations and powerful Lobbys with their own agendas. A perfect example is the NRA, the NRA has thrown hundreds of thousands of dollars into to hands of individual Legislators and the Presidency to guarantee that their agenda is the only one followed, in addition to gerrymandering.. In America, it is nearly impossible to run for public office without vast amounts of funding. Russia has also placed monies onto facebook knowing that this placement would influence many voters as well.
The second issue, is advertising, political sound bytes with the very dark, scary music that indicate that Mr X voted for that, we don't want that or those people. This is the very reason Congress is paralyzed to perform their jobs to write and fund necessary Legislation. This arena might also encompass, Fox "News", too many voters recieve unfactual information and believe it to be the truth and vote accordingly.
Finally, we need to return to the Supreme Court again, who decided that the VRA was no longer necessary and could be gutted. This step allowed many States to do the final deed, making voting very difficult for those Liberal voters, people of color and young adults on college campuses.
3
Thank you for such a perfect analogy. I am scared, worried, and appalled every day with this Republican party and their man in the white house.
4
Kathy
As a fellow RN, thank you for your words. You said this perfectly. This country needs some very powerful chemotherapy right now, especially infused at the White House, to systemically halt this tragic metastatic cancer.
MIMA
3
The bigger issue, in my estimation, is not whether Rob Porter actually assulted his ex wives, but how someone with only a provisional security clearance can have access to highly classified intelligence. It has been said that he was the conduit by whom al information was passed to the President, so he had almost unlimited access. This is the real scandal
8
My revered Mr. Kristof is making the same mistake that is common, today, to many decent, thoughtful, bright, compassionate, educated, sophisticated persons: Kristof appears to believe that facts, truth, consistency, or decency matter to Donald Trump. He can no more argue facts or truth or even consistency with Trump than I can argue phenomenology with my labradoodle. Neither cares.
The only 'argument' that will count with this monstrosity is (to use Kristof's analogy) force: radical extirpative surgery. Until Trump is met with blunt, brutal force -- whether handcuffs from his criminal actions, or moving-vans after his impeachment -- his spreading stain will not slow. I hope only that he will be met with either of these manifestations of force, rather than others.
6
What many people seem to have forgotten is that at the same time Trump was having sex with Stormy Daniels (which, according to her, may have been a one-time thing), he was also having an affair with Karen McDougal, a Playboy model - and that affair may have gone on for several months. Ms. McDougal's story was bought by the National Enquirer for $150,000 for the explicit purpose of burying it. I am puzzled as to why the Trump campaign did not follow this same tactic with Ms. Daniels - i.e., get the National Enquirer or some other outside actor to pay her off and avoid all of the problems that have emerged since. I assume that the McDougal payoff was legal, despite the highly questionable ethics behind it.
2
There are four things that should be done to correct the course we are on; where dishonest and self-serving people run our government:
Take money out of politics.
Eliminate gerrymandering.
Eliminate the Electoral College, and allow for true majority rule.
Take money out of politics. (It's worth repeating.)
For those who quake at the thought of challenging the Electoral College system, I'm almost willing to bet that #2 would make #3 irrelevant.
3
The only way for Americans to erase the stain of the Trump presidency, is to turn out and vote. Clearly the GOP-controlled Congress can't be expected to act in the Nation's best interest, so it up to the American people to wash away this stain at the ballot box this fall.
7
My question is meant not to praise or excuse Rob Porter or any other person accused of or found guilty of abuse or of sexual harassment, but --
If it is wrong to employ someone accused of or found guilty of partner abuse or sexual harassment -- how are they to earn a living going forward?
I'm interested in reading some answers.
Doug Giebel, Big Sandy, Montana
2
McDonalds is hiring.
I doubt that Trump understands abuse. Physical abuse is just one part of the problem. Psychological abuse of a partner needs to be included. Trump doesn’t get that carrying on a public affair while married to Ivana was abuse. The President needs counseling. Perhaps one of those Evangelicals could help him out.
4
Trump's entire repertoire of conduct is abusive.
Mr. Kristof writes, "The White House would never be caught with a bank robbery suspect on its staff". One, he is underestimating the lack of integrity and morals in the White House. Second, he is forgetting that Mr. Trump has failed on multiple occasions to pay back bank loans after he lobbed various accusations against said banks, hence the reason why banks outside of Russia will not loan to him. So Mr. Trump is very much a white collar bank robber.
9
Stevie Mnuchin is one slippery financier.
If Americans cared about integrity, they would not have voted for Trump.
If Americans cared about integrity, they would not continue to support him and his Congressional supporters who fail daily to protect Americans from foreign and domestic enemies.
If serious people want to save the Republic, forget talk about values, honor and decency. Clearly, the electorate does not care. (Heck, based on voting, Americans don't care that school children are shot at alarming rates.)
To save the Republic, leaders of the resistance must develop messaging that appeals to the American electorate. Short words. Punchy lines. Easy solutions. No nuance. Shiny objects and most importantly...
...messaging that makes people feel good about themselves without requiring any effort or evidence that they should feel good about themselves.
2
And I say again, he told us who he is, he showed us who he is, he left no doubt about who he is time and time again during his life and his presidential campaign. Of course Trump has a serious integrity problem, but he is the spawn of American voters. That latter fact troubles me more than the former.
3
And waiting in the wings, just removed from the taint of the scandals, stands Pastor Pence.
And I expect that at some point (probably in October after the primaries but before the general election) he will declare that he is shocked, shocked, by the conduct of the White House, obtain the support of a majority of the cabinet (promising pardons perhaps), and stage a coup, thereby saving the GOP majority for at least another two years.
And then, the Lord Protector will engage in creating his own theocracy.
3
Anyone who denies that the first amendment is a specific denial of power to Congress to enact any legislation that officially endorses any article of religious faith is a liar.
These things are happening because it is the way Trump does business. All of his life he had been able to do whatever he pleases. He has been able to do whatever he wants, to whomever he wants and come out ahead. He has never played by the rules. But in his past, most of these types of situations were largely unscrutinized, out of the mainstream consciousness. So the fact that those around him are just following his lead should come as no surprise. Everyone in his orbit now stands on Fifth Ave, pulling the trigger and Trump provides the cover. It has always worked for him. But when you overplay such methods, it gets old. And I suspect one by one voters are getting tired of what they see. Oh there will be a core of supporters who rationalize what he does as "just like Clinton" or that he talks "like I wish politicians would talk" or the "press is out to get him", none of this is true. But I think there are many people who quietly are walking away, feeling they've seen and heard enough. A trickle. That is getting bigger every day. To those on the fence I would suggest : He can't be cut anymore slack for"learning on the job", he isn't becoming more presidential with time, and he is creating more people around him that behave like him. A swamp within a swamp. The bigger his swamp gets, the harder it is to ignore the stench. So I suggest you stop pinching your nose closed and be willing to accept the smell for what it is.
519
A swamp within a swamp, within a swamp, within a swamp. The president, the White House, the US House of Representatives, the millions who elected them.
How do you fix that?
2
There's an old saying about learning on the job. If you're up to speed in three months you're quick; six months is average. If you hit a year and you're still making easy mistakes, you're out. That's how the business world operates anyway. Trump is supposed to know this stuff. I'm not surprised he doesn't.
1
...many people who quietly are walking away...
It was said that perhaps in 2016 there were lots of voters who quietly decided to walk into the booth and vote for Donald Trump. They didn't advertise their choice to their families, friends, colleagues, pollsters, particularly in those crucial Dem. firewall states that Clinton los, because they feared being looked down upon. Empowered, Trump supporters who may have been reluctant to be vocal during the campaign for fear of being verbally slapped down, got their guy into the White House, realized there were 63 million other people who voted the same way and "came out." I wonder if now, people who are deserting Trump in their own minds (or at least considering it) are becoming reluctant to "come out" to pollsters, or friends, colleagues and family members who remain core Trump supporters, with all the charming rhetoric the core among Trump supporters are wont to spew at those who openly support Democrats. To my knowledge, there's no proof of this, just mere speculation about a hypothesis. Anyone studying the topic as it might apply to 2016 and 2018 elections?
Now that security clearances for White House staff are under scrutiny, it would be an appropriate time to ask: would Trump even qualify for one?
I doubt he could pass the background check.
6
Trump would be denied for refusing to divulge his tax returns, period, the end.
The man was blackmailed by a porn star. What cards to the Russians hold over him? He's compromised, and he could not get a security clearance.
"The epidemic has rippled through much of the G.O.P..." Some of us are aware that the epidemic began before Trump and that it is the toxic GOP that makes Trump possible. What is different now is that there is so much money at stake that GOP members of Congress throw off any residual veils of decency. Before the Southern Strategy, conservatives fought school integration. In VA, that fight never ended, although it did recede in 1970. Over and over, GOP stalwarts vow to end the Federal Dept of Ed--taking federal money and rules out of education: aka States' Rights. Reagan preached States' Rights. Congress is about to allow permissive States' Gun Rights to override gun restrictions elsewhere. I await the wave of explanations and excuses for the latest school massacre. It began already on Fox, where a right wing host(ess), marked with the ashes of death, recited all the woes of the young shooter's life: a bizarre reversal of roles with a hard right winger parading a liberal bleeding heart. They have no shame.
2
I believe that General Kelly might possibly be suffering from PTS. What else could explain his lack of compassion? Perhaps, he lost his humanity after sending young people to their deaths. The General's loss of a child was horrific. Right now he is empty. No doubt the General needs to leave. I don't know if he has received grief counseling, but the General needs help. Remember, "old soldiers never die, they just fade away". Please fade away.
2
My mother was a veritable fountain of adages, two of which come to mind: 1) Birds of a feather flock together; and 2) You are known by the company you keep.
1
Dear Amie,
Prepare for our annual arrival to Paris in Bermuda shorts and cameras. Spring is in the air, as America continues to shrivel and shrink; an ongoing distasteful love/rebellious affair with Trump; and a curious feeling, one of unease, that We are without Leadership in our Country.
Law-abiding Citizens are supposed to vote for 'Russia' in November, although a fine electrician reported earlier that our Popular Vote amounts to little in the big picture.
At last report from an international children's agency, 535 million children are wandering our Earth; some of these casualties of war, migrants or internally displaced, they are all just children. The local supermarket has caught on, and there is an appeal to the shoppers to help abolish Hunger. Recently a fleeting sight of a black American, rarer by the day.
The News remains one of the most entertaining shows of the day where there is one sex scandal after another, unveiled. Here I will cease with the drama.
By the way, I keep receiving an invitation to greet 100 Russian beauties. It does not offer advice on how the above are to be accommodated, and our water resources in America are dwindling.
All to say, should I disappear like Dr. Zhivago's Lara, be prepared to take in a young noble soul and quiet warrior in possession of a tuxedo and a set of bright whiskers. He has nine lives, and Hope springs Eternal.
With roses and ashes, thinking of you, Adieu. and till' We meet again.
1
Trump is the leader of the GOP. He has the backing of over 90% of Republicans. He can do as he pleases, with no consequences. Everyone seems to forget this.
2
"I don’t think officials would deliberately turn to war as a solution to political problems, but we all have a remarkable ability to persuade ourselves that what is good for us is also good for the country."
Why not? Trump recently said that it would take a major event to unify the nation...isn't that possibly preparing the soil for the seeds of war?
War would solve so many problems for Trump...who's going to be worrying about Robert Mueller's findings if we're in a nuclear conflict?...and who's going to be thinking about wife beaters and sexual predators, if we're fighting our way to "greatness"?...certainly our taxes will rise with war, but everyone understands that's necessary in times of war, and that gives the corporate and wealthy another chance to profit from public activity.
2
What is the “moral compass” difference between a bank robber and a domestic abuser, accused rapist, or someone accused of any type of sexual assault? I believe you are missing the main point here, Mr. Kristof, when you say, “The answer has to do, I think, with a lack of integrity, an absence of a moral compass, a narcissism in which the all-consuming need becomes to protect oneself and one’s boss.”
The primary commonality is a disdain for women, an anti-feminist, indeed outright misogynistic sentiment that runs so deep it is taken for granted in Trump circles that abusers of women have the right to be “believed” unless they give a full and complete confession—which of course they never do. This is their norm, the “good old boys club” that they comfortably belong to.
2
.... and yet Trump's poll numbers continue to go up. In the wake of the "Porter affair," the "Stormy Daniels affair," and all of the horrors you recount, among many other questions, in light of all of the security issues regarding his minions, I must ask whether or not Trump himself has received a security clearance? If so, how? If not, how can he be allowed to remain as chief executive? How can our nation continue to survive as a
democracy with such a budding tyranny of ignorance and sycophancy in the offing? Why have not this president's many transgressions not led to more effective legislative and/or court action? Clearly, you points are well taken. What has become of integrity among our nation's "leaders?"
1
I believe it is fair to say that nobody who works in the trump administration will come out smelling like a rose. This seems to be obvious to everybody but the republicans who still support this president.* One of trump's main campaign themes was his promise to 'drain the swamp.' He offered no evidence of how he would do this, and there was absolutely nothing in his own personal history to suggest that he would actually do it. It seems, instead, that he has created a new, and bigger swamp. The swamp dwellers have no integrity, no honesty, and no interest in making the government work for the people. Sad.
1
“To be clear, I don’t think officials would deliberately turn to war as a solution to political problems...”
———
That’s naive. The idea was already espoused by a security council representative in South Korea. He posited that a war might be just the thing to help Republicans win the mid-terms. War has always been an option, a “nuclear option” if you will, to distract from political problems.
2
Reading this and the many other articles of the chaos of the Trump Administration, I am left to wonder, what would have happened had Clinton campaigned better in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania? Well, she would have won, but what would the news have looked like?
Pretty much the mirror image of what it is now. Instead of the NYT and WaPo, Huffington Post and the Atlantic bringing it on to Trump, it would have been Fox News, the New York Post, Washington Times and other right wing news outlets doing the number on Clinton. There would be a special prosecutor for something that Clinton had done in the past and we would pretty much be in the same place we find ourselves in now.
The real competition in this blood sport is who can mark up the other side the best. Right?? Or is this too cynical. What if the reports on Trump are not just partisan shots being taken at the other side? What if its all true? Does attempting to compare this to what the right wing would have done to Hillary make these reports less credible and legitimate?
It is where we are now as a country, not really knowing what is true and what is not. What is hyperbole, and what really is the worst presidency the country has ever produced.
1
A run up of military budget ( and reduction in domestic spending), sure.
The tax breaks, the insane deficit.
The Citizens United, the lobbyists.
The gerrymandering.
Starting a war for political reasons - well, he is running out of moves.
Running up the military budget, why.
2
How does Cohen describe the $130,000 "expense" on his statement? Where did the money come from and when?
Who at the WH knew what and when? Ms. Huckabee Sanders said, at one point, that the WH doesn't do the security checks, and, a day later, that there was a WH security group which was "adjudicating" what the FBI, etc were providing. She's not even consistent within 24 hrs, and nobody calls her out on it.
Trump is against domestic abuse. WOW. He's also probaby against cancer. The question is not if he's for or against it, the question remains: has he no sympathy with the women?
Doubtless a domestic abuser can be a great painter, composer or quarterback: what the abuser does and says about it is important, especially when in a very high public office open to blackmail or conspiracy.
Reading, seeing, hearing these days about resignations; unfortunately, the only one that's not forthcoming is that from the Oval Office. Mr. President, take a hint.
372
Trump is also against poverty but his definition of poverty isn't the same as yours or mine. He's against the middle class because we don't have as much as the rest of his millionaire supporters. He'll survive whatever financial tragedies he and the GOP set in motion. We won't but they won't care.
2
@Michael Cullen: Why focus on "la petite histoire," who's sleeping with whom, "and try concentrating on whether or not Trump's policies of restoring a sense of proprietorship to the American people, sentiment that citizens OWN their country is a good one, successful and right?Having been an ex pat myself even before term was employed, I know how fashionable it is to criticize America while living abroad. Reminds me of that great Art Buchwald line which he wrote while at International Tribune, that the only other anti Americans he knew in Paris were other Americans! If you care about your country and are a US citizen, your place is here not there. You don't like Trump, fair enough, but tell us which policies you disagree with and what your alternatives are. Enough foolish concentration on sex scandals, what the French call,"des histoires de jambes en l'air!"Millions of Americans now realize that it is not shameful to love one's country, defend its patrimony, yet are willing to help out others who have been waiting patiently in line to enter for years. They are deserving, not the ones who play identity politics and seek to jump the line!
What do you wanna bet the money got reimbursed from Trump's foundation?
1
Thank you Mr. Kristof, this made my Thursday (Better)! Fortunately there still are thoughtful, forward thinking, intelligent, articulate and compassionate human beings like yourself in this country. Please continue the Great Work, this country needs it. Abrazos!
13
I am sorry to say that you are all missing the point.
This is not about what we "should do", or what Congress "should do" or any other essentially academic argument.
This is about the marginalization of Americans; the stripping of rights of Americans; the dehumanization of Americans; the funneling of money to a certain class of Americans; the ongoing transfer of power to a few Americans; the betrayal of American ideals.
Republicans have passed the point of no return. The 2018 elections will be badly influenced by Russian interference and gerrymandering.
Our political system has expired. No amount of CPR will revive it.
We are at the point in history where future generations will say, "How could they have let that happen? Why didn't people do something?"
51
Why didn't people do something? Because the assaults just keep coming. It's like a bad marriage or a war in which a day cannot go by without some new bad thing happening and eventually, all you can do is hunker down and wait for the shelling to stop.
This latest testament by Cohen reminds me of the fall guy who covered for John Edwards. While I am not surprised by anything that comes out of the White House, I am developing an understanding of how the disciples of FOXNews could be trained to doubt. On each new headline, we have to wait and see if the administration's response is fact or fiction. We knew BEFORE he was elected that Donald Trump had no moral compass...it was not something that was new in the campaign season, but had been there throughout his life. My greatest fear is that we are becoming so used to the almost daily assaults of honor and morality from the White House that it is like being surrounded by a hostile force. It is almost the norm. And I have to take you to task Nicholas, for one statement here: "The White House would never be caught with a bank robbery suspect on its staff, so why tolerate someone alleged to be a wife beater?" The White House will tolerate ANYONE who makes Trump feel important and satisfies his psychological needs.
36
To be clear, I do think this administration WOULD turn to war to divert attention from its political problems. I thought this from day one and I fear it is getting closer to happening.
42
At its core this matter is about national security. While domestic violence is an issue in this particular case, the larger issue is about our national security. How many other White House staffers haven't been cleared - we know Jared Kushner hasn't been cleared, but how many others?
The Russian probe is also about our national security. The fact that the majority of the GOP is complicit is accepting and aiding the Trump standard in exchange for their continued power should be raising everyone's alarm bells.
Why isn't Congress calling for the immediate discontinued employment of anyone that hasn't received clearance? When are a few good men going to stand up for this country, or do we all just get to have continued front row seats to this burning empire?
26
Excellent piece, Mr Kristof, but you err in one respect: you say Trump wouldn't have someone suspected of bank robbery on his staff, yet there are quite a few Trumpsters who have enriched themselves at the expense of banks, other financial institutions, regular people and Ameican taxpayers.
Among those who come to mind: Treasury Secretary (and former hedge fund manager) Steve Mnuchin, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross ("King of Bankruptcies"); EPA Administrator and Interior Sectetary Ryan Zinke are both fond of flying first class and renting private aircraft at every opportunity, with the rest of us picking up the tab.
Let's not forget Donald J. Trump himself, who has bragged about bilking banks and other lenders of hundreds of millions of dollars by declaring bankruptcy over and over. And of course, since he's never divested himself of his businesses, he's raking in more money every day from people who seek to curry his favor.
No there really are no lines this Administration is not ready and eager to cross.
36
So Trump’s consigliere did make the payoff to Stormy Daniels, at least that's what he now claims. I wonder if he wrote it off on his taxes, meaning the payoff was partly at public expense.
13
Elections have consequences: we're living that one out. But what about cynicism, bad faith, greed, malice? Chaos at this point seems like a successful survival strategy.
5
".. don't think officials would deliberately turn to war as a solution to political problems ....". Guess again. Trump's lifelong strategy - which has always served him well - is deliberate disruption and chaos. Nothing more disruptive than war. It will happen. Count on it.
14
You write " I don’t think officials would deliberately turn to war as a solution to political problems." But we are talking about Trump who has shown that he will use any diversion to take the spotlight off the scandals that will inevitably engulf him. We look for cooler heads and responsible adults around him to prevent war. But there do not appear to be any responsible adults in the room -- and especially not among the republicans in congress. They have given Trump his wall...they have actually built it as protection right around him..
13
Trump's choice of words were especially awkward, insensitive and conflicted. Not only did he say, "I'm totally opposed to domestic violence," — as if speaking out against or even engaging in domestic violence were a matter of choice — but, "I'm totally opposed to domestic violence of any kind," — as if there were some kinds of domestic violence that some people might support. This betrays Trump's underlying moral character more than he realizes.
18
"And the epidemic has rippled through much of the G.O.P. (with some heroic exceptions), turning lawmakers into enablers." Please, please, please do tell us who are the "heroic exceptions". Mouthing a protest on their way out the door is not.
24