Article: America's Moral Angst

Part II -- Corroborating Evidence The misrepresented refugees along the southern border of the United States are not the only ones for whom Trump has disdain. Connections with organizations that defend the rights and contribute to the needs of the poor and oppressed are now, seemingly, held hostage to the dictates of Israel -- an ally of the U.S. that regards its indigenous Palestinians much as Trump regards the "illegal aliens" on the Mexican border. Thus, the Trump administration withdrew from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on 12 October 2017 citing alleged "anti-Israel bias."

One of the goals of UNESCO is "promoting education for peace and protecting culture under attack." Given these ends and Israeli behavior toward the Palestinians, what Washington calls "bias" is in fact logical and necessary criticism on UNESCO's part. The same maneuver was repeated on 20 June 2018 when the Trump administration withdrew the U.S. from the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC). The Council is the world's premier human rights body that reviews and brings to light abuses on a country-by-country basis. Lo and behold, the Trump administration accused the UNHRC of "chronic bias" against Israel.

What is a human rights organization to do when confronted by a chronic human rights abusing state? Not be biased? Nor does the appearance of the occasional abuser state on its membership list negate the council's mission. Membership is rotating and has not prevented the council from doing its job.

Part III -- Conclusion A recent Brookings Institution analysis stated that the goals of the Trump administration are ones of regression: "Weaken institutions not to its liking, abandon them if they do not comply with its demands ... go it alone with little regard of the costs to U.S. interests" and do so in a manner that "absolves the administration from pretending to lead by its own example on human rights."

It should be noted that this approach to the world is not the product of a thought-out strategy. The present administration is not eschewing human rights because it has some detailed, if oddball, game plan to promote the betterment of American citizens. No. It is doing so because the man who is president and the henchmen he has surrounded himself with are themselves pathologically unethical people. And, they in turn have found like partners both domestically and in foreign allies (Israel and Saudi Arabia, etc.).

The dismissal of human rights comes naturally to these folks. And all of this was predictable from the beginning of Trump's campaign for the presidency -- that is, if you were paying attention. Well, more and more citizens are now paying attention. They ask, "what kind of country do we want to be?" The word "want" is a misleading one. The U.S. has always been a divided country.

What enough of the American people did in 2016 was to allow the bigoted, barbaric part of the nation, assisted by the inattentive, to gain power in the person of Donald Trump.

There are congressional elections in November 2018. We will see how many of those who closed their eyes, held their noses and took a leap into the unknown by voting for Donald Trump now come to the polling stations hoping to atone for their sins.

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