During the last few days we have witnessed an exemplar display of God's wisdom. The Good Book tells us that God leaves people free to be bad, but lets the wicked fall into their own snares.
The gall of President Putin! How could he ever conceive of a more nefarious plot than to convince President Trump of the brilliance of his scheme. We ask only for reciprocity. We'll let the American jurisprudence have the 12 Russians who have recently been indicted; we ask only for the Russian jurisprudence to "question" 11 Americans who are on our wish list.
What, in President Trump's words, could be a more "incredible offer" than this?
What gullibility on the part of President Trump!
It has taken four days for the Trump Administration to disavow this deal, a decision announced only after a 98-to-0 vote against it in the US Senate.
The rush of the Senate decision has not allowed for a detailed explanation for its unanimous decision.
The seriousness of the situation, a seriousness underscored by President Trump and the Trump Administration to invite President Putin for a state visit in the fall, warrants a detailed explanation of the meaning of these events.
President Trump has betrayed the TRUST that the American people have placed in him.
- It is not in the interest of the 11 American citizens requested by President Putin to be delivered to the Russian jurisprudence;
- It is not in the interest of the American people to make them believe the lie that there is such a thing as Russian jurisprudence, presumably anything like the American jurisprudence, which obeys the rule of law, starting with the US Constitution;
- Russian jurists are executioners of Mr. Putin's will;
- Mr. Putin has declared those 11 American citizens his own personal enemies;
- There is not a shred of evidence that, apart from contradicting the will of Mr. Putin, those 11 American citizens did anything illegal or immoral;
- Mr. Putin is a dictator who has ordered the killing--has killed--his enemies on Russian soil as well as abroad.
- Mr. Putin, by ordering the murder of his enemies while on English soil, has betrayed all rules of international law that protect the integrity of each country on earth;
- Mr. Putin is not working in the interest of the Russian people;
- Mr. Putin is pursuing the interest of his friends and relatives, some of whom have been proven to belong to the Russian mafia;
- To assume an equivalence between the Russian jurisprudence and the American jurisprudence is to betray the American Constitution;
- To work in any fashion with Mr. Putin, while he is attacking the territorial integrity of Crimea and the Ukraine, while supporting a dictator like Mr. Assad in Syria, is to betray the ideals of the American people;
- The American people's ideals of peace and justice have been acquired at the sacrifice of many American minds and souls;
- To betray American ideals is to betray the American people.
The American people tolerate even lies, if they are uttered by a person whom they trust. But woe to the person who betrays the American people. The full force of the American justice will fall upon you, no matter where you hide.
The American people will unavoidably lose trust in President Trump, if he remains in his prevailing posture. And what is this posture?
This is the posture of a bully.
No, the bully will not change his posture without efforts by those who surround him. Why should Mr. Trump disavow his bully posture? Look how far he has gone. He has become the President of the United States of America.
The soul of America in inscribed in ideals of peace and justice. To betray those ideals is to betray the American people. The American people alone can hold Mr. Trump accountable for his words and his actions.
How?
Here is a rejuvenated suggestion. Let's make him the star of a TV Series dedicated to the Redemption of the Bully.
The show can be organized by the US Congress as representatives of We the People, a federation of churches, or a media syndicate in which a panel of teachers imparts on Mr. Trump or an actor representing him the dire lessons of history exposed in the statements considered above and underscores civics concerns as represented in the following positions
The President of the United States is forbidden from
- using vulgar language;
- using demeaning language;
- using hate language;
- executing policies, without specifying their expected long-term effects;
- executing policies that divide the country or the nations of the world;
- taking intellectual positions that are contrary to the values of truth, beauty, and goodness on which this country was founded.
First recourse should be the President's resolution to avoid future repetition of any such offenses. Failing that, voluntary resignation might be offered. Last resort ought to be forced resignation.
This proposal will not be moved forward if it is endorsed only by me and a few moderate liberals; it needs the active support of moderate Republicans and most Evangelicals to have any chance of being implemented.
The impeachment process, now unavoidable, is going to be a long bitter fight in which we will try--and fail again--to teach each other how not to be bad, the process of Redemption of the Bully will be a happy fight, because we will try to teach each other how to be good. This process has already started on the night shows.
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