Playing Trump’s Game

It would be good for the world if Trump disappeared out of his oval chamber today, or tomorrow the latest, incompetent as he is and ruinous to the fragile state of international relations, not to mention the lasting damage he’s doing to his own country. Having such a ticking bomb at the steering wheel of the until recently free world is truly frightening.

But it is to be hoped that reason would somehow do away with him, and that’s probably too much to hope for, especially since his adversaries are doing their best to sink towards his level. A reality tv show has just started with the expressed purpose of voting people and presidents in or out. As usual in such shows, the participants quarrel and cast their votes based on simple like or dislike and any hint of rational argumentation is molded after that preconceived judgment.

Any reference to law and constitution is only made to twist the case in the desired direction. Did the faulty commander break the constitution by attempting bribery during that chat with his Ukrainian counterpart? If you are a Democrat, the answer is yes. If a Republican, you say no.

Would it be possible for anyone to disregard their personal feelings towards this Mr. Trump just for one moment and decide if it had been bribery if a Mr. X had done the same thing? Probably not, but it would be nice if someone tried.

Bribery usually means giving money secretly to someone to make that person do what you want. Well, in this case the money was already given, and not at all secretly, and the suspect just threatened to withhold it. Now, is that bribery? Whatever it is, it doesn’t quite fit the classic example of bribery, so at least the answer can’t be as straightforward as some seem to think. It is open to interpretation and the color of your party is likely to determine your verdict.

One would think a more compelling reason should be needed to overrule the choice of the people in a democracy, and this spectacle isn’t quite worthy of a proud institution. True, Trump is the least worthy of them all, but do they all have to play his game?