Trump and the Rule of Law

Since Donald Trump has become the presumptive candidate of the Republican Party he has redirected his vitriol from his competitors in the primary campaign to his personal problems and his pet peeves. His comments have ranged far and wide but increasingly revolve around his personal business life, as was clear this week after a Federal judge in San Diego ruled that documents from a pending civil lawsuit against Trump University should be made public. Since then, Judge Curiel has come under repeated personal attacks by Trump in his political events and press conferences.

Donald Trump

For some time now Trump has complained about negative press coverage and has been threatening that if elected he will make every possible effort to muzzle the press, except of course for those like Fox Network or Breitbart who openly and unconditionally support his candidacy. He has threatened to use libel laws to intimidate the press and to silence his critics.

Today the New York Times published an article by Adam Liptak (see http://tinyurl.com/hej6ayx) in which not only legal and constitutional scholars but also libertarians sound a warning that Trump may be dangerous for the nation. He cites concerns raised by them, including:

1. Trump’s clear contempt for the First Amendment’s freedom of speech – Trump wants to punish all those in the press and outside for speaking against him, by loosening libel laws and using federal regulators to harass his critics
2. Trump’s failure to understand the concept of the separation of powers between the executive and judicial branches – he has publicly excoriated Federal Judge Curiel en San Diego for being a “Trump hater” and for having a conflict of interest because of his “foreign” heritage (though the judge was born and raised in Indiana)
3. Trump’s threat to bar Muslims from entering the US is a clear challenge to the guarantees for all of us in the Constitution – freedom of speech, due process, and equal protection under the law.

In Liptak’s article appears a compilation of all Trump’s Twitter insults (see http://nyti.ms/1PWpSUr) and it’s startling to see gathered in one place the grossly ignorant statements of Donald Trump as he attacks and insults anyone who crosses paths with him and fails to yield allegiance to him.

The most disturbing aspect of this is that Trump’s threats and criticisms all arise from personal grievances, not from policy or philosophical differences, not from political causes, nor any other principled differences. Repeatedly Trump simply lashes out at any who dare to oppose him publicly, ask him difficult or embarrassing questions or publish critical information in the press or on the Internet.

This is not a politician lashing out at his opponents – this is a megalomaniac who imagines that he is going to be President of the US and expects the rest of us to fall into line and cheer him on towards his next outrageous insult. He clearly intends if elected to use the power of the Presidency to punish and intimidate anyone who criticizes or opposes him, and this extends not just to the political arena but also to the legal and judicial arena where he clearly expects judges to fall into line as well.

Trump has no respect for the law or the Constitution and he intends to use his executive power if elected to impose his will on all of us, regardless of whether doing so would be illegal or in violation of our Constitution. I find it startling and remarkable that so many Republican leaders have fallen in line to support Trump, as Speaker of the House Ryan did yesterday. From a party that prides itself on family values, law and order, strict adherence to the Constitution and the values of our founding fathers, I cannot condone or accept the spineless obeisance to Trump and to the dangers he poses for our nation.

Those who support Trump out of inconformity, contempt, or disgust for the prevailing powers in their political party or our government should be warned. This is not a man who is going to make things better for us. He would rule with authoritarianism and contempt for the law and for the values that we Americans hold dear. Donald Trump is only interested in himself and works only to protect his own interests. His claims to make things great “again” for our country are part of the fraud that he represents, part of the bankruptcy that he has used so often to cheat his investors, his clients, his customers, and his followers.

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Romney’s Chances keep diminishing

The Times lays out the situation facing Gov. Romney between now and this election in this article:

Before Debates, Romney Faces a Daunting Path – NYTimes.com.

I continue to be surprised by the almost comic ineptitude of Gov. Romney’s campaign and the seeming total lack of political sensitivity of the candidate.   His loyalty to the leadership of his campaign staff is admirable on a personal level, but I wonder if his loyalty may very well contribute to his defeat at the polls in November.

Gov. Romney has shown repeatedly over the course of his campaign his wooden ear for politics.   He is a brilliant businessman as his career has demonstrated, but his political sense is sorely lacking.   I am not just talking about his personal charisma, which is largely absent, but also about his empathetic capacity.

His 47% speech demonstrated that he is fundamentally out of touch with America and particularly with Americans. (see conservative commentator David Brooks’ column last week on this – http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/18/opinion/brooks-thurston-howell-romney.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss)    He has rubbed elbows all his life with the rich upper class and now his privileged life has created a major obstacle to his political success in this campaign.

The extreme polarization that characterizes out political processes has given Gov. Romney the opportunity to compete against a President who inspires in almost equal measure animosity and admiration, and many voters obviously support Gov. Romney because he is President Obama’s opponent, not because they have a positive commitment to Romney.  But his negatives in the polls as pointed out in the article cited at the beginning of my post are higher than any candidate’s in the last 25 years.

I cannot help but conclude that Gov. Romney’s chances of winning in November are small and getting smaller.  In a way it’s a shame he was not a better candidate so the election would really be about the vital issues raised by the campaign rather than about the adequacy of his campaign and of his own persona.