This is Not Politics as Usual

To those who would attempt to dismiss the actions of the Trump administration, arguing they all “do it,” I have to respectfully disagree. We cannot dismiss behavior by saying they all do it, for two reasons. First, it creates a false equivalency that all actions are equally amoral, illegal, untruthful or damaging. They are not. It is why I consistently ask for evidence to support such claims. Often they are non-existent, and when they do exist, they're almost always taken so out of context that comparisons become unsupportable. In fact, it is often when one is unable to justify the action or behavior being questioned that they fall back upon the "they all do it" argument, trying to equate the hard evidence they cannot dispute with unspecified acts committed by a nebulous someone. That neither justifies, nor excuses the act in question. It is simply deflection.

Second, and far worse, is that dismissing illegality and amorality with the excuse that they all do it undermines all faith in our system of government. It effectively tars all public servants as corrupt, which is patently untrue. The damage this does to our ability to self-govern is beyond measure, especially when it is used to dismiss precisely the type of behavior we should not tolerate.

I have said for years now that when faith in any system is destroyed, the system itself is destroyed. When faith in banks is destroyed, banks fail. When faith in a currency is destroyed, the currency fails. And when faith in the institutions that make self-government possible is destroyed - faith in a free press, the rule of law, the validity of free elections, the system of justice, the loyalty of the opposition - self-government fails. One side, led by this president, has consistently and deliberately worked to undermine faith in all the above.

I realize an argument can be made both ways on many of those issues, but one needs to ask why so, so many conservatives have spoken out on precisely these issues. George Will, Bret Stephens, William Kristol, Charlie Sykes, Rick Wilson, Mike Murphy, the late Charles Krauthammer (and his son), David Frum, George Conway, David Jolly, Justin Amash, Max Boot - the list goes on and on. Can you ever recall an administration that has driven so many of its own party to not just criticize, but warn of the dangers this administration represents?

I realize many think this is politics as usual, but it is not. Every demagogue in history first sought to discredit the truth-tellers, whether the intelligentsia, the elites or the press. If one seriously considers which side has worked tirelessly discrediting each of those for the past several decades, culminating in where we stand today, there is only one answer - and many of those conservatives listed above, including Charlie Sykes and Rick Wilson, who were part of the conservative media ecosystem, have issued mea culpas for their complicity in destroying our faith in the truth.

Yes, both sides play the game, but one has taken it to an extreme rarely, if ever, seen in American politics. As former George W. Bush speechwriter David Frum (another insider) has stated, "If conservatives become convinced that they cannot win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. They will reject democracy." He said that for a reason and he is warning us about it now.

All this and more are why I’ve added my name to the list of one-time Republicans who have walked away from the party that once represented reasoned thought and responsible government, but now turns its back on both.