I
just watched HBO's Wizard of Lies last night about Bernie Madoff. It was
depressing. At the conclusion, he asks the NYT reporter interviewing him in
prison whether she thinks he's a sociopath. The movie ends on that note. Like
there's any question of it?
And
this morning I thought of Donald Trump and his patterns of lies, hypocrisy and
deceit, and I use the plural for his patterns as well as his lies. By this
point, after he flew to Mexico during the campaign and wimped out on
confronting the Mexican President about paying for Trump's Wall, did anyone
expect Trump to actually use the phrase "radical Islamic terrorism"
in addressing the Saudis, which he frequently invoked previously and dissed
Obama for refusing to use? And what about his condemnations of Obama for
golfing? Or his criticism of Michelle Obama respecting her not wearing a
headscarf when she visited Saudi Arabia? The list goes on and on, and these
aren't necessarily Trump's most egregious lies, hypocrisy or deceit. The list
is, indeed, endless, but that hardly lessens my ongoing feelings of disgust for
Trump.
And,
of course, I'm not even talking about Trump's promise to drain the swamp by
hiring his Goldman Sachs crew, or his support of a Trumpcare bill that
eviscerates medical care for those Trump promised to protect, that include many
of his misguided supporters, or Trump's proposed tax "reform" that,
together with his Trumpcare, constitutes incredible tax breaks for the richest
Americans.
I'm
even leaving aside questions of Trump's and/or his team's collusion with
Russians or possible money laundering, as well as his firing of Comey to thwart
the Russian investigation. We'll leave those issues, for the moment, to the
Special Counsel and Congressional investigating committees.
In
the HBO movie, Madoff tries to somewhat excuse his guilt and culpability by
claiming that the investors whose money he stole had been greedy; that they
bore some responsibility for investing with him. I don't believe any failures
on the part of Madoff's investors lessen his guilt and culpability. But I do
think they bore some responsibility for their actions or, more accurately,
inactions in doing any due diligence in most instances. I draw a parallel to
Trump's supporters here. I don't think their blindness, selfishness or
ignorance excuses in the slightest Trump's culpability for his lies, hypocrisy
and deceit. But I do think his supporters bear responsibility for their own
behavior.
