The office or the person?

Every time a new president is elected, those who voted for the president say to those who didn’t, “Well, you have to respect the office.”  I do believe that is true, however, with Trump the argument is wearing thin.

For starters, Trump himself has disrespected elements of the government that we as Americans have been taught to respect if not revere—the judiciary, the congress, our intelligence agencies, and the election process.  As a former professional journalist and European correspondent I particularly dislike his attacks on the press and freedom of speech.  He has called the press the “enemy of the people, “he makes endless references to “fake news” when it does not praise him or support his positions, he has threatened to ease libel laws to make it easier to sue news organizations,  he has insulted journalists and refused them access to press conferences and rallies.

So it becomes hard to respect the office when the person holding that office disparages institutions and traditions I, and I believe most Americans, hold dear.  In other words, Trump is tarnishing the office he holds.

There is a marked difference between the image of the office and the actual conduct of the person holding it.  My idea of the presidential image is one of dignity, decorum, high standards, honesty, judgment and integrity.  In my opinion, Donald Trump does not live up to any those standards.

Trump supporters also complain that he is being unjustly and more viscously attacked than other presidents.  I do not agree with that.  I am not going to catalogue the attacks, often racially motivated and explicit, launched against Obama; they are easily documented.  Opponents attacking a president has existed since George Washington, but admittedly today we have sunk to a level of virulent attack that seems to have made our governmental process uncivil if not unworkable.

In conclusion, I believe the intense attacks on Trump are a result of his behavior and performance—tweets, personal attacks on his own staff, profanity, incessant bragging, insults, etc.—not  any disrespect for the office itself.