Berl Falbaum
Periodically, someone in the public arena makes a statement that rattles one’s moral conscience to its roots as never before.
And that’s not easy in the Trump era.
But Bret Louis Stephens, a political columnist at The New York Times managed to rattle mine and, I expect and hope, many others.
In a column on South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who died July 11, Stephens discussed Graham’s Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde switch from condemning Trump before becoming the ultimate Trumpite.
Here is what Stephens wrote in his concluding paragraph:
“…he [Graham] didn’t let his moral or intellectual self-respect get in the way of advancing them [his policies and interests]. There’s a nobility in that, too.”
No, I did not misquote him.
Stephens advises us that it’s noble to give up your moral and intellectual self-respect to support a man whom Graham called a “race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot,” “shallow” and who “doesn’t represent the values that the men and women who wear the uniform are fighting for.”
It’s noble to back a man who assaulted women, incited an insurrection, implied support for hanging his vice president, who threatened our democracy by repeatedly lying about the 2020 election, who is a mythomaniac, a convicted felon, has been found guilty of sexual assault (the judge described it as rape) and so many other issues that warranted Graham’s noble transformation.
Indeed, how much more noble can you get.
Actually, we should not really be surprised. Right after Trump won his second term, Stephens asked us: “Is it time to drop the heavy moralizing and incessant doomsaying that typified much of the Never Trump movement…” Well, Stephens was part of that movement but then, obviously, found “nobility.”
In that column, he called Trump “dishonest but authentic.” I suppose Stephens means that is preferable to being dishonest but inauthentic. Perhaps we should judge criminals in court, not just on the evidence, but on their authenticity. (In an exclusive interview with us — not really — Trump denied being authentically or inauthentically dishonest.)
Before recognizing the nobility of Graham’s political conversion, Stephens wrote at the end of Trump’s first term:
“[You want] want to preserve your own republican institutions? Then pay attention to the character of your leaders, the culture of governance and the political health of the public. It matters a lot more than lowering the top marginal income tax rate by a couple of percentage points.
“This is the fatal mistake of conservatives who’ve decided the best way to deal with Trump’s personality — the lying, narcissism, bullying, bigotry, crassness, name calling, ignorance, paranoia, incompetence and pettiness — is to pretend it doesn’t matter. ‘Character Doesn’t Count’ has become a de facto G.O.P. motto. ‘Virtue Doesn’t Matter’ might be another.
“But character does count, and virtue does matter, and Trump’s shortcomings prove it daily.”
Six days before the 2024 election, he even touted Democratic presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, for president over Trump, writing, “Trump is worse [than Harris] in ways that matter profoundly to the rule of law, the health of capitalism and the future of freedom at home and abroad. Conservatives who claim to care about these things should also care about what Trump may do to each of them — and, crucially, do so in the name of conservatism.”
All that was before Stephens discovered the nobility in abandoning one’s self-respect and moral values.
Jamelle Bouie, also a political columnist for The Times, wrote the following about Graham in his piece next to the one by Stephens:
“It is one thing to go with the flow — Graham was a politician, after all — but it is something else entirely to throw caution to the wind and embrace a man you denounced, just months earlier, as inimical to your basic values — a man who was as unfit for the presidency on January 20, 2017 as he was on January 19, 2017.
“For someone as eager for rank as Graham, the temptation of power — of real influence over the new administration — was too much to resist. When it came time to choose between his career and his values, Graham chose Trump, and it would define the rest of his life.”
Bouie continued: Graham was a man “who lacked both the political strength and the moral character to resist a malign force, a man who chose to join that force and its assault on American democracy rather than resist it.”
We learned exclusively that Mrs. Stephens hid her husband’s column from their children while secretly having them read Bouie’s.
And that’s not easy in the Trump era.
But Bret Louis Stephens, a political columnist at The New York Times managed to rattle mine and, I expect and hope, many others.
In a column on South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who died July 11, Stephens discussed Graham’s Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde switch from condemning Trump before becoming the ultimate Trumpite.
Here is what Stephens wrote in his concluding paragraph:
“…he [Graham] didn’t let his moral or intellectual self-respect get in the way of advancing them [his policies and interests]. There’s a nobility in that, too.”
No, I did not misquote him.
Stephens advises us that it’s noble to give up your moral and intellectual self-respect to support a man whom Graham called a “race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot,” “shallow” and who “doesn’t represent the values that the men and women who wear the uniform are fighting for.”
It’s noble to back a man who assaulted women, incited an insurrection, implied support for hanging his vice president, who threatened our democracy by repeatedly lying about the 2020 election, who is a mythomaniac, a convicted felon, has been found guilty of sexual assault (the judge described it as rape) and so many other issues that warranted Graham’s noble transformation.
Indeed, how much more noble can you get.
Actually, we should not really be surprised. Right after Trump won his second term, Stephens asked us: “Is it time to drop the heavy moralizing and incessant doomsaying that typified much of the Never Trump movement…” Well, Stephens was part of that movement but then, obviously, found “nobility.”
In that column, he called Trump “dishonest but authentic.” I suppose Stephens means that is preferable to being dishonest but inauthentic. Perhaps we should judge criminals in court, not just on the evidence, but on their authenticity. (In an exclusive interview with us — not really — Trump denied being authentically or inauthentically dishonest.)
Before recognizing the nobility of Graham’s political conversion, Stephens wrote at the end of Trump’s first term:
“[You want] want to preserve your own republican institutions? Then pay attention to the character of your leaders, the culture of governance and the political health of the public. It matters a lot more than lowering the top marginal income tax rate by a couple of percentage points.
“This is the fatal mistake of conservatives who’ve decided the best way to deal with Trump’s personality — the lying, narcissism, bullying, bigotry, crassness, name calling, ignorance, paranoia, incompetence and pettiness — is to pretend it doesn’t matter. ‘Character Doesn’t Count’ has become a de facto G.O.P. motto. ‘Virtue Doesn’t Matter’ might be another.
“But character does count, and virtue does matter, and Trump’s shortcomings prove it daily.”
Six days before the 2024 election, he even touted Democratic presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, for president over Trump, writing, “Trump is worse [than Harris] in ways that matter profoundly to the rule of law, the health of capitalism and the future of freedom at home and abroad. Conservatives who claim to care about these things should also care about what Trump may do to each of them — and, crucially, do so in the name of conservatism.”
All that was before Stephens discovered the nobility in abandoning one’s self-respect and moral values.
Jamelle Bouie, also a political columnist for The Times, wrote the following about Graham in his piece next to the one by Stephens:
“It is one thing to go with the flow — Graham was a politician, after all — but it is something else entirely to throw caution to the wind and embrace a man you denounced, just months earlier, as inimical to your basic values — a man who was as unfit for the presidency on January 20, 2017 as he was on January 19, 2017.
“For someone as eager for rank as Graham, the temptation of power — of real influence over the new administration — was too much to resist. When it came time to choose between his career and his values, Graham chose Trump, and it would define the rest of his life.”
Bouie continued: Graham was a man “who lacked both the political strength and the moral character to resist a malign force, a man who chose to join that force and its assault on American democracy rather than resist it.”
We learned exclusively that Mrs. Stephens hid her husband’s column from their children while secretly having them read Bouie’s.
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