Trump Will Not Be Brought Down By Cowards and Unfortunately It Appears There Are No Heroes

Our nation’s greatest vulnerability has, at least in the modern era, been its enormous strength, especially in the economic realm. When life, specifically for the elite, is so incredibly sweet, no one ever wants to even risk giving that up,. Consequently, accommodations get made, usually in areas of ethics, which used to be—say during our founding period when just existing was incredibly hard for everyone — considered unacceptably dangerous.

This reality has corrupted both our media and our politics, two areas in which moral principles used to be considered a key component to these vital mechanisms of our society functioning properly. Without good people of honor having the courage to at least occasionally endure personal jeopardy to preserve an important value, then it is just a matter of time before the entire system collapses.

Thanks to a complete lack of bravery among those currently in power, it appears that we may be seeing this depressing scenario come to fruition right before our very eyes.

It is now clear that a significant number of people who have worked, or still do, in top positions for our current president are convinced that, just as many of us tried to warn the nation, he is totally unfit to hold the office and is a real danger to the country. If there was any real doubt about that, it was removed when The New York Times published an anonymous op-ed piece from a senior Trump administration official making that very case.

This, of course, comes on the heels of news that Bob Woodward’s new book makes the same case, using damning quotations, now in dispute, from some of Trump’s closest and most important aides. Unfortunately it appears that most, if not all of them, did so in a way that didn’t allow them to be quoted directly by Woodward, who promised them anonymity.

Unfortunately, as I argued yesterday, anonymous quotes without publicly-released tape recordings to back them up, while great for book sales, are going to do absolutely nothing to solve this massive problem we are now facing. Woodward and his sources made a deal that was great for each of them (Woodward sells books and the sources get to relieve their consciences, while likely still maintaining their prestigious jobs), but apparently lousy for the nation. It is now all too obvious that the latter consideration was never given much weight.

The Times made a very similar Faustian bargain with its anonymous op-ed. In my view, they should never have agreed to run the piece without a name. A person’s identity is the key to understanding their credibility and possible agenda. Plus, since Trump has already poisoned his political base against anonymous sources as inherently “Fake News!,” the op-ed will have no negative political implications for Trump, and actually helps him advance his bogus “deep state conspiracy” narrative.

The reality is that whoever wrote the op-ed is, just as Trump described them, a gutless coward. If things really are as bad as this person — and those ball-less wonders who spoke anonymously (and possibly lied) to Woodward — claim, then this is not the time for weak-assed measures intended to make oneself feel better about being complicit in this potential national catastrophe.

These people should be willing to say what they know publicly in their own name. Would this cause them some hardship? Sure. Might they get fired or lose future opportunities while Trump is still president? Absolutely.

But so what? None of these people are going to ever be starving or homeless (I am quite sure that CNN and MSNBC would be happy to get into a bidding war to hire the writer of the op-ed). Our Founding Fathers thought nothing of risking their lives for this country. Today we can’t even find someone willing to be fired and maybe criticized in a few presidential tweets?

Seriously?! What a nation of wusses we have become.

As someone who has, on numerous occasions, knowingly torched my career in order to stand up for what I knew was right, it is absolutely baffling and downright disgusting that not one person in this situation is willing to make any significant personal sacrifice for the good of the nation. What is most stunning is the seemingly untouchable nature of some of the high-quality people who have, at least on the record, stayed meekly silent.

• Rex Tillerson, is a good man who has more money than he could ever spend and who endured a humiliating firing as secretary of state, and yet, in saying nothing since he left, he has acted like a coward.
• Secretary of Defense General James Mattis is widely seen as a man of enormous character, and yet, if Woodward is to be believed, in this time of peril he has been revealed as a liar and a coward.
• White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, a retired Marine general, is surely someone who could be counted on to show some guts while putting his country over his own self-interest, but like Mattis, he too has apparently turned out to be a liar and a coward.
• Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster, one of Trump’s former national security advisors, like Tillerson, was embarrassed by this president, and yet the decorated war hero has stayed silent, like a coward.

Yes, I know. I am being too harsh. The counterargument is that these people and all the others trapped in this administration are doing what they think is in the best interest of the country by making sure that people like them remain close enough to Trump to keep him in check. That argument (more like a rationalization) may have held water when Trump was just getting into the job and there was still some rational hope that he may grow into the position.

But now, when it is abundantly obvious that the opposite has happened, that theory has collapsed and it is time stand up and be counted, or at least not dramatically lie about what you really think when a respected book author tries to finally blow the lid off of this farce. Especially now that Trump’s jaw-dropping reaction the op-ed itself has further revealed that he is a wannabe authoritarian dictator, with absolutely no concept of our founding principles.

Someday, if we live long enough, we are all going to be asked by future generations what we did during Donald Trump’s time in office. I would hope that at least some of those currently in a position to do something substantive would care about being able to say something a little better than, “I gave some good anonymous quotes expressing my displeasure, and helped sell some books and newspapers.”

John Ziegler hosts a weekly podcast focusing on news media issues and is documentary filmmaker. You can follow him on Twitter at @ZigManFreud  or email him at johnz@mediaite.com

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.