With all the unethical and illegal actions on President Trump’s scorecard over the last four or five years for which he never paid a price, was this latest episode involving Ukraine merely Trump testing the limits of what he could get away with. It is obvious that Trump has serious psychiatric problems and is a malignant narcissist to which many psychiatrists have attested. Given his previous conduct with no repercussions, Trump might have thought himself invulnerable and did not believe his behavior with Ukraine and its president would cause any blowback or problems for him. There was no one in or out of government, in Congress or in the Courts who could or would stand up to him. However, it appears that his assessment was wrong regarding Ukraine.
The payoffs that were made to the women he slept with broke campaign laws and was both illegal and unethical, but nothing happened to him.
Claiming to grab attractive women by the pussy during the campaign recorded on tape was certainly disgusting as well as unethical, but nothing happened to him.
Calling on the Russians to investigate Hillary’s emails and give him dirt during the 2016 campaign were unethical and illegal, but nothing happened to him.
Getting Russian help on social media to win the 2016 election was illegal and unethical, but nothing happened to him.
Playing footsie with Putin with no other Americans in the room except the interpreter was certainly unethical, but nothing happened to him. (No one knows what Trump and Putin discussed, the interpreter’s notes apparently destroyed.)
Giving the Russian ambassador and foreign minister classified information in the White House was unethical and possibly illegal, but nothing happened to him.
Calling the media the enemy of the people was unethical but nothing happened to him.
Refusing to release his tax returns the way presidential candidates have done for fifty years was unethical, but nothing happened to him. (He still has not released his taxes as he promised.)
Refusing to be interviewed by Robert Mueller and answering written questions with possible lies was illegal and unethical, but nothing happened to him.
Obstructing the Mueller investigation to the best of his ability was certainly illegal and unethical, but nothing happened to him.
Locking little children in cages and separating them from their parents was inhumane as well as unethical, but nothing happened to him.
Supporting white supremacists in Charlottesville was certainly unethical, but nothing happened to him.
Calling his appointed Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, an enemy of the people because he would not lower interest rates to Trump’s satisfaction was unethical, but nothing happened to him.
Diverting money Congress had authorized for the military to build his border wall was unethical and possibly illegal, but nothing happened to him.
Firing Jeff Sessions because he had recused himself from the Mueller investigation and would not shut it down was unethical and probably illegal, but nothing happened to him.
This is merely a short list of President Trump’s actions that were unethical or illegal for which there were no consequences for him. There were many, many more of these actions if one were to dig more deeply. Is it any wonder that Trump thought he could get away with pressuring President Zelensky of Ukraine to dig up dirt on Joe Biden and his son while holding up weapons shipments that Ukraine needed desperately to fight the Russian separatists? Nothing had ever happened to Trump before regarding his unfathomable conduct. And no president has come close to Trump’s illegal and unethical actions. Was Trump testing limits or did he think he was invulnerable, with the Republicans in the Senate protecting him? But maybe he’s not so invulnerable.
Resurrecting Democracy www.robertlevinebooks.com
Political junkie, Vietnam vet, neurologist- three books on aging and dementia. Book on health care reform in 2009- Shock Therapy for the American Health Care System. Book on the need for a centrist third party- Resurrecting Democracy- A Citizen’s Call for a Centrist Third Party published in 2011. Aging Wisely, published in August 2014 by Rowman and Littlefield. Latest book- The Uninformed Voter published May 2020