LETTER: A Response to "We are Ruled by a Thug."

To the Editor:

Recently James Johnston wrote a letter to the Franklin Observer referring to an interview President Trump gave to the New York Times on January 8th, and had this to say:

“...we are ruled by a Thug who thinks that he is unrestricted in his presidential powers by any force except for his own moral code. Trump has actually articulated this just this week. We all had the opportunity to hear him say this on the news program of your choice. Trump has served notice on the world that his own “Morality” will be the measure of all things!”

I went back and read the transcript of this interview and find Mr. Johnston’s characterization rather harsh.

Early in the interview a reporter asked:

...whether you believe you have the right, as the world’s largest superpower, to go in :and extinguish any threat or seize any resource you think is in the U.S. interest, particularly in the Western Hemisphere

President Trump

If there’s a threat — you use the word threat — you certainly would have the right. Any country would have the right to do that. Without the threat, much less so. And frankly, I do believe in the niceties. I get along with a lot of people. I get along with NATO.

Later in the interview a follow up question was asked:

But do you feel your administration needs to abide by international law on the global stage?

To which President Trump made the following reply:

Yeah, I do. You know, I do, but it depends what your definition of international law is. But the answer is, I do. But we have to keep the United States safe. We have to keep parts of the world safe that we feel responsible for.

Any President I hope and trust would make the same assertion.

Mr. Johnston makes much hay out of the following exchange in the interview:

Do you see any checks on your power on the world stage? Is there anything that could stop you if you wanted to?

President Trump

Yeah, there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me, and that’s very good… I don’t need international law. I’m not looking to hurt people. I’m not looking to kill people. I’ve ended — remember this, I’ve ended eight wars.

Of course, all appears yellow to the jaundiced eye but I think a more generous and natural reading of this is that President Trump is talking about his own conscience being his surest guide –the real thing which stops us all or at least gives us pause. Trump thinks that's good and so do I.

In his book Profiles in Courage, President Kennedy wrote that, “In whatever arena of life one may meet the challenge of courage, whatever may be the sacrifices he faces he follows his own conscience – the loss of his friends, his fortune, his contentment, even the esteem of his fellow men – each man must decide for himself the course he will follow.”

President Harry Truman had to make a terrible choice in World War II on whether to drop atomic weapons on Japan, killing tens of thousands of civilians in order to save thousands of Americans. He made his grave decision not just as a man, but as a man whose primary concern was what was best for the national interest of the United States. I’m sure that he wasn’t looking to hurt people or kill people either. But regardless of that, what was going to ‘stop’ the United States in that instance? Only Truman’s own conscience could have.

Mr. Johnston also brings up the recent quick strike military raid executed by a handful of our special forces in Venezuela to arrest Maduro as somehow being beyond the pale and representing new and unprecedented military adventurism.

In 1992, President Bush ordered a full scale invasion of Panama with 24,000 troops in order to arrest Noriega, who never the less managed to avoid capture and took refuge in the Vatican Embassy where it took some time to smoke him out with some unpleasant tactics.

Mr. Johnston infers that our Federal Law enforcement agents are nothing but thugs. I can’t help but remember the heavy handed tactics which were used against the Branch Davidians, the majority of which were US Citizens back 1992 in the prolonged Waco Siege in which scores were killed including two dozen children. That happened under President Clinton.

Speaking of children, I also remember the dramatic pre-dawn raid in 1992, when little 6 year old migrant, Elian Gonzalez was taken by Federal Agents at gunpoint from his Miami relatives and sent back to Cuba. His mother drowned at sea to get him here. This also happened under President Clinton.

Of course people can in their own good conscience look at the same events and draw very different conclusions.

In 2020, Ashli Babbit’s conscience informed by her moral convictions led her to protest at the US Congress. A Capital Police Officer shot and killed her.

Renee Good no doubt followed her conscience and moral convictions when she decided to do what she did when she was shot and killed. For both these women the laws did not stop them, the only thing that could stop them was their own conscience. It does not matter whether you are the leader of a great nation or just an ordinary citizen, each of us has a right and responsibility to examine our conscience in light of the moral law and to follow it as best we can.

David Brennan

Franklin