‘A lot of people are saying …’

News coverage of Trump misses the point. Sure, he is racist, cruel, ignorant, corrupt and a pawn of Russia. But the reason he’s unfit to be president is that he is a loathsome human being.No major newspaper of which I am aware has dared to lead a story with the obvious fact that he is unworthy of office — any office — not because of what he did yesterday, and the day before, but because he is a self-seeking crook, crooked as a spirochete, a gonorrheal bacterium in the swamp of Washington, D.C.Back in the 1990s, the Republican Party used the slogan “Character Counts!” to attack President Bill Clinton, who — as the ancient Stoic philosophers used to say — couldn’t keep his dick in his pants.Whether possession of a “good character” is an asset or flaw in a U.S. president is an unanswerable question.Surely our two greatest presidents, Abraham Lincoln and George Washington, were of “good character,” though Washington owned slaves.The late Jimmy Carter was a man of sterling character, but a mediocre president.John F. Kennedy was a sleazeball and a mediocre president. But Kennedy’s mediocrity as a president had nothing to do with his character. He just got the job before he was ready for it.Dick Nixon’s rotten character cost him the job, though he did some good things as president: creating the Environmental Protection Agency and opening diplomatic relations with China among them.LBJ? Another questionable character, ignorant of Vietnam, but he bullied Congress into passing three long-overdue Civil Rights acts, all of which Trump and John Roberts’ court are dismantling, with malicious intent.Whether or not you agree with what Harry Truman did (dropping atomic bombs, creating the CIA), he never passed the buck.And Barack Obama? Pardon my prejudice, but he is the only president in my lifetime who was both a good president and a good man. In his case I think the two are related.And the oozing pustule in office today? He has lost favor not just because of his incompetence and corruption, but because his relentless craving to be on top of Page 1, every day, has showed the United States, and the world, what a greedy, lying, fascist, egotistical crybaby he is. And those four adjectives and the one noun do not play well in Peoria. My mom would have swatted his butt.A short summationWhile “good character ≠ good president (necessarily),” nor does “bad character = bad president (necessarily).” All of the bad and mediocre presidents above had at least some redeeming qualities. Trump has none. Ethically, he is a suppurating sore on the body politic.He is a convicted sexual molester.In his businesses, he is a liar and a deadbeat.He’s stiffed carpenters, plumbers, bricklayers, electricians and other working men and women for millions of dollars. The “radical left-wing newspaper” USA Today reported that 10 years ago.His idea of humor is to insult someone, preferably a woman, and call her “stupid.”His idea of policy debate is to make up an insulting nickname, a trait common to other insane paranoics.He encourages and cheers on violence against peaceful protesters. That’s Hitler stuff. He even uses Hitler’s words (“poisoning the blood of our nation”).Why must our greatest American newspapers bury the lede in every story they print about him? Why save it for the eighth graf, when it should be the lede of every story about what he did yesterday?Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping love this needy little brat, as they tap dance on his head.And ours.But getting back to “Character Counts!” Michael Josephson sold that slogan through Character Counts!, a “character development” program he founded in 1992, “under the auspices of the Josephson Institute,” according its home page.Josephson claims he has taught “the Six Pillars of Character” to “corporations, state legislatures, government agencies, and professionals in politics, education, sports, journalism, healthcare, law, and the nonprofit community.” For three decades!And what are the six pillars of character? Again I quote the institute: “trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship.”OK. But where’s Waldo?Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads