Trump's Enablers Must Be Held Accountable for the Actions

If current polling proves correct, Donald Trump will go down to huge electoral defeat next month and once rid of Trump and his morally bankrupt, modern day Pharisee vice president decent and moral Americans need to demand that Trump's enablers be held accountable for their actions that harmed the country and its citizens and even sought to undermine democracy itself.  Given the depravity of the Trump/Pence regime, one can only hope that many of the revolving doors normally held open for refugees of a defeated administration (although regime seems more appropriate to the Trump White House and cabinet) are slammed firmly in their faces.  Trump regime enablers both within the White House, in his cabinet and, of course Congress, need to pay a high price for their willingness to short term self-advancement over morality and decency.  A column in the Washington Post by a former Republican makes this argument.  Here are highlights:

Assuming President Trump loses his reelection bid in a few weeks, the soon-to-be alumni of the Trump administration, who were warned that association with Trump would mar their careers and corrode their character, are now "hoping the Trump presidency isn’t a disqualifying blemish on their resumes or Google footprint as the door revolves the other way and they seek to land, once again, in the private sector,” The Post reports.

They should think more about atoning for the betrayal of their country than trying to escape the consequences of enabling a liar, racist and wannabe authoritarian. There are practical reasons for employers outside the right-wing bubble to reject not only those who were the face of the administration but also those who labored behind the scenes.

First, members of this administration probably acquired bad habits (ignoring gross misconduct, lying for their boss, etc.), practiced a great deal of willful ignorance and rationalized unethical conduct. The administration, aside from its corruption and moral rot, was also grossly incompetent in its day-to-day operations. Staffers coming out of Trump’s orbit would likely have to unlearn misconceptions about how functional workplaces operate.

Second, those seen as ethically obtuse and tolerant of racism pose a business risk. Clients and customers might not want to be associated with a firm that features someone who just months ago promoted their boss’s ludicrous lies or remained silent as he winked at QAnon conspiracy theories. Alumni of the Trump administration do not suffer from a political association but rather from their willingness to enable someone who betrayed his country’s highest ideals.

There is, as I have argued, a moral imperative to hold people accountable for their actions. Employees who obstructed justice, misrepresented facts to courts or lied to Congress must be held responsible under criminal statutes and professional rules of conduct. State bar authorities will need to step up to identify behavior, which, if allowed to go unpunished, would bring disrepute on the profession and set a bad example for others. If elected, former vice president Joe Biden will need to decide how to clean house, which might involve investigating and holding departed Trump officials responsible.

It seems like another moral failing on the part of Trumpers that they whine about the stigma of their tenure without shouldering any responsibility to come clean and make amends.

No one forced anyone to work in this administration. No one forced them to stay to the bitter end or to conceal wrongdoing or to attack critics. These actions have consequences. Instead of whining about unfair treatment, it is time for Trumpers to do some self-reflection and figure out how to make up for the damage they have done. Then they might be fit to hire.