Trump; get your mind out of your pants!

You will be surprised to hear that I am not directing this article at Donald Trump, no – I am directing this to the salivating masses, the prospectors of outrage. In a nutshell, I am directing this at you. Yes you, my righteously indignant friend with your well-trained, but utterly misdirected sense of morality. And I thank you if you read further, because I appreciate that insulting your reader is generally a pretty daft approach.

I want to take you back. To Trump’s campaign. That the man is loathsome, crass and unpleasant – a bully, is probably not even disputed by his fans. But cast your mind back, to the one moment when the man looked like the election might be slipping away from him. Was it when he promised to wage war on ISIS, to kill people? Was it when he promised to break off the trade brotherhood that has made the wold more peaceful now than ever in human history? Was it when he threatened to throw countries, regions, indeed anyone who is not “Mercah” into poverty? No indeed, it is none of these, nor countless other sins he committed. It was when he said the word “pussy” – and the misogyny that accompanied it.

This blog doesn’t diminish the very real, private sin that Trump has committed but it asks a more fundamental question about the nature of a private sin for a president.

The actions of a president are public, not private. They affect the multitudes, not individuals. And although the private sins of presidents matter, they fade against the backdrop of the power that the position brings. Trump has the power to ruin lives. Many many millions of lives. From women now deprived of birth control choice in the most vulnerable countries, to poverty due to abandoned trade agreements or new tarrifs, to death through current, and future wars. To the very future of our planet, by walking away from the Paris climate accord. Even selling out the most powerful democratic institution in the world to a rival nation, those are crass public sins.

Yes, all of these matter, all of these make the news, but sound bite for sound bite, press acreage by press acreage, the outrage is mostly directed to whom he banged a decade ago!

It makes sense that the outrage for private sins is so harsh. Because as normal people we live in private spaces, and generally the only sins we can commit are private ones – even terrible ones, like murder are private. We simply cannot relate to the sins that presidents, CEOs and those with great command over people and resources can achieve. And in trying to project our worlds onto the powerful, we become blind to the magnified harm that comes from people who act not in the private, but in the public space.

I will not deny that the damage to poor Stormy’s psyche is probably sustained, probably permanent. But that is a private sin. The condemnation of the man is easy to achieve by looking at the sins for which he should be held to account as president.

~ Josh