By Cindi Branham
Several years ago, there was a series of stationary billboards up around Huntsville that contained messages that made an effort to make us think about being better people.
They were not the ones that came from “God,” with simple messages like “Don’t make me come down there,” designed to tell us to quit misbehaving.
Because they were not digital and not rotating, the messages were always there, so that they were able to burn the requested behavior into our minds.
The one I liked best and saw most often is the one that read
Character:
What you do when no one’s looking
That sign spoke to us as individuals, but to me, also to an earlier stage of the tear in our moral fabric as a society. There was a need for that sign. If we tried to pinpoint where this tear started, to a person, we would all name a different time and/or person.
I don’t know where it started or who among us most needs to enhance their moral character, but if I look at the here and now, I must look at the character of Donald Trump. He takes the prize when it comes to lack of character.
The world knows Trump’s character. He’s very famously brushed off and belittled our allies, while simultaneously elevating and bowing down to countries and leaders in the world who do not wish us well.
He’s fired close advisors and appointed officials – capable ones, usually – who he got crossways with, whether right or wrong on an issue.
He’s enriched himself while in office, even though the Emoluments Clause forbade many of the things he and his family did during his term.
He set up the Russian invasion of Ukraine by delaying US armaments support at a critical time, then had Republicans in Congress delay additional, direly needed aid so that Putin had time to re-build Russia’s capabilities. Make no mistake: that was highly calculated on their parts.
He intentionally allowed the bi-partisan Immigration bill to flounder so that he could run his campaign using it as a stick against Democrats. So many lives threatened or made miserable – Americans as well as immigrants – for his selfish benefit.
We see so many more instances of his lack of character or morals every day.
He’s now been convicted of fraud, sexual assault, and more, and is under indictment for citing an insurrection, stealing state secrets and possibly selling or trading them for favor, election interference, and additional charges of fraud. I’m sure I’ve missed something, somewhere.
The man is an adjudicated felon, yet he’s running for the most powerful position in the world.
He’s also a target of ridicule and ire across the free world. From the beginning of his term, he earned it by being rude, demanding, and self-centric in all his dealings with our allies.
The Japanese government figured Trump out early on and advised their diplomatic delegations to the US on how to deal with him. A senior Japanese official recently shared that not only Japan, but other Asian countries have him figured out:
- Don’t talk policy or specifics
- Appeal to his massive ego and flatter him
- Talk to him as if to a 12-year-old; make it ridiculously simple
- Sprinkle with golf and misogyny
- Couch everything in Trump’s own personal interest, not in the United States of America’s vital or critical interests
The Japanese official said that America’s Asian adversaries as well have “long since figured out this code and everyone knows it when they go to visit him…everybody has.”
Trump invariably interprets this as, “they like me, they’ll support me; they won’t do anything against me.”
I can feel my face getting red every time I read this. Whoever Trump is, we are, to eyes across the world. My anger is strong when I think about this, but there’s little I can do to diminish other Americans’ support for the tyrant. They are as impervious as he is dense.
When Trump turns on each minority or ethnicity with his normal hate and derision, believe him, especially when he ascribes mean-spirited and ugly descriptors. Remember that he will use the same with everyone who’s not a white, evangelical Christian.
One by one, Trump, Vance or the implementers of Project 2025 will come after the rest of us.
No matter your character, what you’ve done in your lifetime, who you love or who loves you, who depends on you for their own lives: It’s his character or opinion that matters. In all matters.
He will weaponize your character and characteristics against you (us) if, or more likely when, he has an impulse to minimize your minority.
If Trump’s elected, he will likely have two US Supreme Court nominations to fill. That’s a cautious estimate. For more than a generation (35 years), even if Democracy survives, and Trump only serves one four-year term, we will be under the thumb of a biased and unreasonable court. We see how that’s affecting us now; it will only get worse when there are fewer moderate or liberal voices on the court.
If character is what you do when no one’s looking, Donald Trump is so devoid of the trait that he hasn’t got the self-respect – or self-awareness – to hide or repress it. We see his ugly character on a constant basis.
Remember that Poet Laureate May Angelou said: “When someone tells you who they are, believe them.” I’ll add: And vote accord
