The title of this column came to mind as I observed events of the past few days. Jesus taught that lesson. President Lincoln used it to explain why America could not survive half slave and half free. Our house is perilously divided by mistrust.
A private espionage company, owned and staffed by retired British MI6 agents, produced a report alleging collusion, payments and sex scandals between President-elect Trump, his team and Kremlin officials including Vladimir Putin. The report suggests that the Russians have succeeded at three goals, helping Trump win the election, getting information that can be used to blackmail him, and undermining the confidence of citizens in American democracy. The report has been in the possession of the FBI and some news organizations since October, 2016. US intelligence agencies did not mention it in the public version of their report on Russian involvement in our election, but they did provide a summary to President-elect Trump and President Obama.
Then on January 10, 2017 BuzzFeed, an online news organization, published the document. Donald Trump angrily denied all of the accusations, blasted the report as “fake news” and suggested that it was leaked by American intelligence agencies to embarrass him. The US Director of National intelligence denies that.
In another example of mistrust, the FBI’s on then off then on-again investigations of Mrs. Clinton aroused suspicion of her and suspicion that the FBI was intentionally influencing the election. FBI reports affirm that Russian operatives stole confidential information from American (Democratic Party) computers and used it in an attempt to influence our election. In-arguably, the FBI Director relied on information thought to be stolen from Americans by Russian spies as a basis for publicly reopening the Clinton e-mail investigation at a critical moment in the campaign.
We don’t know whether the FBI investigated allegations about Trump and the Russians. By talking about the Clinton investigation but not the Trump allegations, our FBI Director may have (intentionally or not) aided the Russian effort to influence our election.
I don’t know the whole truth about any of these matters and neither do readers of this column. But I do know that there are millions of Americans ready to believe the worst about other Americans. Neither presidential candidate was trusted by the majority of Americans. Many of us, like our President-elect, trust our intelligence agencies only when their reports confirm what we already believe. Our trust problems extend beyond the federal government to other fundamental institutions like courts, police and public schools.
The corrosion of trust in American institutions and leadership is a slow and insidious process nourished by public officials who mislead us or lie to us. Lies or deception by Presidents and other officials were used to generate support for the Vietnam War, to secretly and illegally sell arms to Iran then divert the revenue to support right-wing militia groups that overthrew the government of Nicaragua, and to support the Iraq war that destabilized the entire Middle East.
Pogo said, “We have met the enemy and he is us.” Our house is divided against itself, and that makes us nearly defenseless against efforts like the Russian intervention in our election. A free, democratic nation relies on the integrity and trust of its institutions, officeholders and citizens. That is where our dangers and opportunities lie.
Here are a few ideas that might help us recover trust.
- The congress should commission a full not-partisan investigation with subpoena powers and report findings to the public.
- Voters in both primary and general elections should consider the candidate’s integrity and character as absolutely vital credentials. Imagine where we might be today if our general election had featured Lindsay Graham or John Kasich against Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders. Roughly half the nation would still be unhappy with the outcome of the election, but maybe fewer Americans would see our President-elect as the enemy.
- A law should be passed making it illegal for any government official to intentionally lie to or mislead the public. The penalty for violations should be termination of employment or removal from elected office.
- The Senate and Donald Trump should insist that all cabinet nominees complete their ethics reports and background checks before Senate committees vote.
- Trump should release his tax returns immediately to shrink the cloud of suspicion hanging over him.
If you have more or better ideas, it’s time to share them.
Click green links above for background information and documents.
The new report alleging collusion, payments and sex scandals is also here
If it’s accurate, this one is a bombshell: BBC coverage of the report and its credibility.
The declassified version of the intelligence agencies report to Trump and Obama is here.
First, a tangent. The folks who study such things have recently determined that our brains react to questioning our ideologies as when we are personally insulted. This is why arguing over politicized issues often leads to greater polarization and entrenchment.
So, leave the immediate problem of these allegations to the Republican Congress. They have both the means for inquiry and if necessary resolution.
Looking to the future, pointing fingers and assigning blame only contributes to further polarization. Better that we should discuss how we can do a better job of selecting our leaders and hope to make progress on that front.
You make good points, particularly about assigning blame. I’ll not suggest prosecution, trial or punishment in the current situation, but I still believe that independent and thorough investigation is the best course. It’s a bit like the idea of a “truth and reconciliation commission”. In order to pursue the “better job of selecting our leaders” that you suggest, I think we need to fully understand what has happened. Your suggested course should be pursued, whether mine is or not.
This is an era when citizens are obliged to dig for their own facts and analyze the whole to form an opinion. There are reasons for this and Bob’s writings may help alert a few people to give a hoot. Excluding unfriendly reporters from meetings is a sign of our fragile status. Buying the discourse with funds of special interests is a sure way to erode freedom.
America is in crisis. We are a society that has chosen the easy way to decide crucial issues and pick leadership that might have our best interests at heart. This opens the door for oligarchs to use the elections to create a system to their liking. There must be a unifying message that highlights the real threat.
You would see the opposite sides come together but by now they-we may have to march together in the streets. For 50 years of my politically active life I was on the right. In my ghosts of bad presidents Donald trump is the worst because he distorts facts to his advantage and changes context every time he is challenged.