Sadie, the wonder dog, and Trump have one thing in common. I realized it yesterday when a person doing some work at our home came to the front door at lunch time to receive payment for his services. I invited him into our foyer, and we began discussing a recent traumatic injury that he suffered when he fell off the roof of a two storied house this past fall. Of course, Sadie gave him her usual over enthusiastic greeting. Mike received his check and without realizing it, I noticed that Sadie was missing from my side.
You cannot see the kitchen from our foyer. It was lunchtime so I instinctively knew where she was. I had left bagels out on the counter. I called her for I thought that it was just a matter of seconds when I missed her and said loudly, “Sadie, Come here!” I continued the conversation with the fellow who had just power washed our deck when I saw him smile. I looked to my right. There was Sadie, tail wagging away with a bagel in her mouth with that look that said, “Do you want something?” I almost started to laugh as she looked so funny, but I retrieved the bagel from her which remained intact.
Labs love two things, food and people. In that moment you see the tension with her wanting to greet the person with whom I was talking and her desire to make good in the moment to get my lunch. She is an opportunist as Trump is. But there is more. Sadie didn’t have one ounce of guilt in that moment and looked up at me with the evidence right there in her mouth. She didn’t run and hide in the opposite direction from where I was standing.
She demonstrated no feeling of quilt because I haven’t held her accountable very much for food theft. A few weeks before she ate a whole bag of treats which I forgot to put back in the cabinet where they are usually found. When Vicki saw what had happened, I commented that there was little use of punishing her because she doesn’t know that stealing food is bad. Vicki who is more realistic then commented, “That’s because we never punish her for her food stealing behavior.” I must admit she hasn’t been punished much for taking my lunch. She is an opportunist who sees an opportunity when I am distracted by the front doorbell or a call on my office phone. I have lost many lunches to her. But it is my responsibility to punish her in an appropriate fashion. She needed to have her opportunistic feeding along with consequences a long time ago.
Trump’s major fundamental flaw is that he is an opportunist who seizes every moment to get ahead of whatever game he is playing, whether it be politics or playing golf. Like Sadie, he has spent a lifetime of not being held accountable in any way until recent court decisions. He is the Teflon Don, nothing sticks.
Don’t hold your breath on Trump being a convicted felon as a done deal. Yesterday, when I was confronting Sadie’s lack of accountability, I read an article by John Yoo, Professor of Law at Berkeley California. He is a former Ethics student of mine. I believe that our students should see a range of opinion, so I had John come in to speak to our students and faculty regarding his orientation to the law and social justice. I like the community to see the best of a perspective and John is regarded as one of the best legal voices representing the conservative viewpoint. My liberal faculty and parents thought that this was a terrible mistake. He remains the same as when I taught him, brilliant, thoughtful, kind, articulate, and doesn’t back down from a challenge. He made our class interesting. He sat front and center and didn’t miss a thing. He went on to Harvard. He sent me his book on presidential power and democracy with a very kind inscription.
When he addressed our assembled group, he was respectful of our students and faculty and articulate in his presentation of his point of view. There were those who asked him the hard questions such as why he was accused of giving Bush and Cheney cover regarding waterboarding and the law.
I have attached John Yoo’s perspective on the Trump Hush Money Trial before the jury made their decision. It will be his position on seeing the trial as not meeting the standard of indictment during the appeal. I have also attached an article describing the controversy of the law and waterboarding which remains an issue even today.
In essence, John thought that too many comments focused on Stormy Daniels when the trial should have been more about the ethical issues of bookkeeping. He felt that the decision was based on believing Michael Cohen, a convicted liar. This will give you a preview of what the future appeal will be.
Like Sadie, Trump doesn’t worry about the issue that he brings to judgement. He is not concerned about accountability or lack thereof. His watchwords are deny and delay. Like Sadie, he hides in plain sight. Like Sadie as well, his past crimes have created a history. Already Trump has avoided certain trials for the crimes that are the most meaningful as they will not be tried until after the election when they can be canceled by him if he is President. If that happens, we will see him with a Big Mac in his mouth asking, “Did you want something?”
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