Trust Has Left So Many Buildings

 

Trust Has Left So Many Buildings

Bully Bargaining, Bad-Mouth Battles, Back-Stabbing, Bad-Faith Blathering

Here’s a question for you… and the answer may define our times, our future or our lack thereof. Whom do you trust? Does an equivocating, “mommy, I didn’t do it” rise to the destruction of trust? “No, Henry, I think that your new shirt looks great on you.” When it makes him look fat and idiotic? Can we even live among our fellow human beings without the diplomatically useful white lie? If you tell your children that they should never lie, are you actually giving them good advice? Is trust about never lying? Is there a difference where there is an intent to deceive or manipulate, where material consequences or significant rewards are the great differentiators? Can it be measured if there is a risk of serious harm? Can you accept lying to keep your job or high status or acceptance among your peers without losing personal integrity? When can you balance accepting black lies to feed your family? And when does embracing lies out of genuine fear threaten to derail an entire nation… like the United (?) States of America?

At the core of just about every major life-impacting issue facing our nation, our planet and perhaps even our very survival, is dealing with people you (we?) do not trust. Our forefathers assumed that people elected to high office would be men (sorry, they did not take women or slaves as relevant deciders) of the same level of seriousness and integrity as they felt they held dear. Simply put, they were wrong. How many elected members of Congress do you trust? Exaggeration, “weaving,” “alternative facts,” hyperbole, misinterpretation and total fabrication have become the tools of political “discourse.” Political violence is no longer a rare occurrence.

Political favoritism and unbridled use of money (Citizens United vs FEC, 2010 Supreme Court) to saturate the public with “whatever” (lies most certainly included) are now part of our system of government. “Donating” to a powerful politician with discretion to exempt a company from tariffs, approve a merger or acquisition, grant or sustain a required license to operate or shunt withering criticism, even prosecution, against that company or otherwise powerful individuals… are the new normal. Gone are the ancient duels that settled differences in days of yore. Vice President Aaron Burr prevailed in a duel against Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton at the inception of our nation. Today’s duels may not directly involve bullets (although that can be argued), but another kind of lethality – from career decimation to prosecution and incarceration – looms large today. Fear and confusion define our nation as never before.

Since our rise to global prominence in the late 19th century, the United States has never been more disliked or distrusted by other countries than we are today. Most nations have figured out how to deal with our bully tactics and fabrication of “evidence” of global wrongs perpetrated against the United States. Some bow and compromise, but there are no major powers who have accepted that result. Any compromises they have accepted have always been good for them. But powerful nations – like China, India, Russia and even Iran and North Korea – have not simply bowed to American demands. China began preparing a Trump containment strategy during Trump 1.0, expecting him to be reelected sooner or later. And they have outflanked Trump on the global stage – from their Belt and Road Initiative to replacing our withdrawn foreign aid and playing the “rare earths” card – with complete disdain for his goals.

Emma Tucker, Editor-in-Chief, Wall Street Journal, October 24th, put the trust issue like this this: “Chinese leader Xi Jinping has tailored a playbook specifically for President Trump. His new strategy is to offer concessions on issues that Trump personally cares about. But when the Trump administration hits China, Xi hits back even harder. Separately, prosecutors say that NBA stars and technology straight out of a James Bond movie were part of a complex, far-reaching network of fixed underground poker games. And in Miami Beach, an effort to gate off an upscale strip of homes has become a flashpoint for broader debates about public access, privilege and political influence.” Emma Tucker, Editor-in-Chief, Wall Street Journal, October 24th. Ballroom anyone?

Yet as a lawyer, my concern has extended beyond a cowardly GOP contingent in Congress that will not act without direction from the White House to the complete annihilation of justice that seems locked into our system of governance. That the DOJ has become the President’s personal legal weapon of “I am your retribution” campaign pledge is bad enough, but the pattern of high court rulings, from the infamous 2024 Trump vs US immunity decision to the pattern of according Trump unwarranted victories by ignoring and reversing lower federal court decisions.

“A new report on rulings from judges at different levels of the judicial branch indicates that the Trump administration receives more favorable rulings from the Supreme Court than it does from district or circuit courts, indicating a ‘bipartisan fight for the rule of law’ at lower courts and more ‘ideologically driven’ outcomes at higher levels… The report from Court Accountability, an organization that ‘works to combat corrupt abuse of government power and support movements in advancing a thriving democratic future,’ examined hundreds of cases dealing with the Trump administration, including executive orders or actions taken by President Donald Trump himself… Legal challenges to the administration at the district court level won around 60 percent of the 240 orders judges have issued. That includes their winning 55 percent of the time when Trump-appointed judges were rendering the decisions…

“‘Our findings reveal that the district courts are engaged in a bipartisan fight for the rule of law — but when cases against the administration reach the circuit courts, Republican-appointed judges have largely voted in Trump’s favor, often writing ideologically driven dissents that their MAGA allies on the Roberts Court have then adopted to enable Trump’s autocratic rule,’ the report stated… On the Roberts Court, Republicans rule. And as the Roberts Court begins its first full term of the second Trump administration, Trump has already amassed a 21-2 record on the so-called ‘shadow docket’ [“emergency” appeals for interim decisions without opinions or an examination by the Court of the underlying merits] to prevent lower court orders against the administration’s lawlessness from going into effect… The use of the shadow docket obscured the legal rationale of the rulings, the organization said.

“The justices have left us to guess why they are letting Trump persist in his lawlessness across a wide range of issues from immigration to federal spending, while leaving lower courts without guidance on how to carry out the high court’s unexplained orders, the report said… At the Supreme Court, however, the rate was unquestionably pro-Trump — among the 23 rulings and temporary orders made and examined by Court Accountability relating to the administration’s actions, Trump had a 90 percent win rate.” Chris Walker, writing for Truthout, October 15th.

From gifts from parties with cases before the Court (expensive vacations, forgiven loans for luxury motor homes) to embracing symbols that make a mockery of judicial “neutrality,” the Supreme Court, not bound by the canons of ethics that apply to the rest of federal judiciary, is the poster child for the tolerance of judicial corruption. As Walker has pointed out, citing the lowest approval polling for the Supreme Court since polling began, in addition to term limits, “Establishing a stronger ethics code for justices — including stronger mechanisms for enforcing such a code — could also go a long way toward restoring [public] trust.” It’s time to act to contain rogue judges.

I’m Peter Dekom, and “trust” can start with grassroots baby steps reaching out to people who disagree with you, but unless we can find a way to rebuild trust as a primary American value, the United States of America will continue to unravel and fade away.