Following Attorney General William Barr’s assertion that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report found no evidence of collusion between Donald J. Trump and the Russian government during the 2016 election campaign, various conservative geniuses have been calling on various Democratic geniuses and commercial media types to apologize for accusing Trump of such vile doings. While these demands have a certain merit, it raises the question of who should apologize to whom, and who should go first?
Donald J. Trump owes Robert Mueller an apology for characterizing his investigation as a partisan witch hunt. If it had been a witch hunt, Trump would be indicted by now.
Donald J. Trump owes the American people an apology for politicizing the Justice Department, and compromising its ability to impartially enforce the rule of law. The American people deserve an impartial Justice Department.
Donald J. Trump owes the American people an apology for his false claims that the 2016 election was rigged against him, when in fact it was rigged in his favor. His claim that the election system can’t be trusted was an attack on the foundations of our system of government and our way of life, and a transparent attempt to excuse himself for the failure in which he himself was expecting his candidacy to end. In sowing distrust of our election system, Donald J. Trump had the same aim as Vladimir Putin, and thus was working alongside Putin in that aim, even if they did not coordinate their efforts or conspire directly with each other.
Donald J. Trump owes his supporters and the American people an apology for his false claims during the 2016 campaign that he had “zero dealings” with Russia, when in fact he has been pursuing real estate deals in Russia for decades, and has had extensive dealings with multiple Russians, in and out of the Russian government. This fact is all you need, to understand why Trump cow-tows to Putin at every turn. There need not be any collusion. There need not be any blackmail. Trump simply needs Putin’s approval to finally land that multi-million dollar real estate deal – or series of deals.
Donald J. Trump owes a Gold Star family an apology for impugning the patriotism of their son, who gave his life in service of this country. In fact, he owes an apology to all Gold Star families, and to the families of all Muslims who have died in the service of the United States of America.
Donald J. Trump owes a judge in California an apology for implying that the judge was racially motivated in his finding against Trump’s fraudulent “university.” That was a flagrant attack on the integrity and independence of the judiciary, and another blow against the foundations of American constitutional democracy.
The list goes on, and on, and on.
So yeah, maybe a lot of people owe Donald Trump an apology. And certainly Donald Trump owes a lot of people apologies. So you go first, Mr. President. You’re supposed to be the leader of this country. Set an example. Oh, that’s right – you already have.
Phil Jones is a local Christian minister with Sunrise Ministries.
