It must be a symptom of rightfully diminished expectations, or something worse, but it seems that people in public life who make the obviously correct choice—Pence declining to participate in his boss's coup, Biden quitting a race he wouldn't win against Pence's former boss—are treated as if they were George Washington not lying about the cherry tree.
What of the fact that a problem with the foregoing is that Pence is regarded as moral royalty only by his political opponents? His own side thinks that making the obviously correct choice identifies a scoundrel. As long as we're collecting symptoms, that one recommends a diagnosis of terminal moral rot. It appears the unfurling of scrolls of poor polling data persuaded Biden to "stand down," which distinguishes the motive for his retirement from George Washington's. But Trump would never tamp down his own aspirations, vanities, ambitions, feverish fantasies out of fealty to a principle higher than the wish to wield power, line his pockets, and avoid prison.
I see that a New York Times columnist, the high-minded David French (link is to an article behind a paywall), urges us to criticize but not demonize Trump. If by this he means Trump isn't a demon, I have counterarguments. Has he ever even laughed? Cartoon villains seem more human. In cases like his you have to wonder about the family of origin—by all accounts, it was rich and negligent. Too bad, but some people are able to overcome these disadvantages.
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