Real people experience anxiety, humiliation, financial hardship, and fear. Political headlines often reduce them to names, but behind every indictment, insult, or public accusation is someone with a family, a reputation, and a life. Lately, we seem to forget that. Or perhaps we’ve simply stopped caring. It is sad that empathy seems to have been lost, that compassion is often displaced by competition, and that kindness is viewed as weakness.
Donald Trump hired his pool-guy to “fix” the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting pond. A less-than-$2-million bid ballooned to $14 million in a hurry-up project. Shortly after completion, paint began to peel, and the sky-blue color turned to an algae-clouded mess, described by several as “puke-green.”
Trump, who has never been so self-deprecating to admit mistakes, immediately blamed “vandals” that cut huge gashes in the newly sealed bottom of the pond. The pool-guy did a brilliant job.
Looking for a scapegoat, Trump’s legal team had David Hearn, a one-time American Olympic athlete, arrested, after finding someone who had allegedly seen Hearn dip his hand into the water. Hearn was federally indicted July 2, for felony destruction of property, a crime that could carry a punishment of up to ten years in jail.
U.S. Attorney in Washington D.C. Jeanine Pirro quickly addressed the press, promising, “The evidence shows and we will prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Hearn willfully destroyed property at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.”
Whoops!! Sometimes reality can ruin a good press conference. Four weeks later, Pirro dropped the charges, when it appeared she would be humiliated in court.
The point here is that David Hearn is a real person, who endured weeks of anxiety, intimidation, and threats. Perhaps Hearn deserves the same consideration as those who attacked police officers and threatened to hang Mike Pence on January 6.
Pirro admitted to a “botched installation” and “over spraying and delamination” for tearing the lining instead of intentional slicing by a suspect. She shared that the Interior Department provided “additional documents” after the initial indictment, exposing the true cause of the structural failure which she concluded was due to the “rush to complete the project prior to events associated with the America 250 celebration,”
Wow, that seemed uncharacteristically candid, and certain to get a reaction from the president. It did. Trump was livid. “I was disappointed with Jeanine Pirro, really disappointed,” the president said Monday. “She folded like an umbrella.”
But Pirro had little choice. Pursuing a case that she could not prove risked embarrassment in court and possible sanctions. Dropping it earned Trump’s anger.
These are people with families, emotions, careers, and reputations. They are not merely names in a press release.
James Comey now faces indictment over a photograph of seashells.
Kaitlan Collins doesn’t smile enough.
Chris Christie fails to meet the president’s appearance standards.
The James Comey case will get dismissed, as Hearn’s was, and whoever is forced to prosecute it could face the Pirro dilemma of dropping the case or risking humiliation, or worse. But Comey is faced with the anxiety of dealing with a weaponized DOJ, the cost of defending himself, and the uncertainty of what comes next.
Kaitlan Collins will be fine. She will continue to ask difficult questions despite becoming a frequent target of presidential insults. Regardless of politics, people do not deserve to have their appearance or professionalism mocked simply for doing their job. Trump demeans himself with his unwarranted assaults on her while failing to answer most of her very appropriate and timely questions.
Christie left the fold and Trump attacked. “Don’t call Chris Christie a fat pig,” joked Trump multiple times in his MAGA rallies. It gets a laugh, which is sad but revealing. Christie may care little what Trump thinks of him, but being berated by the most powerful man-child in the world says more about the accuser than it does about the target.
Trump surely realizes that frivolous court cases will not stick against Comey and Hearn, so the intent must just be the anxiety and emotional distress that bringing such cases can cause. Verbal attacks and insults of enemies of the president appear to be aimed at creating similar angst.
Inflict some pain, extract some money, and hurt your enemies – that’s Trump’s second term in ten words.
There is no solution to offer here. I could ask us all to be nicer, more forgiving, more compassionate, but I’ve done that in the past. It starts at the top and I am doubtful that Trump has seen my columns.
Politics is a rough job. Powerful people deserve scrutiny and criticism. But holding someone accountable is different than using the power of the office to inflict misery on people’s lives. Before we cheer the next indictment, laugh at the next insult, or accept public humiliation of someone simply for being on the “wrong” side, maybe we should remind ourselves: These are real people.
Curt MacRae is a resident of Coldwater, MI and publishes opinion columns regularly.
To be notified by email when a column is published, or to offer feedback: rantsbymac@gmail.com
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