Thoughts for the Day, May 22, 2024: Tell me who you hang with and I will tell you who you are.

“Tell me who you hang with, and I will tell you who you are.”

I heard the above statement many times while growing up. As I have been following the former president’s criminal trial, it is a statement that I keep thinking back to as I read the daily reports of the trial. 

Last week I read an article in The Guardian by Robert Reich that pretty much sums it up. Here are excerpts of the article.

There is something important about Trump’s criminal trial in New York that’s not being openly talked about. I don’t mean were not getting the facts about what’s happening in Manhattan superior court. But something very big is being left out.

The trial has introduced us to a world of moral and ethical loathsomeness in which people use and abuse one another routinely.  It’s Trump’s world.

Consider Stormy Daniels. Adult film stars are entitled to do as they wish to make money. But when they extort people who are running for public office – demanding huge payments in order to stay quiet about an affair – they’re contributing to a society in which every interaction has a potential price.

Last week we heard Daniel’s story, even more detailed and lascivious than expected. But perhaps the most troubling aspect of her behavior is that the moment the former president ran for office, she saw a chance to extort money.

Consider Michael Cohen.  Powerful people often need “fixers’….But when those fixers arrange payments to keep stories out of the media, they’re treading on morally thin ice. Cohen didn’t just fix. He boasted of burying Trump’s secrets and spreading Trump’s lies. In his work for Trump, he repeatedly acted illegally and found ways to cover his actions. 

And then there’s David Pecker, publisher of the National Enquirer. Tabloids are a part of a long tradition of U.S. journalism. But when tabloid publishers buy stories to bury them on behalf of powerful people, thereby establishing a kind of bankable account of chits that can be cashed in with the powerful, it violates public morality because it corrupts our democracy.

Which brings us to Trump himself. I don’t care that he had extramarital affairs. But when a presidential candidate tells his fixer to buy off someone-“just take care of it”-so the public doesn’t get information about a candidate before an election that they might find relevant to evaluating him, it undermines democracy.

This cast of characters-and there are many, many other like them in Trump world-are loathsome not only because they have violated the law, but because they contributed to a harsh society in which everyone is potentially bought or sold.

I (Robert Reich) am not naïve about how the world works. I’ve spent years in Washington, many of them around powerful people. I have seen the seamy side of U.S. politics and business. But the people who inhabit Trump world live in a more extreme place, where there are no norms, no standards of decency, no common good.  There are only opportunities to make money….It’s a place where there are no relationships, only transactions.

This is who the former president associates with, and this is who he is.  He is not someone I want to be the face of the free world.

It is not what he said, it is what the record shows he meant to say.

Leave it up to Bridge Michigan to get to the truth.  I received a few emails/texts from readers of my blog pointing out the misstatements President Biden made in his speech at the NAACP in Detroit this weekend. Although the speech has been recorded on video, per Bridge Michigan, an official transcript of Joe Biden’s Detroit speech on Sunday includes several strike-throughs made by White House staffers to correct misstatements, including one that made it appear he was vice president (not president) during the pandemic. Biden claimed then-President Barack Obama sent him to Detroit to help the city during the “pandemic.” He actually meant the “recession,” which the Obama administration was battling in 2009 when Biden was vice president.

It is neck and neck between Thomas and Alito

I have expressed my strong feelings loud and clear about the insurrection of January 6, 2021. I have found it unimaginable that Justice Thomas refuses to recuse himself from any cases involving the January 6 attack on our Capitol, even though his wife was an integral part of Trump’s “Big Lie”. 

Last week, the NY Times reported that less than two weeks after the insurrection an inverted American flag, which was the symbol for the “Stop the Steal” movement, was flying at Supreme Justice Alito’s home.  When confronted about it, Justice Alitio blamed his wife for the flag flying upside down. 

Joyce Vance in her blog Civil Discourse summarized the inappropriateness of the symbolism as well as I could ever express it.  Here are Vance’s comments. 

I have spent a good bit of time in my life around Judges. My Father-in-Law was a federal judge, my Husband was a state court judge, and I have a number of close friends on the bench. I am certain that none of their spouses or other family members would have even considered placing a political symbol like this in their front yard because they would have understood the rules, just like I did. And the rules are, you don’t do that. At the time the Alito’s flew the flag in front of their house, the Court was deciding whether to hear a vote-counting challenge from Pennsylvania. The majority said no, but Justice Alito, joined by Thomas, dissented. They wanted the Court to take the case, whose theme, in brief, was that the Pennsylvania election had been stolen—stop the steal.

You can hardly blame the folks who saw the flag flying at the Alito’s home and decided it had to be brought to the Court’s attention. Surprisingly, it’s taken this long to become public. The Times reported that the half-dozen or so neighbors who were aware of it asked to remain anonymous because they “feared reprisal.” Let that sink in as we contemplate what a second Trump term in office might look like.

The ethics rules that apply to all of the lower federal court judges in this country are similar to those I’m used to as a former DOJ employee. No political signs in front of your house, no bumper stickers on your car. It’s not complicated. If you’re committed to serving the people and ensuring they have confidence in the fair administration of justice, you just don’t. But Sam Alito did.

Justice Alito is gaining on Justice Thomas in the race to become the most unethical member of our Supreme Court.  Unethical and Supreme Court justice should be an oxymoron. However, in the current SCOTUS, there are two justices who have no qualms about being unethical and then claim ignorance or blame their spouse.

This leads to my Quote of the Day: Former Chicago Tribune editor Mark Jacob wrote: “When I was an editor at the Chicago Tribune, I would’ve been in trouble if I’d let my wife put a political bumper sticker on our car. But a Supreme Court justice’s home can fly a flag of insurrection and he’s still allowed to rule on whether the head insurrectionist has immunity.”

Dr. Kim Eagle

I found out this weekend that Dr. Kim Eagle will be retiring from U of M Health System.  Kim has been the Chairperson of Cardiology for more than 10 years.  He has been Leah’s and my cardiologist for years.

Although Kim is a nationally known cardiologist with an impeccable reputation, what really separates him from others is his bedside manner and his relationship with his patients.  

When Leah was in need of a cardiologist, I went out of my way to intervene so that Leah would become Kim’s patient.  Leah was not happy that I intervened until she had her first visit with Kim.  Kim won her over in just a few minutes. 

I am sad to see Kim retire, but I am happy for him. When it comes to putting patients and their families first, Kim is the standard bearer.

PGA Championship like no other.

I do not recall a PGA Championship like last week’s.  Here are the highlights.

• Xander Schauffele went wire to wire to set the record for the lowest score in relation to par ever in a major with his four-day total of 21 under par. On Thursday he set a record for the lowest score ever in a major championship with his opening round 62, It was Schauffele’s first major championship.
• On Friday morning, Scottie Scheffler, the number one player in the world was arrested as he was trying to work his way around a major traffic jam at the entrance to the course.  The traffic jam was caused by an accident in which a pedestrian vendor was killed in an auto accident.  After being handcuffed and taken to jail, Scheffler was released in time to make his mid-morning tee time.  Remarkably, Scheffler was able to compartmentalize what happened to him by shooting a five under par 66 on Friday and finish in the top ten for the tournament.  He will be arraigned in early June for two misdemeanor counts and one felony count for resisting arrest.
• On Saturday, Shane Lowry needed a birdie on the last hole to shoot a major record low of 61.  He missed a 10-foot putt and ended up tying Schauffele’s opening round 62.  Lowry’s playing partner Justin Rose nearly matched Lowry with a 64 on Saturday.   
• On Sunday, Bryson DeChambeau shot a final round 64 which brought him to a four-round score of 20 under.  This forced Xander to birdie the final hole to beat Bryson for the championship.  

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Quote of the Day:  See above under It is neck and neck between Thomas and Alito

Orchid of the Day:  Xander Schauffele for winning his first major championship.

Onion of the Day: The Detroit Tigers. In two weeks, they have gone from five games above 500 to two games below 500 and are now 8.5 games out of first place with three teams above them in the Central Division standings.

Question of the Day: Why does Chief Justice John Roberts allow justices Alito and Thomas to continue to bring shame to the Supreme Court without any punishment or censorship?

Video of the Day:

Xander Schauffele’s WINNING Round 4 Highlights | 2024 PGA Championship (youtube.com)