“I need loyalty, I expect loyalty,” Trump told then FBI Director James Comey in January – even though FBI directors are supposed to be independent of a president, and Comey was only 4 years into a 10 year term.
Comey testified
before the Senate that Trump tried to “create some sort of patronage
relationship,” based on personal loyalty.
After Comey
refused and continued to investigate possible connections between the Trump
campaign and Russian operatives, Trump fired him.
Preet Bharara,
who had been the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York,
said Trump tried to create the same sort of patronage relationship with him
that he did with Comey.
When Bharara
didn’t play along, Trump fired him.
In his first and
best-known book, “The Art of the Deal,” Trump distinguished
between integrity and loyalty – and made clear he preferred loyalty.
Trump compared attorney Roy Cohn – Senator Joe McCarthy’s attack dog who became Trump’s mentor – to “all the hundreds of ‘respectable’ guys who make careers out of boasting about their uncompromising integrity but have absolutely no loyalty … What I liked most about Roy Cohn was that he would do just the opposite.”
As president,
Trump continues to prefer loyalty over integrity.
Although most of
his Cabinet still don’t have top deputies in place, the White House has
installed senior aides to monitor their loyalty.
As Barry Bennett, a former Trump campaign adviser, explained to the Washington Post, “they’re functioning as the White House’s voice and ears in these departments.”
As Barry Bennett, a former Trump campaign adviser, explained to the Washington Post, “they’re functioning as the White House’s voice and ears in these departments.”
Last Monday, the
White House invited reporters in to watch what was billed as a meeting of
Trump’s Cabinet. After Trump spoke, he asked each of the Cabinet members around
the table to briefly comment.
Their statements
were what you might expect from toadies surrounding a two-bit dictator.
“We thank you
for the opportunity and blessing to serve your agenda,” said Chief of Staff
Reince Priebus.
“Greatest privilege of my life, to serve as vice president to a president who’s keeping his word to the American people,” said Vice President Mike Pence.
“You’ve set the exact right message,” said Attorney General Jeff Sessions, adding, “The response is fabulous around the country.”
“Greatest privilege of my life, to serve as vice president to a president who’s keeping his word to the American people,” said Vice President Mike Pence.
“You’ve set the exact right message,” said Attorney General Jeff Sessions, adding, “The response is fabulous around the country.”
When I was sworn
in as Bill Clinton’s Secretary of Labor, I took an oath to “support and defend
the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and
domestic.” I didn’t pledge loyalty to Bill Clinton, and I wouldn’t have
participated in such a fawning display.
That oath is a
pledge of loyalty to our system of government – not to a powerful individual.
It puts integrity before personal loyalty. It’s what it means to have a
government of laws.
But Trump has
filled his administration with people more loyal to him than they are to
America.
His top advisers
are his daughter, Ivanka, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
To run his legal
defense and be his spokesman on the investigation into collusion with Russian
operatives, Trump has hired Marc Kasowitz.
Kasowitz is not
an expert in criminal or constitutional law. His only apparent qualification is
his utter loyal to Trump.
He’s been
Trump’s personal legal fixer for almost two decades – representing him in his failed libel lawsuit against a journalist,
the Trump University fraud case that ended in January with a $25 million
settlement from Trump, and candidate Trump’s response to allegations of sexual assault
by multiple women last year.
Kasowitz called
the New York Times article containing interviews with the
women “per se libel” and demanded “a full and immediate
retraction and apology” (which the Times refused).
Kasowitz has
said he played a central role in the firing of Preet Bharara. Kasowitz told
Trump, “This guy is going to get you,” according to a person familiar with
Kasowitz’s account.
Now, Kasowitz is
taking on a public role. Bypassing the White House Counsel, he instructed White
House aides to discuss the investigation as little as possible, and advised
them about whether they should hire private lawyers.
The horrifying
reality is that in Trumpworld, there is no real “public” role. It’s all
about protecting and benefiting Trump.
When loyalty
trumps integrity, we no longer have a government of laws. We have a government
by and for Trump.
ROBERT
B. REICH is Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the University of
California at Berkeley and Senior Fellow at the Blum Center for Developing
Economies. He served as Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration, for
which Time Magazine named him one of the ten most effective cabinet secretaries
of the twentieth century. He has written fourteen books, including the best
sellers "Aftershock", "The Work of Nations," and "Beyond
Outrage," and, his most recent, "Saving Capitalism." He is also
a founding editor of the American Prospect magazine, chairman of Common Cause,
a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and co-creator of the
award-winning documentary, INEQUALITY FOR ALL.
