By Lafe Tolliver, Esq
Guest Column
You got the text on your cell phone. Your 16-year-old son, Johnny, was called into the principal’s office because he and two other kids were were caught stealing from the school’s cafeteria petty cash fund.
Not a lot…just about a $112 but when the janitor inadvertently caught them in the boy’s room dividing up the loot, they got busted.
The principal placed them in detention for the rest of the school day and called you about an emergency meeting.
You get home first and, then, through the door, comes Johnny, seemingly knowing what is about to hit the fan but he seems somewhat unfazed about the theft.
Mom: Johnny what happened at school today about the theft of the lunch fund petty cash?
Johnny: It wasn’t me! I was there with those other guys, but they took the money.
Mom: Oh? Why did you go with them and when you saw what they were about to do, what stopped you from leaving?
Johnny: (long silence) Well, I did not want to appear like a chicken, so I went along.
Mom: Chicken! Is that what you are worried about when some thieves want to bring you in on their hustle?
Johnny: (even longer silence) Aw Mom, you are making too big of a deal about this. It was only a $112!
Mom: Johnny…it is not the amount, but the attitude that stealing is not a big deal with you. Where did that idea come from? It certainly was not from me or your father.
Johnny: Mom, if Trump can steal millions of dollars or get caught paying hush money to a porn star, what is the big deal already?
Mom: (teeth gritting) Since when does doing a crime become not a big deal with you? You know better!
Johnny: Nothing happened to Trump when he was convicted of 34 felonies and stealing from those charities he set up. I don’t get it. A person does all of that and he still runs to be president…and wins, and no one says anything more about his convictions.
Mom: He is a bad example for anyone to follow but Trump did not get caught stealing petty cash from your school, you did!
You will probably be expelled or suspended from school, and it will be on your school record for college recruiters to see. You made a huge mess and now you will suffer the consequences of bad choices.
Johnny: They got the money back, so what is the big deal?
Mom: Big deal you say! What happens when the swim coach sits you down or you can not take those advance placement courses, and you are barred from running for student government?
Johnny: (now dazed by what could happen to him) Hey, wait a minute! That is not fair! Why is it that Trump can do all the things he did, and he is not stopped from doing what he wants?
Mom: Johnny, that is not how the world works. Some big fish get through the nets, and some are caught. Trump, so far, got through one of the holes in the nets.
MORAL OF THE STORY:
The rise and unexpected favor that almost half of voting America have placed in Trump has led to conversations such as the above being discussed at dinner tables across America.
Seemingly America has allowed its standards of right and wrong and esteeming a moral code, to slip and so downwardly to the point that nonviolent wrongdoers can point to Trump as the prime exemplar that doing wrong does not mean always getting punished.
Trump is an avatar of a “base” that has championed his deviant behavior because in many respects that base feels an affinity with such a morally corrupt person who shows no remorse at his negative civil or criminal acts.
That base of voters has allowed themselves to be convinced that Trump is their retribution against the Deep State…a state that they believe has robbed them of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
So, when a morally corrupt person comes along and stirs up their fears and anger issues against those “others” who are the real problem of their blight or demise, they run to him seeking exoneration and restoration (Make America
Great Again!).
Johnny was not too far off in his juvenile assessment of what is right and wrong because hearing and seeing years of Trump flaunting the laws, civil norms, basic human decency, and courtesies can lead one to believe that being a Trump like person is politically and morally sanctioned, when it is not.
The coarsening of the American political and cultural scene was only exacerbated by Trump and his shenanigans, cruelty, and mocking of established norms of manners, civil discourse and decency.
Regrettably for the Johnnies of the world, the example of Trump has become a by-word to shun what is proper, honest and prudent and go for the cheap and vulgar; and because of that, we all suffer individually and collectively as a society.
The Trump virus, to date, has no vaccination shot.
Contact Lafe Tolliver at tolliver@juno.com