It's Time for a Return to Decency in our Leadership

We can't keep ignoring and dismissing the horribly dangerous rhetoric from our President and others

On Easter morning, most Americans were watching their kids open baskets, hunting for eggs, and going to church, but not Donald Trump. He was crafting this message for Iran on Truth Social:

He then followed it up with this two days later:

Fast forward a few days later and Iran is still on the map, because they agreed to a ceasefire and to open up the Strait of Hormuz later in the day. But, negotiations broke down over the weekend. They won’t let go of pursuing nuclear weapons and it turns out they aren’t willing to give up control of the Strait—shocker. Every day is a roller coaster with Trump managing a war, so it’s anyone’s guess as to what will happen this week.

This wasn’t the first time he’s threatened to blow them up over the past month, but it was the first time he condemned the country to Hell and mocked their faith. Targeting civilian infrastructure that’s not part of a strategy to impede their military is a war crime based on international law. No one is defending the Iranian regime and the atrocities they’ve committed against their own people. We all want a regime change, but the Iranian people need a United States that leads with decency and principles. They’re not the ones who should suffer at our hands to eliminate their corrupt government. Even Megyn Kelly—who’s sycophantly defended Trump over the years—had this to say on her podcast after those Truth posts:

“I don’t know about you, but I am sick of this s‑‑‑! I’m just — I’m sick of it. Can’t he just behave like a normal human? I mean, honestly, like the president — ‘3D chess’ — just shut up,”

But for a large part of his supporters, it’s still commonplace to dismiss or ignore his outlandish social media posts. I’m convinced most Trump supporters don’t read them regularly, because the media they follow doesn’t talk about it, and they’d rather tune out his noise to ensure it doesn’t cause them to think twice about their loyalty. I decided a long time ago that I can’t and won’t ignore his words. They matter to me, and they should matter to you. He’s the leader of our country, he possesses the codes to our nuclear weapons, and every one of his Truth Social posts while he’s in office will be preserved forever in the National Archives as required by the Presidential Records Act. Think about that one for a minute.

In the past, Trump’s social media posts and verbal rhetoric were annoying, racist, sexist, immature and petty. But now it’s turned darker, unhinged, and dangerous. One night last December, he posted on Truth Social over 160 times in a five hour period. Last month, he posted that he was glad Robert Mueller was dead—he died of Parkinson’s disease last month. And now he’s using the lives of millions of Iranian civilians as a strongarm negotiation tactic like he’s trying to win a real estate deal in the Bronx.

So, what do we do? People such as Candace Owens, Bill Kristol and Anthony Scaramucci called for his impeachment after the Easter posts, and I’d be fine with that based on the letter of the law that Hamilton outlines in Federalist No. 65 saying

“the remedy in our system for “those offenses which proceed from the misconduct of public men, or, in other words, from the abuse or violation of some public trust.”

But, the cynical side of me knows that it won’t go anywhere, it’ll just be symbolic like his last two impeachments, because this Senate doesn’t have the guts to do the right thing. We have a few more years to endure his words and actions, so now is the time to start preparing for the future and make a 180 degree turn. We have the chance to usher in a new era and generation of leaders who value decency, humanity, and principles.

A few politicians have already recognized this time as a pivotal moment to reject the way people like Trump lead and the trend of hatred toward those we disagree with. Governers Spencer Cox, Wes Moore, Mark Gordon, and Jared Polis launched the Disagree Better campaign in 2023. The organization is campaigning to bring decency back to American politics by advocating for civil discourse, fostering bipartisan friendship, emphasizing virtue, humility and respect. Their goal is to re-teach our culture how to disagree better and treat political opponents with respect rather than contempt.

If you voted for Trump once, twice, or all three times, you still have a chance to say enough is enough. You can still call him out when he crosses the line. You can be upset and turn away when he breaks a major campaign promise to you by starting a war in the Middle East, something he vowed dozens of times to avoid on the campaign trail. But most importantly, there’s still time to turn away from the toxic political culture that fueled him to two presidencies. We can disagree without hating each other.

It may seem like we’re too far gone, but we score a win and gain momentum every time we reject hateful words and vote in politicians that are bringing back decency to our leadership positions.