Character and the Presidency
Note to Readers: On this site, I purposely avoid taking politically partisan positions. I strive for thinking and dialogue on issues of character, ethics and how we think in general. The intent in this post is not to take a partisan position but to reflect on the importance of character in anyone aspiring to the presidency.
When my father raised my brother and me, he wanted us to be good boys who became good men. That meant having good character. He never wrote down what “good character” is, but he lived it by example. He called our attention to it if we lapsed. He wanted us to respect others, tell the truth, not make excuses when we did something wrong but apologize and make amends and take responsibility for our actions.
He was like most parents who want to raise children who will lead honorable lives. As a society, we know good character counts. Sadly, we see the evidence of bad character often in the harm it does to friends, classmates, workers, consumers, parents, life partners and the wider society. That’s why we condemn lying in all walks of life and scoff when people rationalize bad behavior and deny responsibility for their mistakes and refuse to correct them.
“Character is the only secure foundation of the state,” President Calvin Coolidge said. Bad character is especially dangerous in elected leaders charged with our future. It destroys the trust essential to good governance and can lead to public disaster. If you lack respect for Americans, you make it OK for them to disrespect others. If you lie to the American people you distort the truth essential to using facts and reason in public affairs. If you rationalize bad behavior you create an environment where you claim the ends justify any means. If you shirk responsibility for your mistakes you invite blaming others when things go wrong. That fosters a climate of nasty buck-passing where apologies never happen and nothing gets fixed.
It’s in this context that we should examine the recent behavior of Donald Trump and J.D. Vance and their claims that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio are eating pet cats and dogs. This may seem like a minor dust-up in a long campaign filled with important issues for America, yet their lack of character opens the central question of the character traits they would bring to the White House.
Before presenting the details, it’s important to acknowledge that the centrality of character applies to all candidates. At the same time, for any of us to say “it’s OK because everyone does it” is the kind of rationalization that would drive my father to distraction.
On September 9, the day before the presidential debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, Vice-Presidential candidate J.D. Vance had already touted claims that Haitian immigrants in Springfield were stealing and eating these pets. One of his aides called City Manager Bryan Hect to verify the claim. Hect said “I told him no. There was no verifiable evidence or reports to show this was true. I told them these claims were baseless.”
Vance continued to repeat the claims as did Trump in the debate on September 10: “They’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the people that live there, and this is what’s happening in our country, and it’s a shame.”
Since then city officials have received death threats and 36 bomb threats have been targeted at local schools, government offices and health care facilities. Racist attacks have also been made, including by the Ku Klux Klan. Local residents are understandably disturbed and frightened including Haitian members of the community who are here legally.
Rather than seeking facts, Trump and Vance continue to “double-down” on their claims. Vance, asked by a CNN reporter on September 15 why he continued to make these claims when there was no evidence to support them said: “If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that's what I'm going to do.”
In the past few days, the claims made by Trump and Vance has been debunked as well by two people at the center of the issue. Anna Kilgore, a Springfield resident, made the initial claim about her Haitian neighbors but admitted that she has since found her cat in her basement. Another Springfield resident, Erika Lee, who posted the initial story on Facebook, from where it went viral, told an NBC News outlet that she had no firsthand knowledge of any dogs or cats being kidnapped or eaten by the Haitian immigrant community. “It just exploded into something I didn’t mean to happen,” she said.
Trump and Vance in this incident display little respect for the people of Springfield. They demonstrate disregard for the truth. They defend a lie by saying it’s necessary to achieve a larger goal – the classic definition of rationalization. For them the ends justify their means. They offer no apology, make no amends and ignore responsibility for the damage they have fostered. If they were our children, we would be horrified.
Character does not cease to matter once people enter politics. Indeed, it matters greatly in a president and the person who is a heartbeat away. “Character is destiny,” the Greek philosopher Heraclitus said. The destiny of nations, including ours, rides on it.
Photo Credit: Office of the President
