When the government lacks moral authority

A government that lacks moral authority breeds cynicism, disillusion and distrust. It ruptures the bonds that tie us together, and destroys any sense that government exists for the benefit of its citizens and can be counted on to act in good faith.

Donald Trump’s administration is devoid of moral authority. It engages in morally indefensible conduct on virtually a daily basis. This is not a liberal talking point; it is indisputable fact. Here are some illustrations, which barely scratch the surface of the vast trove of wretched behavior this administration has amassed since January 2025:

It is morally indefensible to pardon the January 6 insurrectionists who ransacked the Capitol and viciously beat Capitol police officers in an effort to stop the peaceful transfer of power.

It is morally indefensible to use taxpayer dollars to reward those treasonous criminals.

It is morally indefensible to dismantle the United States Agency for International Development and thereby consign hundreds of thousands of children around the world to their deaths (according to the respected medical journal The Lancet).

It is morally indefensible for the masked thugs of ICE to murder protesters in broad daylight and face zero accountability.

It is morally indefensible to seek to imprison an innocent man on fake charges of damaging the Reflecting Pool simply to spare Trump the embarrassment of admitting that his handpicked contractor’s incompetence caused the damage.

It is morally indefensible to kill scores of defenseless people on the high seas for alleged but unproven drug running without the slightest semblance of due process.

It is morally indefensible for Trump to flee Air Force One because the Secret Service determined that remaining on board constitutes an unacceptable risk and not inform those still on the plane of that risk.

It is morally indefensible to not only pardon convicted con men and fraudsters who have collectively fleeced the public out of billions of dollars, but allow them to keep the money they stole from their victims.

It is morally indefensible to convert the Justice Department into a tool for retribution against Trump’s enemies on the basis of bogus charges (such as the ridiculous prosecution of James Comey for posting a photo of seashells in an “8647” pattern).

It is morally indefensible to favor murderous dictators like Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un over our freedom-loving allies Ukraine and South Korea.

Through this ceaseless barrage of vile acts, the Trump administration has not just squandered whatever moral authority it might have had, it appears to have gleefully abandoned any shred of that authority.

That abandonment has dire consequences for our society.

A government that consistently favors perpetrators over victims sends the message that might makes right and playing by the rules is for suckers.

A government that creates a two-tier system of justice (one for supporters of and financial contributors to Trump and another for everyone else) shatters the bedrock principle of equal justice for all and destabilizes our society.

Perhaps most tragically, a government that regularly engages in malicious, immoral conduct teaches our young people that it’s okay to behave that way.

The moral rot that lies at the heart of the Trump administration profoundly corrodes our democracy and the rule of law that sustains it. Recovering from it – if we do recover – will be a long and difficult project. That the party in power (and its tens of millions of supporters) is either fully on board with this volcanic flow of debased conduct, or cannot bring itself to muster any meaningful objection, will prove to be an indelible and monstrously shameful stain on our country.

James Speyer is a lawyer and a volunteer for Lawyers Defending American Democracy. He lives in Sharon.