Stay away from evil, part 2
28 March 2024
I have previously written about what constitutes evil, which is independent of political beliefs:
Being dishonest frequently or being indifferent to the truth.
Promoting bigotry, hatred or violence.
Taking away the rights of others.
Undermining respect for the rule of law.
Weakening democratic ideals, institutions or countries.
Enriching oneself or one’s friends or relatives at the expense of others, particularly while working in government or the nonprofit world.
Supporting, in a major way, evil people or evil institutions.
There are many evil people in the world, but I thought it would be helpful to discuss associating with an individual we all know. In my world, it is clear that Donald J. Trump fulfills all of the above criteria for evil in a major way and is, in my opinion, one of the world’s great evils.
Below are examples of those affected by their association with Donald J. Trump:
1. COVID-19 deaths were significantly higher among Republicans than Democrats, as summarized in a recent study. This is most likely because Trump supporters believed his statements that COVID-19 was harmless and that vaccines were not needed.
Question Was political party affiliation a risk factor associated with excess mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic in Florida and Ohio?
Findings In this cohort study evaluating 538 159 deaths in individuals aged 25 years and older in Florida and Ohio between March 2020 and December 2021, excess mortality was significantly higher for Republican voters than Democratic voters after COVID-19 vaccines were available to all adults, but not before. These differences were concentrated in counties with lower vaccination rates, and primarily noted in voters residing in Ohio.
Meaning The differences in excess mortality by political party affiliation after COVID-19 vaccines were available to all adults suggest that differences in vaccination attitudes and reported uptake between Republican and Democratic voters may have been a factor in the severity and trajectory of the pandemic in the US. Source: JAMA - Journal of the American Medical Association
2. CNN recently listed the professional reckonings for Trump’s lawyers regarding his lies about the 2020 election. As attorneys, we regularly associate with evil people and know how to protect ourselves from our clients’ bad behavior. However, Donald J. Trump has a particular ability to push lawyers and others into overriding their common sense and getting into trouble:
Fallout for lawyers who assisted Donald Trump in his efforts to overturn the 2020 election is coming into focus this week, as one ex-lawyer for Trump will find if he may lose his law license and another attorney is in the middle of a disciplinary trial.
John Eastman, a conservative law professor, and Jeffrey Clark, the former Trump Justice Department official whom Trump nearly installed as attorney general, face major developments in their attorney discipline cases in the jurisdictions where they are barred.
The developments highlight how, even years after the 2020 election, authorities that regulate the attorneys are still looking closely at the actions of attorneys for Trump, several of whom could lose their law licenses.
In addition to Eastman and Clark, three other lawyers for Trump in 2020 — Sidney Powell, Kenneth Chesebro and Jenna Ellis —have pleaded guilty to criminal charges in Georgia that could risk their law licenses.
Another lawyer, Stefanie Lambert, recently spent the night in jail for failing to show up for a case against her in Michigan, while the prominent attorney Rudy Giuliani is in bankruptcy and suspended from practicing law.
And Lawrence Joseph, Julia Haller and Brandon Johnson, who worked in battleground states to support Trump and on frivolous court filings alleging election fraud after the last presidential election, are now facing attorney disciplinary charges in Washington, DC.
3. I have previously written about Trump’s physicians. Trump was able to convince them to make outrageous statements that they must have known were inappropriate and which later damaged their reputations. Recently, it was revealed that Dr. Ronny Jackson, Trump’s former physician whom he nominated for a cabinet position, was demoted from the Navy and lied about his rank.
4. Many other people have been damaged by their association with Trump, including:
Many Trump allies have pled guilty or been convicted of crimes, see also here.
Trump’s valet, Walt Nauta, who allegedly helped hide governmental records taken by Trump to Mar-a-Lago, has been charged with several felonies, alongside Trump.
19 Defendants were charged and 4 have pled guilty in the Georgia election racketeering case associated with the 2020 election.
1200+ individuals were charged, including 600+ who pled guilty and 100+ who were found guilty at trial regarding the January 6, 2021 insurrection.
One Trump supporter died during the insurrection.
Ronna McDaniel, the former Republican National Committee chair was fired by NBC News because of her lies about the 2020 election.
MyPillow chief executive officer Mike Lindell, a strong Trump supporter, has suffered financially due to his support for Trump.
Fox News and Rubert Murdoch, paid a whopping $787 million for its false election claims,
Many, many others.
Bad things tend to happen to those who associate with evil. I suggest that we stay as far away from evil people as we can. Although our friends, family members, neighbors and business associates may do evil and we cannot cut ties with them completely, we should limit those ties as much as we can.
Perhaps you think that you are clever enough to avoid any problems incurred by your association with evil. Unfortunately, evil is seductive and persistent and there is a good chance that you will be affected too. It can infiltrate our minds when we least expect it. Associate with evil, and you are likely to suffer, just as the people above did, even though I am sure they thought it couldn’t happen to them.
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