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Congratulations to the State of Maine, certain of its educational institutions, Harvard, several large law firms and others that have had the courage to rebuff President Donald Trump’s browbeating and bullying tactics aimed at forcing compliance with his unethical and probably unlawful demands.
If he wants to interpret laws in ways favorable to himself he certainly has the right to do so; however he should not punish states and other institutions that disagree by unilaterally withholding funding and other support that has been lawfully approved and then threatening them with further punishments if they don’t comply. There are established, democratic processes for settling such disagreements which must be complied with.
In contrast to those that stand up, many legislators are too cowardly to follow the examples of Maine, Harvard, and the others and instead follow their own craven desire to simply get re-elected. Many of them, particularly senators, are wealthy and nearing the ends of their careers. They can easily make as much or more money in private life as they can in elected office, or simply retire comfortably.
To paraphrase from the 1995 movie “The American President,” they are too busy trying to keep their jobs to actually do their jobs.
Bill Mahan
Hampden
