Trump sets low bar for integrity

To the Editor;
Matthew Gagnon raised an important question in his recent column, “We shouldn’t cheer those secret recordings.” Based on Omarosa Manigault Newman’s recordings, especially those done against standing security protocols in the White House Situation room, Gagnon asked, “is that the world we really want to live in?”

I agree with Gagnon’s opinion that we should condemn Manigault Newman’s breaching of national security norms. But he misses the far more important point: as President Donald Trump has repeatedly ignored security protocols to protect American interests, including an unprecedented meeting alone with Vladimir Putin, he has established a pattern for disregarding such norms. This is the far more corrosive behavior.

Standards for leadership, statesmanship, professionalism and integrity are set at the top. I see an extraordinarily low bar in the Trump administration, and in such an environment, we may expect — but not condone — behavior like Manigault Newman’s.

As a Republican, there have been presidents with whom I’ve politically disagreed. But I’ve never been so dismayed by the lack of core American values of decency that this president has projected upon the world stage. That’s the far more important story.

Rob Hazen
Acton