At a recent leadership seminar in Richmond, hosted by the Virginia Association of Counties, local government chairs and vice chairs were asked for words beginning with the letter “c” that are applied to leadership traits.  Responses included collaboration, clarity, cooperation, character, civility, collegial, courage, compassion, common sense, consideration, and class, all attributes that one hopes would apply to elected officials regardless of level of government or party affiliation. 

The nation is only two weeks into the second Trump Administration, but a similar exercise would reveal many other “c” words – chaotic, cruel, callous, caustic, catastrophic, cold-hearted, coarse, confused, craven, calamity, and calumny – that define Mr. Trump, his Cabinet nominees, and staff.  In reality, no one should be surprised.  Fear and division were the hallmarks of Trump’s first term, three presidential campaigns, and now, his second term. The challenge this time is that so much is happening so fast. Immigrant roundups by ICE, firings, purges, tariffs, trade wars, blaming diversity, equity and inclusion hiring practices for the tragic airplane/ military helicopter crash that killed 67 people over the Potomac River – by the time you focus on one shocking announcement, another pops up, and another, and another.  Trump is on a roll, and too many people, including elected Members of Congress, are simply rolling over.  Where is their backbone?

My first boss on the Hill, Senator Wayne Morse of Oregon, had a backbone. Elected as a Republican in 1944, he was a vice president of the NAACP, and a renowned labor supporter.  He left the GOP in 1953, was independent for a couple of years, and served his last 12 years in the Senate as a Democrat.  Known as a maverick, his own words form the basis of what is known as the Morse Integrity Pledge: “I will exercise an independence of judgment based on the evidence of each issue.  I will weigh the views of my constituents and party, but cast my vote free of political pressure and unmoved by threats of loss of political support.” He lived that pledge.  He was one of six Republicans to sign the “Declaration of Conscience” that disavowed Senator Joseph McCarthy in 1950 and one of only two Senators to vote against the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in 1964. He narrowly lost his seat in 1968, largely because of his opposition to the Vietnam War and his work to settle labor strikes at the request of President Lyndon Johnson. How many Republican Senators are “unmoved by threats of loss of political support” in the Trump climate?  Two? Three?  Where are the other fifty?

Every human being has a backbone, so it is up to all of us to fact check and speak out against the Trump effort to dismantle democracy and destroy trust in governmental institutions.  The American dream to form a “more perfect union” should not mean blow it all up and let Trump and his oligarch cronies remake it in their image.  The evidence for two more “c” words – criminal and corrupt – may not be available right now but, based on Trump’s previous history, it’s probably not far behind.  We must not tune out and drop out, but speak out – with family members, colleagues at work, at the gym or grocery store, even at worship.  Defending democracy should not be uncomfortable; if you remember your civics lessons, it’s pretty basic to who we are as a nation.  Similarly, appealing for mercy and compassion for our neighbors, regardless of status, as the Episcopal Bishop of Washington did during the National Prayer Service, is the basis of most faiths, and crucial to our own humanity. 

Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow Sunday, on Groundhog Day, traditionally forecasting six more weeks of winter.  With Mr. Trump in office now, it may seem like four more years of winter!