Why Do You Believe That?
By
Leonard Zwelling
This op-ed from The Wall Street Journal on August 22 is by history professor Katherine C. Epstein. She compares the Trump supporters and the Trump haters as being mirror images of one another.
The Trump supporters do everything in their power to blame someone else on their man’s loss of the Presidency just as Trump does himself. It’s never his fault because he is smart, good-looking and perfect in every way. He couldn’t have lost unless the election was rigged. Be careful. The next election may be rigged by Trump-supporting state attorneys general.
Mr. Trump’s opponents have used every legal maneuver in the book to try to convince the world that he’s a criminal—every legal maneuver short of actually finding probable cause of a crime. It is time for the American people to know whether or not their former President was a crook. The Department of Justice seems to believe it has probable cause to execute a search warrant. What is that probable cause? Did Trump knowingly obstruct justice? Inquiring minds want to know.
As Dr. Epstein explains both camps beliefs by writing, “the answer seems to be that it enables them to avoid searching their own consciences.” Both groups are denying reality. Trump lost because he was more unpopular than the other guy. On the other hand, now that the other guy is in the White House, not too many people like him either. What Epstein says is that, “Trump’s supporters have a cult of personality, his opponents have a cult of law.” Either way, both groups are sadly misguided as Mr. Trump is not really fit for office as he proved and Mr. Biden isn’t either. It all depends on what you want to believe. Those of us in the middle believe that both groups are wrong and that we need another choice—preferably two other choices.
Recently I was having a discussion with the wife of a friend of mine from MD Anderson. When I said to her that the current president of MD Anderson is no different than the last guy, she was incensed. The last guy was, in her mind, evil incarnate and showed his tendencies immediately upon taking office. I would argue the same behavior is true of the new guy. In fact, the new guy is even worse because, unlike the last guy who never pretended to be a nice guy, the new guy wants you to believe he’s both a nice guy, and on your side, if you are a faculty member. He’s not. The only side he is on, like Mr. Trump, is his own.
People will do the darndest things to convince themselves that things are fine when they aren’t. The moving of the Physicians’ Referral Service to Human Resources, the absence of a faculty dining room, and repeated forays into using professionalism as a weapon against faculty and staff alike suggest to me that the new guy is every bit as bad as the last guy and that the faculty better wake up before they have no rights left and no say at all in what happens to them.
It should be made clear to the president’s handlers in Austin that they have hired a leader with a heavy hand who deals with a lawyer-laden loaded deck.
The faculty of MD Anderson cannot be like Trump supporters or Trump opponents. They need to be clear-eyed and understand what is happening around them and to them. Like the bulk of the American people, the faculty are not without resources as long as they see clearly and act together.
Trump was sent on his way. He deserves some company.
4 thoughts on “Why Do You Believe That?”
The most recent medstaff bylaws amendments are egregious and terrifying. It feels as if faculty careers are on a wing and a prayer. Faculty are too busy caring for the sick to realize what is happening. And there is no platform to come together. When the faculty tried and sent their letter to Austin, they were chastised.
Don’t quit. It took many of those kinds of communications with Austin to humble the last guy. LZ
But the prior Seal Team 6 is now the current leader’s Delta Force.
If you mean the inept VPs, you’re quite right. LZ