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I hope all of you have had a good summer. I took a month off (two newsletters) and spent the break visiting all three of my children and all six of my grandchildren. I also tried not to be so fixated on the daily news, though I may have failed at that! From an ethics standpoint, the Trump administration continues to dismantle the shared commitment to ethical values and norms of behavior that have defined our nation. Trump shows no hesitance in violating ethical norms we have held dear. He demonstrates almost daily all four of the deadly sins I wrote about in my four newsletters in May and June: corruption, tyranny, lying, and a lack of generosity, which spills over frequently into cruelty. Trump has consistently pursued the two core strategies I wrote about in the spring: (1) a strategy of domination over every individual, institution, and country in the nation—and through the tariff threats even in the world, and (2) a strategy of retribution for any opposition or slight toward him. The U.S. Congress and the six-to-three majority on the Supreme Court have facilitated his dominance strategy, ceding congressional authority time and again, and permitting him to use the seized authority while legal challenges work their way slowly through the lower courts. His appointed officials, particularly Attorney General Pam Biondi, have been willing to stretch their authority to put the retribution strategy to work against anyone Trump resents. Biondi has just launched investigations of Letitia James, the New York attorney general who last year brought a civil suit against Trump and his company for fraud; and U.S. Senator Adam Shiff who led the successful prosecution of Trump in his first impeachment, and later served on the January 6 Commission. Trump has even suggested he may ask Biondi to prosecute former President Barack Obama for imagined crimes. Trump’s deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller leads the massive deportation agenda, seeking ever more intimidating and cruel ways to threaten law-abiding and long-employed immigrants—whom Trump previously said he would not touch. Recent news reports indicate a young Harvard Law graduate, May Mailman, who reports directly to Miller, is the agent implementing Trump’s strategy of blackmailing large U.S. universities to sign agreements with the administration in exchange for releasing funds already committed to them for medical and other forms of research. During my break I have been contemplating what ethical response to the present moment is required of us. I had the chance two weeks ago to discuss this when I interviewed Erwin Chereminsky, the dean of the law school at the University of California Berkeley, for a broadcast by the Commonwealth Club World Affairs, the West’s most prominent public forum (video here). Chereminsky is not subtle; the session was entitled “The Dictator’s Playbook,” and he cited in extraordinary detail the escalating anti-democratic actions of the Trump administration during its first six months. It is worth watching. Chereminsky believes the U.S. Constitution has significant flaws which enable a dictatorship to emerge (see his book No Democracy Lasts Forever). At this point in the Trump administration, he hopes that the judicial process will slow Trump’s ethical and legal onslaught but does not have much confidence in the current Supreme Court. He believes shifting control of the U.S. House to the Democratic Party in 2026 is essential, though he is disappointed, as I am, in the ineffectiveness of the current Democratic party leadership in the Congress. I have concluded we need to articulate a clear and compelling critique of the unethical actions of the administration, and an alternate vision which restores core American values to government. The Democratic party is still searching for that vision and spokesperson, though I am attracted by the “New Democratic Coalition,” perhaps mostly because two of its current leaders, Congressmen Josh Harder of Stockton, CA, and Sam Liccardo of Silicon Valley, are moderate and ethical leaders I have worked with, and that the coalition was founded 25 years ago by Congressman Cal Dooley who was one of my students at Stanford. This summer I have seen a growing cultural emphasis on moral courage and leadership, and the growth of multiple grassroots efforts using moral language to describe their missions and work. Efforts to bridge the partisan divide, popping up in small communities and large, build on the concept of respect for each other and listening to the genuine concerns of both sides. These efforts, chronicled for example by Judy Woodruff’s reports on the PBS Evening News, are evidence that most Americans are disgusted with the divisive and abusive language so common in the media and social media. We have no shortage of individuals who have shown an absence of moral courage, starting with those who are all too ready to implement the most damaging of his initiatives, or to retaliate against anyone Trump wants to punish. The few Republican lawmakers have shown courage have immediately been threatened with primary challenges and some have chosen to retire. A few administration officials have summoned their courage to criticize or even resist orders they consider unethical, but many of those have been summarily fired. When Trump gave Texas orders to redistrict mid-decade and tip five more seats to Republican majorities, it was no surprise that the Texas legislature was quick to do his bidding. We will need more moral courage—by elected national and local officials, civil servants and government appointees, and by institutional leaders in business, universities, and nonprofits if we are to slow the anti-democratic juggernaut Trump has unleashed. All of us as citizens, employees of companies and nonprofits, and alumni of universities, can support those individuals and institutions that show moral courage. I am convinced a vast majority of Americans do not support the goals of dominance and retribution Trump is pursuing. But it will take a determined campaign to tell the story of what is really going on and the damage it is doing—to the majority of Americans, and to our institutions and deeply held values. I believe that is our Ethics Agenda for the coming months and years.
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