Do Presidential morals matter?

Published 5:53 am Sunday, April 29, 2018

The Trump Haters in Washington are desperate.

They can’t find a way to bring down the president, so they’re carpet bombing everyone around him.

Their latest victim is Ronny Jackson — the White House doctor the president chose to become the new secretary of Veterans Affairs.

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Dr. Jackson — a Navy rear admiral — has decided not to pursue the job.

Some people thought he didn’t have the experience to run the VA, which last I saw took care of 9 million vets with almost 400,000 bureaucrats.

But his administrative skills weren’t what sunk him. It was the slimy attack on his moral character by Trump-hating Democrats and their pals in the liberal media.

Until about half an hour ago everyone loved the good doctor.

He was a great guy, a good man. He had worked for both President Obama and President George W. Bush.

Then came the unsubstantiated and anonymous attacks. Suddenly, Dr. Jackson was Public Enemy Number One.

He was basically accused in the media of being a drug dealer, an alcoholic and, worst of all these days, being a boss who created a toxic workplace environment.

Rather than be trashed in public, he withdrew his name.

The attack on Dr. Jackson’s morals reminds me of the cheap remark made about President Trump by James Comey, the former FBI director, admitted leaker and professional truth-stretcher.

Comey has famously said he doesn’t think Donald Trump has the moral qualifications to be president.

During his triumphant book tour, I’ve been waiting for one of Comey’s friendly interviewers to ask if he thought Hillary was morally qualified to be president in 2016.

Or if he thought lying about Benghazi, erasing emails, destroying hard drives, attacking the women who accused her husband of rape, etc., etc., did not disqualify her?

And what about her husband Bill, who would have been her co-president?

Did Mr. Comey think Bill has the moral qualifications to be trusted with the keys to the White House again — and left alone with the interns?

While we’re asking, does Comey think JFK was morally qualified in 1960? Or do serial philandering and adultery not count?

JFK was not morally qualified to be Prez — even by today’s standards.

But he stared down the Soviets in Cuba, pushed for lower taxes and built a strong military.

So do I really care who Jack was diddling in his spare time? Not really.

Comey’s remark about Donald Trump’s morals was not just another of his cheap shots. It was also a dumb thing to say.

Jimmy Carter was probably the most morally qualified human on the planet ever to be president.

What did he accomplish?

He gave Iran to the mullahs and he gave the rest of us gas lines, a dead economy and a sky-high ‘Misery Index’ (the rate of inflation plus the rate of unemployment).

Carter proved there’s no connection between a president’s good or bad private morals and his ability to be a good or bad president.

Trump’s doing the same thing.

Despite his less-than-saintly morals and his other faults, so far he’s given us tax cuts, a strong economy and historically low black and Latino unemployment rates.

Plus he looks like he’s on the verge of solving the North Korean nukes problem after three decades.

Of course, it won’t matter what President Trump accomplishes.  Democrats and the liberal media will never give him credit for anything.

They hate him more than ever, but now they’re beginning to realize they can’t bring him down for collusion or anything else.

That’s why they’ve begun attacking the moral qualifications of people, like Dr, Jackson, who want to work for President Trump.

More than 200 of Trump’s appointments are being held up. Good luck to them if they’ve ever had a speeding ticket.

The way things are going now, Trump’s enemies would not support Jesus Christ for secretary of anything because he was pro-life, was seen talking to prostitutes and turned water into wine without a permit.

Michael Reagan is the son of President Ronald Reagan, a political consultant, and the author of “The New Reagan Revolution” (St. Martin’s Press). Send comments to Reagan@caglecartoons.com