Trump Haters are in a frenzy. Why? Because Tiger Woods refused to denounce him, when given a chance at a recent press conference. The nerve!
The media (including the sports media) assumes that a golf pro must have an opinion about President Trump – provided it’s the CORRECT opinion, of course. Confident of a politically correct answer, a reporter asked Tiger Woods what he thought of the President. Tiger’s reply:
“He’s the President of the United States. You have to respect the office. No matter who is in the office, you may like, dislike personality or the politics, but we all must respect the office.”
The outrage is deafening on MSNBC, CNN and elsewhere, of course. Tiger Woods is a black man. We all know that a black man must hate President Trump, and call him a racist!
Here’s the most interesting question: Should you respect the office of the presidency over and above the occupant of the office?
In a way, yes. But in a way, no.
The Presidency stands as part of the Constitution. If you love the Constitution and the unprecedented respect for individual rights it upholds, then you ought to respect the President no matter who the President is. Right?
Yet what if the President is decisively opposed to the Constitution and individual rights? What if a President, while in office, openly aids and abets our worst enemies, signing “peace treaties” without Congressional consent and giving these dictators large sums of money? What if a President passes a socialized medicine law and asks citizens to report dissenters to a special White House email address? What if a President sneers at and cajoles Americans who don’t like socialism, gun control and leftism every chance he gets? What if he lectures us on the virtues of Islam after people repeatedly attack Americans in the name of that religion? Barack Obama did all these things. The next Democratic President will likely be even worse, if that’s possible.
Take it further: What if we really did elect a Hitler or a Stalin? Would we have to respect that modern-day Hitler or Stalin merely out of respect for the Presidency? It seems like respect for the Presidency, and the democratic republic that office represents, would require just the opposite. So why not the same principle with an Obama, who’s not quite a Hitler or a Stalin, but who’s against the U.S. Constitution and individual rights for many of the same reasons?
None of this is to defend those who attack President Trump. They attack President Trump because they claim he’s a dictator. But their only objection to dictatorship is that it’s not THEIR dictatorship. It’s not an objection over principle; it’s an objection over power. Anti-Trumpers have no credibility whatsoever, for that reason. They would do this with any Republican. Trump’s policies are no different than any other Republican – cut taxes, cut regulations, and build a strong defense. It’s only because of Trump’s brash and controversial manner they ride this wave all the way (they hope) to impeachment.
The office of the Presidency matters, and deserves respect. Tiger Woods is correct, so far as it goes.
But when someone holds the Presidency who does not respect the principles that make the office meaningful, we’re right to disrespect that person. That’s why many of us showed no respect for Barack Obama, would have given no respect to a President Hillary Clinton, and will show even less respect the next time a socialist, America-hating person holds the office.
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