Recently, Donald Trump has come under fire. A lot of fire. Much of this has been criticism over what he has said and done (or in some cases, not done). The peak of this was due to the release of a 2005 conversation he had with Billy Bush where he glorified sexual assault when conducted by a celebrity or person of power. Before this, however, he has been heavily scrutinized over not releasing his tax returns and his several-year history regarding Barack Obama’s birth certificate. Through all of this, Trump has engaged in a pattern of blaming others for his actions. Or at least trying to mitigate the scope of his actions by blaming others for the same thing.
When Donald Trump finally admitted that, to his satisfaction, Barack Obama was in fact born a citizen of the United States, within the United States, he turned blame to Hillary Clinton. He could have admitted that he was wrong to have both believed and maintained such an obvious falsehood. Instead, he suggested that it was all Hillary Clinton’s fault.
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Even if we imagine, for a moment, that Clinton was the one who started the narrative that Barack Obama wasn’t a legitimate citizen (and she was not), she did not force Donald Trump to tout a racist lie for years. She did not manipulate Donald Trump into practically bribing Barack Obama to release his already-legitimized birth certificate. She did not strong-arm Donald Trump into race-baiting the entire nation. Instead of maturely admitting his ignorance on the matter, Donald Trump managed to find someone else more “deserving” of the blame. He tried to throw Hillary Clinton under the bus in self-defense. Donald Trump failed to do so but still managed to look like a coward.
At the same time, Donald Trump was trying to act like the birth certificate fiasco was not his fault, he was fighting a second war on his tax returns. In a move that shocked the presidential election process, he refused (and still refuses) to release his current tax returns; something that every president and major presidential nominee has done since Jimmy Carter was in office (many before him chose to do so as well, but Gerald Ford never released his actual tax returns). He claimed that he can’t while he is under audit, but the Internal Revenue Service has disputed this argument, and Richard Nixon publicly did so while under audit himself. He and his campaign staff (including his eldest sons) have stated that the American people have no interest in seeing his tax returns and that there is nothing valuable to be learned. Public and professional response have suggested this is not true.
When the New York Times released Donald Trump’s 1995 tax returns, it showed he reported a loss over $900 Million, allowing him to potentially not pay federal income tax for eighteen years. When pressed about this, Trump again turned tail, and blamed the system for his tax breaks, claiming successful and wealthy businesspeople like Warren Buffett (who was specifically named by Trump) had taken the same kinds of tax breaks he had in similar amounts. Warren Buffett, who is currently under audit, responded by releasing his own tax returns, showing two things: Buffett (who is much wealthier and has been much more objectively successful than Donald Trump) has not taken the same kind of tax breaks that Donald Trump has, and that tax returns can definitely be released while under audit. Once again, here is Trump saying 'what I did was bad, but what other people did was just as bad or worse, so don’t criticize me.' Not only did Buffett not do a similar or worse thing than Donald Trump, but his doing so would not have excused Trump’s manipulation of the system.
Finally, this behavior was seen just after the now-infamous bus video was released. Since its exposure, he has produced a half-hearted apology, and has repeatedly tried to write it off as “locker room talk” (though I can promise you no mature man brags about to sexual assault, in a locker room or any other place). In an interview, he looked to put the blame on Bill Clinton, even stating “Bill Clinton has said far worse to me on the golf course — not even close”. Again, Donald Trump tried to exonerate himself with the 'what I did was bad, but what he did was worse' style of defense. The problem is that this is conjecture; unlike in Trump’s case where there is proof of what he has said in private, there is no such evidence that Bill Clinton did. Anyone can claim a third person or party said or did some terrible thing, but that doesn’t make it true. Trump then tried to suggest Bill Clinton has actually raped people, while he (Trump) only talked about it. Talking about sexual assault the way Trump did is bad, doing it is worse; talking about it is still unacceptable behavior.
I will be honest; I don’t know if Bill Clinton is guilty of rape or not. There are have been a number of allegations that he is, but just like with Donald Trump, the accusations are so-far unproven. When we consider that both men have been accused of using their power to sexually assault and/or rape women, that Donald Trump has been recorded saying his money and power give him the freedom to sexually assault women, and that Bill Clinton might have said worse things, there is still one truth. Only one of these men is running for president.
This is not to say the weight of what Bill Clinton may have said or done is any less significant, but it is certainly less relevant to this election. Bill Clinton is Hillary’s husband, not her running mate. He is not her senior policy advisor, nor is he her campaign manager or chief-of-staff. He is not going to be serving in the Oval Office, nor is he on the ballot. A vote for Hillary Clinton is no more a vote for Bill than a vote for Donald Trump is a vote for Melania. Otherwise, Donald Trump would be just as guilty of plagiarism as Senator John Walsh was when a mistake cost him his seat in 2014.
The revelations that have come out during this election about Donald Trump are frightening, considering the man is running for President of the United States; commander-in-chief, chief diplomat; the Highest Office in the Land. Presidents admit their mistakes and wrong-doings, and do so with humbleness. The insecure and fearful do not. George Washington admitted in his Farewell Address that, despite acting in what he felt was the best interest of the nation, he was confident he had no doubt make mistakes in his tenure. Tepid apologies do not meet this standard. Aggressively asserting others are guiltier than he is does not vindicate Donald Trump; admitting his errors would be a good first step.
