Bob Schwartz

PLEASE go back and read this recent post: ‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat.

I have never before begged readers to go back and read a previous post or the underlying Politico exclusive. This is the exception. It is that important, but has not gotten the media attention it deserves.

It is important because the Republican Party, the party in power, knowingly or negligently has become a haven and breeding ground for future leaders who are hateful, racist, misogynistic, antisemitic fans of Hitler and Nazism.

This is not to say the Republican Party is entirely, or mostly, filled with haters, racists, misogynists, antisemites and fans of Hitler and Nazism. But if the party hasn’t already figured out before this revelation that a number of its future leaders are and have been just that, the party doesn’t deserve to lead America. Because one day, those leaders of tomorrow, especially the many others not in this chat, become the leaders of today.

Democracy and distractions

The quality and well-being of government, which in America is some form of constitutionally-supported democracy, is inversely proportional to the volume, availability, intensity and attractiveness of non-essential distractions.

Trump’s university compact: What would Ben Franklin (founder University of Pennsylvania) and Thomas Jefferson (founder University of Virginia) do?

Trump is not a student of history and not a student of higher education.

He doesn’t know or care that two of the nine universities that received his demand for his academic hegemony were founded by Ben Franklin (University of Pennsylvania) and Thomas Jefferson (University of Virginia), eminent figures in the founding of America on a platform of freedom.

The University of Pennsylvania just rejected the offered compact, as have three of the other schools. The University of Virginia has expressed opposition, but no decision has been announced.

If the remaining universities need inspiration and encouragement, beyond what other schools have already done, I suggest asking the questions: WWBFD and WWTJD. I think they and we know.

Two postscripts:

The seal of the University of Pennsylvania includes its motto: Leges sine moribus vanae. Laws without morals are in vain.

Trump University was an education scam perpetrated by Trump before he became president. It offered a few seminars, but nothing like a degree. It folded in the wake of numerous lawsuits. But it did have a big beautiful logo.