In anticipation of President Trump’s State Of The Union address I talked about the Democrats who are planning to protest the president by not being in attendance for the SOTU address. While I understand the monumental disagreements with this president, I do believe that the Democrats should show respect for the office of the presidency even if they believe the president does not display respect for the office he holds.
President Trump’s behavior is often that of a self-declared dictator and his lack of respect for the Constitution is well documented. This is a president who believes he can do whatever he wants simply because he’s the president and this is the shortcoming of a man who grew up in business and not politics. Not that doing things the political way is always advantageous, but the political roadmap for the United States of America is well-documented in the area of checks and balances so that no president can become a dictator - or even act like one.
President Trump has ignored the Constitution with many of his orders to ICE agents. He also shows a lack of respect for the Constitution by ordering the military into action in cities without respecting the proper protocol. And Trump has continued to ignore the Constitution by disregarding court orders that are legitimate and binding.
However, in spite of this president’s lack of respect for the Constitution or other fundamental aspects of American government, I believe Democrats who disagree with Trump should attend the SOTU address.
I condemned Nancy Pelosi ripping up her copy of Trump’s SOTU address right after he delivered it in 2020. No matter how upset she was or how much she hated what he said, Pelosi’s action was juvenile. The Democrats refusing to show up for the address is equally juvenile.
When Obama was president, listeners called into my talk show on WWL-AM-FM-WWL.com and said Obama showed no respect for the office of the presidency, therefore, they would show no respect for the office. Interestingly, when I mentioned that on my show today a few people texted in to suggest that President Obama never showed a lack of respect for the office of the presidency.
Whether a president shows respect for the office is subjective. There were many Americans who argued that President Obama did fail to respect the office of the presidency with executive overreach. President Obama bypassed Congress on policy change and made appointments when Congress was in recess. Obama changed the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and ordered action against Libya without congressional approval. These are a few of the things that people brought in their arguments that Obama showed no respect for his office.
The whole idea of making the case that a president does not show respect for the presidency is to give permission for Americans to show no respect for the office. It’s not their fault - if a president doesn’t show respect for the office then they don’t have too. But there’s a bigger question.
I understand why people who do not like Obama or Trump want to argue that they have the right to not respect the office of the presidency, but shouldn’t we - the people - strive to be better than the petty politicians who make the same arguments? Believe it not, the politicians follow us. They only lead us in directions they believe we want to be led. Currently, there are enough Americans cheering on their political leaders who are ripping up copies of the SOTU address or boycotting the speech. We cheer on our team. We need to do a better job of setting an example of our politicians as we cheer them on.
This is American and it’s okay to not like the president. In this country - even those some think it’s un-America - it is okay to hate the president. But we can hate and not respect the person who is president while respecting the office of the presidency. It may not always be easy - but there are a lot of things about being American that are not easy and that’s the way it’s supposed to be.
It’s easy to turn away - it is more difficult to care than it is to not care. Democrats may not like what President Trump has to say in his SOTU address - but they should be there when he delivers his speech because this is a political ritual and honoring it - regardless who is in office at the time - is part of a bigger quest to honor America.
