Scolded, But Not Chastened

They have no shame

My dad had an apt retort to the expression that ignorance is bliss. He said, too bad it’s not expensive.

In two instances of willfully ignorant behavior (and one of just plain cruelty, the kind most likely found on the middle school playground), our Vice President, our Acting Deputy Attorney General, and our resident bullying billionaire (not the president, the other bullying billionaire), disgraced themselves this past week, and were appropriately scolded, but they were not chastened.

Let’s start with the vice president, who, incongruently, with his immigrant bride on his arm, lectured elected German officials (who, I’m sure, were happy to get a democracy lesson form a guy whose been in public life for two whole years, and favors authoritarian rule over said democracy). He told them that immigrants would be the downfall of their country, and that they are a greater threat than Russia or China. In other words, according to JD Vance, the enemy within is more threatening than the enemy without.

Climate change, war, brutal dictators, and the hope for a better life, have brought immigrants from the Global South, which is to say, black and brown people, to Europe. Although this guy wouldn’t know irony if it joined the Men’s Shaver Club with him, he is—ironically—married to a brown immigrant. I’d love to hear how he squares that circle.

He very publicly snubbed the Chancellor and met with representatives from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. They are more closely aligned with Germany’s Nazi past than the democratically elected government in Berlin. Except for their anti-immigrant stance, AfD is generally reviled. They have tried for decades to gain a foothold in German politics, but are too far right for most Germans.

The nature of minority parties, is that they are often promote just a single issue, and the mainstream usually usurps them by adding their issue, in some measure, to the larger platform. That’s what’s been happening in Germany. Having the Vice President of the U.S. stiff the formal government in favor of meeting with AfD has certainly given them renewed currency, which, one guesses is exactly what our VP hoped for.

UK Newspaper Headlines:

It so upended eighty years of order, that it sent shivers down Europe’s collective spine. Add this blatantly destabilizing action to the fact that we have shunned our long standing partners in order to cozy up to Russia, and in an instant, the old world of cooperation and diplomacy is gone.

On the domestic front, Emil Bove, Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, now the unqualified Acting Assistant Attorney General, disgraced himself and his office when he chose to demean Danielle Sassoon, the newly appointed US Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Ms. Sassoon chose to resign in protest, rather than dismissing criminal charges against NYC Mayor, Eric Adams. That is the time-honored and appropriate thing for a government official to do when she cannot agree with policy. Apparently unfamiliar with protocol, Bove took it upon himself to demean her quite publicly, and threaten her with legal action (goodness knows on what grounds).

To assume that you are so powerful and so righteous as to be beyond reproach, is dangerously ignorant. Emil Bove is not Donald Trump, but he has The Donald’s appetite for insult and derision, a hallmark of this administration. By going after his star attorney for being principled, he earned the wrath of conservatives everywhere, including The Wall Street Journal editorial board who really let him have it. Ms. Sassoon, a former law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, came out smelling like a rose. Mr. Bove was left smelling like the manure used to grow that rose. An unforced error that announced to the world that he is petty and politically motivated. Not exactly what most of us are looking for in our top law enforcement officers.

Finally, on the tone deaf billionaire front, we have Elon Musk using his X platform to insult a blind man. You think I’m making this up? Here’s the money headline: Musk takes break from ruining America to mock blind person. From the story: “It all started when the thin-skinned South African entrepreneur had a manbaby meltdown after blind government watchdog Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette committed the sin of testifying to Congress about waste in Musk's precious DOGE program. Rather than addressing the actual criticism, [Musk] went full mean girl, unleashing his army of reply guys and basement-dwelling debate lords to cyberbully a literal blind person.” The article goes on to note that Elon stopped maturing around the eighth grade. I can think of no other reason for this behavior. They say the speed of the leader determines the speed of the pack. Unfortunately, the guy at the top makes all this adolescent behavior okay.

The worst part is that this is only the beginning. We are in the process of becoming the Western world’s pariah. We’re holding “peace” talks concerning Ukraine with Russia, but not Ukraine, who according to the President, started the war. Again, a very though circle to square, since the entire world knows it’s a lie.

We’ve insulted our closest allies, and sullied our reputation. Perhaps if ignorance were expensive…

©2025 Jon Sinton