This Just In: Bad People Do Terrible Things

Some behaviors and opinions simply make you an awful human.

If you’ve followed conservative commentary in recent years, you’ve likely encountered the refrain: "I’ll criticize Donald Trump when he deserves it, and I’ll praise him when he deserves it."

It’s a fair stance at first glance - nobody should be judged solely on a single mistake or a marginally faulty opinion. Further, society often distinguishes between private behavior and public performance, allowing figures like Alec Baldwin, despite shooting a woman, to continue their careers, or Bill Clinton, who turned the Oval Office into an underground massage parlor, to weather political storms.

Yet, there are lines that cannot be crossed without consequence. Some actions and beliefs serve as glaring indicators of a fundamental lack of decency or intelligence. These individuals not only flout societal norms but also revel in their defiance, undermining any claim to respectability.

Consider U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, whose career is marred by a series of public and private scandals. From treating spouses as expendable to allegedly assaulting women to being accused of showing up to work drunk to financial mismanagement (read a full accounting of his misdeeds here), Hegseth embodies a pattern of behavior that transcends political criticism, reflecting a deeper disregard for ethical standards.

From the moment Hegseth was plucked from Fox News to serve as Defense Secretary, it was clear he wasn’t remotely qualified for the job. And right on schedule, he began behaving disgracefully, setting up Signal accounts to share classified information about military operations with wives, friends, and - oops! - magazine editors. Hegseth’s recent travails are the most predictable scandal ever because he has lived his life as a reprobate, and this is what terrible people do.

Then, there's Donald Trump, whose compulsive lying has become a defining feature of his rhetoric. His unchecked fabrications now jeopardize the economy and erode America’s global credibility. For figures like Trump, any attempt at compartmentalization rings hollow. Their egregious conduct overshadows fleeting moments of coherence, rendering them unfit for any benefit of the doubt.

Compartmentalization may sometimes work when assessing politicians or celebrities, but it doesn’t work in our everyday lives. No one says, “Sure, Joe slept with my wife, but he has great musical taste.” Once you cross a line of decency, you are no longer given the luxury of selectivity.

And under Trump’s wing, the number of disgraceful politicians damaging America has grown unabated. Republican Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson, who’s so dumb he’d starve to death if he got trapped in a grocery store, recently demanded hearings into the “real cause” of the 9/11 terror attacks in New York City.

Johnson will fall for literally any bogus conspiracy theory. He believed the COVID-19 vaccines actually made the pandemic worse and told the public the virus could be cured by using mouthwash. He denied the violent nature of the January 6, 2021, attacks on the U.S. Capitol, saying “people that love this country, that truly respect law enforcement, would never do anything to break the law." And now he’s a 9/11 truther.

This is not a man who should be congratulated when he gets things right, like when a toddler manages to poop on the toilet without help. He is a man who has severe mental defects that cause him to live in a delusional world inhabited only by insane people.

Similarly, in Hegseth and Trump, we encounter individuals whose actions and words expose a profound moral and intellectual bankruptcy. Their transgressions are not mere missteps but reflections of character flaws that defy redemption through occasional sensible remarks.

Compartmentalization, as a principle, serves a vital role in evaluating public figures. It allows us to assess performance separate from personal failings, recognizing that none of us is flawless. However, when behavior consistently undermines societal trust and ethical norms, compartmentalization ceases to be a valid defense. It becomes a tool of evasion, shielding the indefensible under the guise of political expediency.

In the realm of leadership, character counts. It serves as the bedrock upon which credibility is built and decisions are judged. Hegseth, Trump, and Johnson, through their actions, have forfeited the right to selective forgiveness. Their legacy is one of shattered norms and diminished trust, where each falsehood or ethical lapse reinforces the certainty that some individuals are beyond redemption through mere rhetorical acrobatics.

In other words, you do not “gotta hand it” to 9/11 truthers, vaccine deniers, or men who assault women. They do not deserve a place in either government or decent society. Compartmentalization is the last refuge of the scoundrel, and, ironically, those who use it to defend terrible people in order to remain in good standing with a political party should not be forgiven, either.

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In my National Review piece this week, I discuss how, over the past decade, social media has helped Republicans but killed the Democratic Party’s messaging machine. Suddenly, even moderate Democrats are being tarred by the most extreme elements of the left in a way Republicans aren’t harmed by their crazies:

Today, one public school teacher with a TikTok account, green hair, and a septum piercing can hijack a political movement. Six college students with a bullhorn and a drum can become the face of a party they don’t even belong to. Ragtag speakers at a climate rally demanding the end of capitalism become stand-ins for every Democrat running for office in a red or purple district.

In the social media era, the Democratic coalition’s balancing act has tipped hard toward the loudest and most ideologically rigid participants. Republicans, meanwhile, have figured out how to use this to their advantage. They don’t have to paint all Democrats as radical; they just have to show the country what the very visible radicals are saying, kick back, and let the algorithm do the rest.

Consider the average voter in a swing state. Maybe people in that category aren’t deeply engaged in politics. Perhaps they’re just trying to keep up with their mortgage, their kids’ playdates, and what’s happening on The White Lotus. And then they log on to Facebook and see a viral video of a progressive activist shouting down a speaker for not using the proper pronouns. Or they see their liberal neighbors lionizing a telegenic young man who shot a health insurance executive in the back, depriving his two sons of a father. To those voters, this is now what the Democratic Party stands for. Not jobs, not health care, not education, but fringe cultural obsessions that alienate more people than they attract.

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The best thing a podcast can do is make you take a look at something you’re already familiar with and see it in an entirely different way. That’s the case with the One Song Podcast, which takes famous pieces of music, breaks down every instrument, beat, and vocal, and casts them in a unique light. It really is genius, and I can’t stop listening to it. Here are hosts Diallo Riddle and Luxxury discussing the Smashing Pumpkins’ “Cherub Rock:”