Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Aesop’s fable: Will candidates be judged by the company they keep?

Michael Flynn

Michael Flynn is among the many Trump campaign allies who have faced criminal prosecution.

Brooks Kraft/ Getty Images

Corbin is professor emeritus of marketing at the University of Northern Iowa.

One of Aesop’s 725 fables was called “The Donkey and His Purchaser.” In the renowned Greek storyteller’s tale, a man wished to purchase a donkey and decided to give the animal a trial to see how it would fit in with his herd. He took the donkey home and put it in the field with the other donkeys. Quickly the donkey on trial joined the laziest and greediest donkey. Seeing who the new donkey chose to spend time with, the man returned the donkey back to its owner because he knew it would also become lazy and greedy. The moral of the story: A man is known by the company he keeps.


Likewise, a parallel five-word phrase from the Bible speaks volumes: “Bad company corrupts good character” (1 Corinthians 15:33).

The phrases are all about ethics and morals. If you hang around dishonest people, your association with them reflects a lack of good judgment, moral standards and character. Might an examination of our 2024 presidential candidates’ associations assist America’s 161.4 million registered voters when they decide how to fill in their ballots on Nov. 5? Your choice for president could also be a direct reflection on your judgment, moral standards and character.

Let’s examine Joe Biden’s and Donald Trump’s respective election associates.

To date, Biden’s re-election campaign is based upon seeking advice, guidance and counsel from Julie Chavez Rodriguez (campaign manager), Quentin Fulks (principal deputy campaign manager) and Mike Donilon (chief strategist).

Biden’s national campaign co-chairs include Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (Del.), Rep. Jim Clyburn (S.C.), Sen. Chris Coons (Del.), Sen. Tammy Duckworth (Ill.), media proprietor Jeffrey Katzenberg, former Rep. Cedric Richmond (now Democratic National Committee senior advisor) and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

Thirteen others assisting in Biden’s re-election campaign include Colleen Coffey, Jennifer O’Malley Dillon, Mia Ehrenberg, Grace Landrieu, Charles Lutvak, Alana Mounce, Kevin Munoz, Michael Pratt, Michael Press, Roohi Rustum, Sara Schreiber, Becca Siegel and Michael Tyler.

None of Biden’s 23 re-election associates have a criminal record, are under investigation or on trial.

Donald Trump’s national staff campaign is composed of two co-campaign managers (Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles), two senior advisors (Brian Jack and Jason Miller), Steven Cheung as communications director and Karoline Leavitt as national press secretary. These individuals have no criminal record.

But other Trump campaign aides, allies, assistants and associates — according to Reuters – have faced criminal prosecution, including Steve Bannon, Elliot Broidy, Michael Flynn, Rick Gates, Paul Manafort, Peter Navarro, Stewart Rhodes (Oath Keepers), Roger Stone and Allen Weisselberg.

Four more people can be added to what MSNBC referred to as “ Trump’s team of felons ”: Tom Barrack, Kenneth Chesebro, George Papadopoulos and Sidney Powell. USA Today claims five additional Trump election associates who’ve had legal trouble of their own: Jeffrey Clark, John Eastman, Jenna Ellis, Rudy Giuliani and Mark Meadows.

The right-wing Wall Street Journal notes that we should not forget Ray Smith III (one of Trump’s 18 co-defendants in the criminal conspiracy to alter the outcome of the 2020 Georgia election) plus Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira, who allegedly mishandled — with Trump — federal classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.

And let’s not forget Trump acolytes in the House — Andy Biggs (Ariz.), Jim Jordan (Ohio), Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) and Scott Perry (Pa.) — who have violated ethics rules by defying legitimate congressional subpoenas related to their involvement in or knowledge of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol meant to overturn the results of a free and fair election.

The Washington Post reported the number of people in Trump’s orbit “who’ve been convicted of crimes is so great” and a “remarkable universe of criminality.” That article was published in 2019. The size of Trump’s current universe of criminality is even more daunting.

William J.H. Boetcker (1873-1962), a revered Presbyterian minister, is credited for stating, “A man is judged by the company he keeps and a company is judged by the men it keeps, and the people of Democratic nations are judged by the type and caliber of officers they elect.”

What will be the caliber of officers we the people elect on Nov. 5? Will the ethics, morals, judgment and character of the company Biden and Trump respectfully keep be a plausible voting guide? Your good (or poor) judgment, moral standards (or not) and character (or lack thereof) may very well be measured by who you vote for on Nov. 5.

Read More

Is Bombing Iran Deja Vu All Over Again?

The B-2 "Spirit" Stealth Bomber flys over the 136th Rose Parade Presented By Honda on Jan. 1, 2025, in Pasadena, California. (Jerod Harris/Getty Images/TNS)

Jerod Harris/Getty Images/TNS)

Is Bombing Iran Deja Vu All Over Again?

After a short and successful war with Iraq, President George H.W. Bush claimed in 1991 that “the ghosts of Vietnam have been laid to rest beneath the sands of the Arabian desert.” Bush was referring to what was commonly called the “Vietnam syndrome.” The idea was that the Vietnam War had so scarred the American psyche that we forever lost confidence in American power.

The elder President Bush was partially right. The first Iraq war was certainly popular. And his successor, President Clinton, used American power — in the former Yugoslavia and elsewhere — with the general approval of the media and the public.

Keep ReadingShow less
Conspiratorial Thinking Isn’t Growing–Its Consequences Are
a close up of a typewriter with the word conspiracy on it

Conspiratorial Thinking Isn’t Growing–Its Consequences Are

The Comet Ping Pong Pizzagate shooting, the plot to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer, and a man’s livestreamed beheading of his father last year were all fueled by conspiracy theories. But while the headlines suggest that conspiratorial thinking is on the rise, this is not the case. Research points to no increase in conspiratorial thinking. Still, to a more dangerous reality: the conspiracies taking hold and being amplified by political ideologues are increasingly correlated with violence against particular groups. Fortunately, promising new research points to actions we can take to reduce conspiratorial thinking in communities across the US.

Some journalists claim that this is “a golden age of conspiracy theories,” and the public agrees. As of 2022, 59% of Americans think that people are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories today than 25 years ago, and 73% of Americans think conspiracy theories are “out of control.” Most blame this perceived increase on the role of social media and the internet.

Keep ReadingShow less
Illness, Presidents, and Confidantes

U.S. President Joe Biden speaks at the Economic Club of Washington, DC September 19, 2024 in Washington, DC.

Getty Images, Win McNamee

Illness, Presidents, and Confidantes

Ever since the reality of President Biden’s mental and physical decline has been made public, ink is being spent, bemoaning that the nation was at risk because the President was not fit to make crucial decisions twenty-four hours a day.

Isn’t it foolish that, in a constitutional republic with clear separation and interdependence of powers, we should rely on one human being to make a decision at three in the morning that could have grievous consequences for the whole nation and the world? Are we under the illusion that we must and can elect an all-wise, always-on, energizer-bunny, superhero?

Keep ReadingShow less
Donald Trump

Trump's reliance on inflammatory, and often dehumanizing, language is not an unfortunate quirk—it’s a deliberate tactic.

Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images

From ‘Obliteration’ to ‘Enemies Within’: Trump’s Language Echoes Authoritarianism

When President Trump declared that the U.S. strikes “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program, it wasn’t just a policy claim—it was an exercise in narrative control. Predictably, his assertion was met with both support and skepticism. Yet more than a comment on military efficacy, the statement falls into a broader pattern that underscores how Trump uses language not just to communicate but to dominate.

Alongside top officials like CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Trump claimed the strikes set Iran’s nuclear ambitions back by years. However, conflicting intelligence assessments tell a more nuanced story. A leaked Defense Intelligence Agency report concluded that while infrastructure was damaged and entrances sealed, core components such as centrifuges remained largely intact. Iran had already relocated much of its enriched uranium. The International Atomic Energy Agency echoed that damage was reparable.

Keep ReadingShow less