Tag: donald trump

Listen to the Victims of Epstein’s Abuse

On By southwerkIn corruption

(The picture is in the public domain and does seem to have some satirical impact at this time!)

The victims of Jeffrey Epstein should have their time now.

Jeffrey Epstein had powerful friends who protected him again and again. Only after many years was he tried and sentenced to prison.

And now the question remains, should we publicize the names of those who received favors from him, namely young women and rides on his plane.

Historically I must tell you the names in these types of scandals never seem to get disclosed. I have read of cases of famous womens’ diaries, bordello madams customer lists and many other such scandals. The names never make it out.

Many years ago, one of my instructors was an old law officer in the State of Oklahoma. He told me lots of stories. Before election days, they’d raid the brothels to appease the Baptist voters. He laughed about finding all kinds of city and state officials in those raids — but their names didn’t get disclosed either.

But time has passed and perhaps things are changing. We as a nation have been talking about victim’s rights for quite some time with very variable results. (I have been more than a little disappointed.)

It is only just and honorable that we pay attention to the women abused in this case. The fact that powerful men and women participated in their abuse makes their memories, their testimony, all the more important.

And it is not happening. We get the occasional minor story but when are we going to get a major network interviewing fifteen survivors in a group and putting those interviews on television. Maybe I’m an amateur when it comes to broadcasting but isn’t that what television news was designed to do?

Where’s the print media? Are those who victimized these women so powerful that fear and cowardice grips the entertainment industry, the news networks and the great mass of journalists?

I have to wonder.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/epstein-victims-growing-political-threat-040042411.html

(Quoted directly from the article linked to above.)The women whom Jeffrey Epstein abused demand to be heard.

And their voices — long suppressed, but now emerging powerfully and with courage — could further fuel the maelstrom around President Donald Trump and aides who dig the scandal deeper each time they try to end it.

These are women who’ve been let down for years, at multiple levels, by a government that was supposed to keep them safe. Their families are victims, too, since abuse sows trauma through generations. (End quote.)

The main fact before us is simple, very simple. We may not have the lists of those who participated in the abuse but we can always just ask the women abused.

Why don’t we do it?

James Alan Pilant

Who Exactly is a “Patriot Donor?”

On By southwerkIn corruption

Picture above By David Maiolo – Own work, CC BY-SA (Borrowed from my friends at Wikipedia with profound thanks!)

We are engulfed in a tsunami of White House lies and misinformation. Not only that but the White House itself, an American institution is being remade apparently in imitation of the President’s resort in Florida. Language is important. Let us discuss where and how the term, patriot donor, appears.

Take a look at this news article from the online magazine, Salon.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/trump-sending-dark-signal-white-103011111.html

(Quoted from the article linked to above.)That was the premise of a White House announcement last week claiming that the president “and other patriot donors” would be financing the full, approximately $200 million cost of a gaudy, gold-tinged pseudo-classical addition to his current residence in Washington, DC. With renderings that look an awful lot like a wing at Mar-a-Lago, the so-called White House Ballroom would be a 90,000-square-foot party venue located where the “small, heavily changed, and reconstructed East Wing currently sits,” suggesting that historical preservation is not top of mind. (End quote.)

Patriot donor? Just what is patriotic about giving the President money so he can create a Mar-A-Lagos on the Potomac in place or in addition to the current White House? It seems more like an opportunity to curry favor or gain favorable access to the current administration to me. Am I too cynical or is any level of cynicism up to the rapacious greed of our current “leadership?”

Patriotism in my definition does not involve coughing up enormous sums of money for the President’s pet project, the desecration of the American White House.

Patriotism is doing your duty as am American citizen, something being redefined here in a crude and dollar tinged way.

It is unethical to claim that patriotism motivates a donation to the current administration. It is unethical to use the White House in many ways, the peoples’ house, as an excuse once again to flatter and ingratiate money givers into a system of influence peddling.

And finally, it is wrong to cheapen the word, patriotism, which is so important when discussing the real virtues of America, shared sacrifice, moral values and a history of progress.

James Alan Pilant

Lies and Many More Lies

On By southwerkIn corruption

Business ethics are based on a bedrock of facts and reason, as true as we can make it perception of reality. But the leader of the current regime issues a constant stream of lies and misinformation and this is a constant danger to a common understanding of what is factual and what is not.

Let’s start with this story from The Daily Beast.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/fbi-reveals-trump-crime-wave-164848654.html

(Quoted directly from the article linked to above) New FBI data contradicts President Donald Trump’s often-repeated claim that crime is surging in the U.S. and Democrats are to blame. Violent crime went down 4.5 percent in 2024, while property crime dropped 8.1 percent, according to the freshly released report. The trend was apparent across the board—every single one of the FBI’s reporting violent crime categories showed a significant drop: murder (-14.9 percent), rape (-5.2 percent), robbery (-8.9 percent), and aggravated assault (-3 percent). (End of quote.)

It is a fact that crime has been dropping in the United States for last forty years from its statistical high in the 1960’s. That fact and the data behind it does not exist in the President’s mind or the Right Wing media machine. Cities and blue states are portrayed as sinkholes of moral depravity while red states are bastions of tranquility. And factually?? I live in Oklahoma which is ranked 21st in intentional murder while New York is ranked 35th. It is more dangerous at night on the streets of Oklahoma than it is in New York.

But the lies benefit the President and his twisted view of the United States as battered hell hole he has come to save.

How about this story from The Maddow Blog?

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/maddow-blog-u-economy-cools-150520471.html

(Quoted directly from the article linked to above)The question I haven’t heard him answer is why, exactly, he came to this conclusion. This went largely unasked because the answer was so obvious: Trump had some baseless assumptions about what the numbers should’ve been, based on what he perceives as the greatness of his economic agenda. And since job growth continues to fall far short, common sense (or at least a Trumpified version of common sense) led him to conclude that officials in his own Labor Department must be conspiring against him. Indeed, over the weekend, as part of the larger gaslighting campaign, the president insisted online that he’s responsible for “creating the greatest economy, where prices and Inflation have come way down,” despite the economy being demonstrably and quantifiably worse than when he took office, and neither prices nor inflation have “come way down.” (End of Quote.)

The economy is doing badly based on objective information, that is, the truth. However, the President believes and states the contrary based purely on how he feels the numbers should be and his historical reliance on his narrative of himself as a genius afflicted by constant conspiracies.

Now can anyone, anywhere explain to me how he is going to make intelligent and effective decisions on the American economy when he simply does not have a grasp of economic information? And what’s more he just makes stuff up. In Business, making up your own “facts” is not a formula for success. And it never will be.

How about this from Huffpost:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/cnn-data-chief-shuts-down-071445353.html

(Quoted from article.) Trump — in an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box” host Joe Kernen — urged viewers to watch “Harry Emden” on CNN, declaring that the data analyst “went crazy over how well” he was doing.

The president claimed his approval rating was at 71% and, among Republicans, bragged that the figure is around 94 to 95%.

It’s unclear where Trump was getting such figures, which seemingly don’t mirror reality and were swiftly fact-checked by Kernen on CNBC.

Enten quickly dismissed the president’s remarks on his numbers.

“You know, I give him a fair shake. I don’t give him a positive spin,” Enten told CNN’s John Berman. (End of quote.)

Here are the real numbers of approval and disapproval, in case you want to compare.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/donald-trump-approval-rating-right-now-heres-what-latest-presidential-poll-numbers-show/ar-AA1K6Ogm?ocid=BingNewsSerp

(direct quote) RealClear Polling which encompasses the average of different 14 different pollsters, including all those mentioned above, shows Trump’s overall favorability today at 45.9% that approve and 51.4% that disapprove. These numbers are nearing his lowest rating this term, when it reached a 52.4% disapproval rating and 45.1% favorable approval rating in late April. (End of quote.)

How does someone get such numbers where are publicized widely and constantly so wrong. I think his mind filters out facts and knowledge so that thoughts and opinions can give him good feelings about his performance and his image. One of the worst things about this is that he might learn and improve if he had to deal with reality but since he is unable to cope with facts, he is sentenced to his life of mediocrity.

Let me close this brief look into the President’s lies with a comment from Maggie Haberman possibly the greatest expert on our current “leader.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/maggie-haberman-flags-1-way-071911535.html

(Quoted from the article above.) New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman argued Tuesday that Donald Trump has somehow “convinced himself,” without evidence, that the July jobs report was manipulated for political reasons. (End of quote.)

This is truly terrible. It is not just that he lies. Is is that he believes the lies.

What kind of leader lies in such huge quantities of lies that it has been described as a fire hose of lies and then believes his own nonsense.

I’ll let you wrestle with the consequences although I may observe that facts and reality have an thoroughly dangerous habit of manifesting themselves over time.

James Alan Pilant

It is Here.

On By southwerkIn business ethics

We live in a profoundly unethical time under a profoundly unethical federal government which is in the process of becoming a totalitarian regime.

We are much of the way there and Rachel Maddow is telling us in the article listed below that a key part of the structure of that regime is already in place.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/rachel-maddow-warns-americans-1-134807335.html

(Directly quoted from the article above.) She then put it even more bluntly: “We have a consolidating dictatorship in our country.” While the MSNBC host went on to acknowledge that this might sound “melodramatic,” Maddow noted the U.S. now seems to have its own “secret police,” which is commonplace across dictatorships, in the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency under Trump. “A massive, anonymous, unbadged — literally masked — totally unaccountable internal police force that apparently has infinite funding but no identifiable leadership,” said Maddow. “And they act in ways designed to instill maximum fear and use maximum force.” (End of quote.)

I agree with her on this point. And we should all be concerned.

But why am I, a writer on business ethics, taking up this subject. Isn’t it just politics?

I wish it were but as the regime spirals into more and more open criminality, it is having a dramatic effect on the economy. When I say criminality, I am talking about thinly discussed bribes and charges for access and many other illegal acts.

It may be soon that speaking as I am may carry civil or criminal penalties and I have noticed that many moral people have gone silent as they see the political apparatus being constructed. No doubt they consider silence better than risk but honor is more important than life itself and it is vital to live as human beings standing tall than to crawl like a worm before a hideously deformed government.

Business ethics relies on reason, logic and evidence. These are all becoming scarce commodities under the trash talk of our current regime.

So, I write about our political downfall and current crisis.

It is only right that I do so.

James Alan Pilant

The President and the Nobel Prize

On By southwerkIn business ethics

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/maddow-blog-white-house-lobbying-164641914.html

(From the Link above) Donald Trump’s desperate and yearslong desire for a Nobel prize is well documented. In fact, after his defeat in 2020, the Republican president released a weird, campaign-style video that suggested he’d already received a Nobel prize. But as pitiful as this has become, Trump isn’t lobbying by himself. Congressional Republicans have tried to please the president by nominating Trump for a Nobel prize, and foreign leaders eager to curry favor with the American leader have done the same thing.(End of quote.)

That the current leader of the United States is often delusional is readily apparent. He also craves praise and validation. His North Korean style cabinet meetings where his lickspittles thank him for his leadership and praise him to the skies are unprecedented in American history.

And he loves prizes and awards. His “amazing” string of club victories at his golf clubs are legendary. There is whole book about his golfing and what it says about him:

I have ordered a copy of the book for myself and it might be wise for you to do the same thing.

Returning to the subject of the Nobel Prize, I find it hard to believe that he would ever get one. If he did get one, how much value would any future Noble Prize have? Its value would be little more than a stuffed animal won at a carnival if that.

Newsweek Magazine commissioned a piece on Nobel Prize winners’ thoughts on the President’s chances. It’s a good piece of reporting. The hardest hitting and most acid drenched comments were those of William Nordhaus who won a Noble prize in 2018 in Economics. I have quoted him below.

https://www.newsweek.com/nobel-prize-winners-react-trump-economics-2107563

(Quoted directly from the link above.)“The way I understand Trump’s ‘successes’ is this: The United States has over the decades built up an enormous reservoir of soft and hard power as well as good will around most of the world—a vast amount of social capital,” said Nordhaus, who won the award in 2018 “for integrating climate change into long-run macroeconomic analysis.”

“Trump has drawn upon that social capital and is using it like a spendthrift teenager to achieve virtually nothing of value and to destroy many critical parts of the global institutional infrastructure,” Nordhaus said.(End of quote.)

There is some useful business ethics observations can be made here. Certainly competing for a prize for the best workplace, most effective innovation and many other things have led to positive good. But this is just another attempted reinforcement for a personality that craves attention and can never be filled. He is empty inside now and he will be empty inside no matter what awards and prizes he gets.

That’s just the way it is and his desperate need for it is more than a little unsettling.

James Alan Pilant

What Can One Person Do During this Governing Crisis? Part 4.

On By southwerkIn business ethics
(Borrowed with gratitude from Wikipedia Commons- THANKS.)

Taking Care of Yourself!

If you have been rugged and read the first three of this series, I hope you have decided to resist the current regime.

But if you do that there can be little doubt that the road will be long and difficult. You will have to be strong and possessed of great courage. As in most important tasks, dogged persistence will be a necessity.

Self-care over this long haul will have to be a priority.

Obviously, you know to eat right, get good rest and practice good health habits like exercise. But there are some additional things this situation makes appropriate.

I recommend you change your reading habits. Read American History, especially books about the Revolutionary War. (I am planning a series called “What a Patriot Reads,” that will be later.)

And, of course, there are those great patriots, the “muckrakers,” Ida Tarbell, Upton Sinclair, Sinclair Lewis, Lincoln Steffens, Ray Stannard Baker, Nellie Bly and Julius Chambers. All of their works are available for free on Project Gutenberg (almost my favorite web site in the world – that is Wikipedia).

But above all read the stories of the American sagas, those terrible times in American history like this one where everything was at stake and yet victory came to those who believed in the future and promise of democracy. There were times like the Civil War where everything was at stake. The Great Depression called into question whether democracy was fit for the economics of the 20th Century. Read the stories of those Americans who faced the test and succeeded in continuing the dream, the quest of representative government.

What will be most difficult will be dealing with the “followers” of our current regime. They are inclined to violence, insults and trolling.

If they are members of your extended family, I am very sorry. But it is necessary to remove them from your social media and your life for your wellbeing in particular your mental health. They are continuously updating their propaganda commands from the various web sites they find compelling. Their childlike, cultish devotion to the latest internet outrage is pitiful and a sure sign of their lack of judgment.

Don’t let them afflict you with their nonsense. Protect your mind from those who tell you that lies are truth and above all that free speech means allowing people the freedom to spread lies and slander. Defend yourself at all times from these people. Cut them off and move on. There are American patriots willing to be your friends. You have only to seek them out.

Find web sites and news sources you can trust, friends you can count on and causes that impress you with their morality and righteousness. Remember that the Christian message found in the New Testament is the basis of much that is good and compelling in our lives, and that the distorted teachings of many evangelicals are just nonsense. Read the book your self and delight in the nobility and kindness of Christ and notice how little of what is claimed by so many to be part and parcel of Christian belief simply isn’t there.

It speaks well of you and your character, that you are willing to act on behalf of democracy, your nation and like-minded patriots all over the world. God bless you.

What Can One Person Do During this Governing Crisis? Part 3.

On By southwerkIn business ethics

If you are a Democrat.

I would like to write something eloquent and persuasive for those who are Republicans and opposed to the current regime. Alas, I don’t think I have a clear or convincing set of views about that party and its members. I apologize.

I registered as a Democrat at 20 and have worked in a number of campaigns and have a great deal of experience. So, what can I say?

We are in a national crisis and most of the current leadership of the Democratic Party is useless. I am delighted to report that there are a small number of Democrats who are out there right now putting themselves on the line to fight to save democracy. It is very sad that there are so few.

When I did my research for this essay, I looked up the word, chicken, in its use as a synonym for a fleeing coward. There were around twenty-five words they said were similar and I really liked the word, “poltroon.” I think it gives the right sense as someone who you would expect to fight but instead runs away.

I would implore you as a good American citizen and patriot not to give one thin dime to anybody in the party who is not actively opposing what is happening in Washington right now. What do I mean by active opposition? I mean appearing in town halls, issuing press releases, doing podcasts, television interviews and showing up at demonstrations. Actions are what we want and we want them now.

I was looking at the news today and was surprised to see an article wondering if the Democrats should help keep the government funded apparently because the Republicans don’t have the votes and it would be a nice thing to do. This is the time to be an opposition party. This is the time to fight. This is the time to make your power felt. And above all, this is the time to stop what the current regime is doing.

Cooperating with would be dictators and crazy people is wrong and evil. And right now, the Democrats in Congress are worried about looking bad. Really?? The Constitution is being hollowed out, disregarded and destroyed and they’re worried about their reputation instead of their duty and their place in history.

As citizens we must act to reinforce the warriors and dedicated patriots of the Democratic Party. We absolutely must disregard the fund-raising letters and e-mails of the current leadership who are sitting at home doing nothing while asking for money. These do-nothing Democrats are completely useless. We are in danger of losing our democracy and our sacred rights and all they see is an opportunity for fundraising. Is there anything more cowardly and pathetic?

This is the time for a new leadership to emerge. We must find new Democrats who are willing to live and work as patriots.

And that is why I’m talking to you, those of us determined to resist. Probably, it has never occurred to you to seek elective office or even to participate in a precinct meeting. But these are not normal times. In American history, there have been movements like the Abolitionists, the Suffragettes, the Progressives and New Dealers that propelled average Americans into action and, thus, leadership.

This crisis is quite likely the worst in American History. We must take action to preserve our nation’s legacy of democracy, the people’s rule.

I know I am asking a lot. Running for office is a vale of suffering. A pathway of indignities and cruelty. The people on the other side have no compunction about lies, sabotage and violence. It will be dangerous.

You must be very courageous, very brave and very committed. But if you have that steel in your backbone, this is the time.

I believe firmly that that most of the current crop of Democrats are on their way out. They will avoid conflict, compromise their values and surrender if pushed enough. We in the party have no further use for these people. The future of the nation is at stake.

What should you stand for? Once we have achieved our first and primary goal of stopping the immediate destruction of this nation’s government, we can think of the future. Once we have won, I recommend Franklin Roosevelt’s “Four Freedoms” and Lyndon Johnson’s “The Great Society.” There are plenty of great ideas and American values encapsulated in those two sets of ideas.

The current think tank focused party must cease to exist and instead be replaced by a genuine people’s party that will fight for the poor and middle class.

We must march together to preserve American Freedoms and American Values. It is our duty and our privilege.

We must act now.

(Part 4 follows in a few days.)

What Can One Person Do During this Governing Crisis? Part 2.

On By southwerkIn business ethics

You’ve made the decision to fight, to not take what is happening in Washington in silence.

And so we come to the second part of the equation, Politics.

The Politics.

Politics as a word is immediately unsettling and disturbing. And it should be. We have a system of election infested with dark money, secret organizations and every kind of conspiracy theory nutjob and idealogue imaginable.

And you say, “James, you want me to wade into that cesspool?”

“Yes, I do.”

I understand. I, myself, would rather curl up with a good book or get busy writing an essay about the golden age of television. But when faced with a national crisis, you can choose to act or decide that you are powerless and helpless. I want you to act in defense of democracy. I want you to embrace your role as citizens and activists. It won’t be easy and it won’t be nice.

What we must have is action against the current regime. What we have from the Republicans is public praise and private concern. They are not going to be very useful in the fight. What we have from the Democrats is some action on the part of some Democrats. Some Democrats in the Senate, in the House, some Governors and a few others. It is easy to look at the news and see who these people are. Those willing to fight have identified themselves. Most elected Democrats are sitting on the fence waiting to see how events break. I have no kind words for them just pure contempt. Now is the time to fight and those who are waiting to see what happens are cowards and fools.

It is vital that action take place now. We can’t wait for the mid-terms. In two years, the power grab may be impossible to reverse.

So, we have to act now and in the awful terrain of politics.

RULE 1. The greater your numbers, the better. I was watching some clips from CPAC today and I realized that these fools and losers are only powerful because of billionaire money and the fact that they organize. If groups of the stupid can be important, how much more we, patriots and citizens, be effective. We stand high over these people just as the righteous throughout history have stood above the greedy and the foolish.

Find allies. Find friends. Find leaders you can trust, not just individuals wearing a label that says Democrat but people whose hearts and souls are devoted to the causes of alleviating human suffering, defending the weak and the poor and above all fighting for our American democracy.

These next two years will be the acid test of leadership in America. Whether Republican or Democrat, the test is simple. Is this individual willing to stand up daily, hourly – truly committed to defending democracy against this savage takeover? Fence sitters are as much traitors to the cause as any member of this regime’s cabinet. “We shall know them by their works” must be our rule. It doesn’t matter what they say in the fund-raising letters or their happy e-mails. What have they done? Have they spoken out? Where are the press releases, the speeches of defiance, the public announcement that are committed to the cause?

Once committed you must act. Send e-mails, text messages, letters, to your representatives. Let them know how you feel. Cultivate a friendly supportive base of friends on social media.

If possible, attend public meetings, political party precinct meetings and any other public meeting where the continuing crisis is going to be discussed or you want to bring it up.

Set up a network of publications you can trust. Write up a list of positive contacts. When you go to a meeting, get names and addresses, suggest exchanging e-mails – You are building a coalition of fellow patriots. Don’t be shy! The nation is at stake.

(I’ll be writing a third essay about what to do in the next few days. Thank you.

https://southwerk.com/

The Cultivation of Rage

On By southwerkIn business ethics1 Comment

The Cultivation of Rage (1/11/2015)

Currently, there is a tragedy unfolding in California. Fires are burning and people are dying. In past times in the United States, the nation would have pulled together united in efforts to send aid and comfort to the afflicted.

We don’t live in that kind of nation anymore.

The President Elect, a convicted Felon, with an incredible record of spreading lies and misinformation has explained that the disaster is all due to Gavin Newsom, the Governor or California not signing the “water restoration declaration.” And since he didn’t sign that it is all his fault that people are dying and homes are burning. There is a problem with this claim. There is no such thing as a “water restoration declaration.”

So, where does this nonsense come from? How does a public figure make a totally made-up claim and expect not only to get away with it but politically benefit from it?

First, the right-wing playbook very directly indicates that Attack, Attack and Attack is always the basic strategy for political success. And while there is some reliance on Mein Kampf’s assertation that a lie repeated often enough becomes a believed truth, the more modern technique is the firehose method where you simply blanket the media with lies making a rational or intelligent response all but impossible.  

Second, there is a huge alternative media which will without any fact checking whatever repeat this nonsense, these lies, this misinformation. That anyone would willingly spread lies is morally and ethically vile but popular in some political circles. It is also effective. Right now there a millions of people in the United States, shaking with rage, consumed with hatred for this Democratic Governor who is responsible for so many deaths and so much destruction because he failed to sign a document that doesn’t and has never existed.

And that is the point, hatred, discord, and high emotional content. This pent-up rage produces votes, contributions, campaign workers and the fervor of that that hate frightens and discourages the opposition. People filled with hatred express their vitriol on the internet, in public and in their lives.

This cultivation of the angry never stops. Every single day, every hour, every minute, there is a new or revived charge, claim or fabrication implying evil and wickedness on the part of those they hate. The barrage never stops. It rains and rains without pause.

And that is why Trump made up an easily disproved lie. Lie or not, it will still be effective. In fact, we can expect that his lies and nonsense will be continually rewarded. Marketed through the alternative media as truth and supported by his unquestioning, utterly gullible followers they will function as valuable weapons in their continued to question and diminish the values of honor, decency and truth.

This is the nation where we live now. A place where every sort of aid and comfort should be sent to California, and instead the opportunity for attack is being fully cultivated for political advantage.

Honesty, decency and character are important factors in a public servant or indeed in any human being but those factors don’t figure in a media landscape of disgusting, immoral and reckless lies.

Rudy Giuliani Disbarred

On By southwerkIn business ethics

Back in 2001 after 9/11, this outcome would not have been considered possible. And yet, here we are.

Giuliani failed in his duty as an attorney. He lied directly to the court. There have to be penalties for this crime. But how did he get here? How did he fall this far?

I have read that he was never the great man that he was portrayed as. He was more of a mirage. I have come over time to believe that. He was never the man, the public believed that he was.

He had opportunity that virtually no human being has ever had. For a time, he was “America’s Mayor,” the very epitome of what our fellow countrymen thought was patriotic and brave. His future seemed unlimited. Most believed that the White House was next.

It appears that as time went by, the things that made him successful were cast aside in his seeking financial gain and status. In particular, his marriages involved trading up (so to speak) in terms of high society. He forgot where he came from and what he was. Instead of man fighting for justice and a determined enemy of wrong doing, he morphed into at first an establishment politician and then a devoted if not openly slavish follower of the great American mirage, Donald Trump.

Like some crazed gambler, he put every chip, every resource, every shred of reputation, down for Trump. When the former president, needed someone to make the case that there was vast fraud in the 2020 election, he stepped up. He zealously led the charge against voter fraud. He only lacked one necessary item, any evidence on behalf of his case. He had no evidence that wrongdoing had taken place and so not having evidence, he lied claiming that there was evidence.

Here let me quote from the article referenced below:

The court found that the former mob prosecutor “falsely and dishonestly” made claims that thousands of votes were cast in the name of dead people in Philadelphia. He also falsely claimed that people from nearby Camden, New Jersey, were taken to vote illegally in the Pennsylvania city, the court stated. The New York’s Appellate Division, First Department ruled that Giuliani “flagrantly misused” his position as Trump’s former attorney and his campaign to create “intentionally” false statements “some of which were perjurious, to the federal court, state lawmakers, the public, the AGC, and this Court concerning the 2020 Presidential election, in which he baselessly attacked and undermined the integrity of this country’s electoral process.”

I could go on to talk about his other problems and his other failings but this is enough.

It resembles a tale told by the Greeks back during their Golden Age. A man favored beyond all other men, becomes full of pride and acts foolishly, squandering his reputation and ruining his life.

Hubris is dangerous, even today.

In conclusion, what are the ethical rules here? What should he have done? While devoting himself to Trump may be considered unwise, if he had merely acted the role of an attorney and presented the little evidence he had, he would certainly have gained nothing in the courts for his claims of election impropriety but he would have been innocent of any crime. That is where he should have stopped. But to escape disappointing his benefactor, he lied exuberantly about the evidence he claimed to have. This was his moral wrong. It is expected that a lawyer will defend the interests of his client zealously but lying to the fact finding body, the court, is wrong and it is also a crime. And thus he suffers the penalty for this misjudgment.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/rudy-giuliani-disbarred-effective-immediately-175718799.html