Politicians used to have respectful debates, strategic campaigns and impactful influence over the nation they governed. Today, our politicians throw fits, call people names and whine until they get what they want. One politician in particular has a habit of losing his professionalism: the President of the United States Donald Trump. The President knows scandal better than any of us, yet is unfamiliar with its consequences.
Trump has been found liable for sexual assault of E. Jean Carroll, and 27 other women have spoken out against him with similar stories of both sexual assault, misconduct and rape.
Natasha Stoynoff, one of the many women who have voiced their stories with the president, said, “He pushed me against the wall and shoved his tongue down my throat.”
Trump claims to have “never met her” and “never touched her”, but later stated that “she actually loved it, she said it was sexy. She said it was very sexy to be raped” (Note: Carroll stated she used the word “fight” not “rape” in a CNN interview and denies ever saying that it was ‘sexy’ to be raped).
Trump has withstood every scandal by claiming that the actual crime is the allegations being made against him. He responds to these evidence-based claims by deflecting, denying and moving on like nothing ever happened.
The President has been tracked by researches at NYU and other institutions to have made thousands of false, misleading and inappropriate claims over the years, many of which originate from his Twitter, or X, account.
Twitter and Facebook both took action to remove or restrict posts by Trump that downplayed the severity of COVID-19 or shared misinformation, such as claiming children were “almost immune” to the virus. He was eventually banned from Twitter, but made his return in September of 2023. In truth, over 185,000 pediatric hospitalizations for COVID-19 were recorded by the Children’s Hospital Association and 93% of children had contracted the virus.
Not only does the President spew misinformation, but he also takes time to use AI to create images of himself as different people, almost like a kid playing with Snapchat filters. On April 12th of 2026, he posted a picture depicting himself as Jesus healing a man.
I spoke with my class about how they would treat our teacher, Mrs. Steil, if she were the one posting these tweets or depicting herself as Jesus.
Copy Editor junior Aida Goddard said, “As a nation, why are we so able to quickly say, ‘oh, that’s just Trump.’ Why is there a different standard for him versus if Mrs. Steil did that? Why did he get away with it? Is that leadership? I just think it’s crazy that so many people are okay with that and let it slide, because I feel like any other person would be canceled for saying that, and he’s still our president.”
These are the questions that America needs to be asking after events like this occur, which is getting dangerously close to every other day now. No other president has so casually used Twitter in such an unprofessional and childish way before. This kind of informal speech with no reaction by the public goes to show how unprofessionalism is becoming normalized among Americans, and nobody in his political group is willing to speak up.
The consequence of a scandal in such a high position has never been necessarily enforced, but it has almost always resulted in an unspoken retreat of shame, followed by either change or being shunned by society for quite some time. When the instigator refuses to feel regretful, shameful or to change, no consequences are truly enforced, and it becomes a worsening, incessant cycle of scandal until scandal has lost all meaning and power.
To change America’s future and prevent a potential downfall, somebody needs the courage to stand up for what is right and against what is wrong and hold even the most powerful people accountable for their immoral, unprincipled and dishonest behavior.
