Let’s Play: Who’s The Dirtbag?

“The buck stops here.”

— Harry Truman

.

“Attack, attack, attack; admit nothing, deny everything; no matter what happens, you claim victory and never admit defeat.”

— attributed to Roy Cohn

Once, a politician who made a mistake would face the cameras, admit what they did wrong, and ask their constituents for forgiveness. Those times seem to be gone.

Following his mentor Roy Cohn's advice, Donald Trump has perfected the art of passing the buck. He could be caught with his hand in the cookie jar, look straight into the camera, and insist it was someone else’s fault.

And his most devoted followers would not only accept the lie but call anyone who dared to insist that Trump had stolen a cookie a “communist,” a “Marxist,” or some other politically charged label that had nothing to do with the allegation.

In a functioning democracy, leaders are not viewed as omnipotent, and their advisers are expected to speak up when they stray too far outside the lines. There appears to be no such check within the MAGA movement. Anyone who dares speak up, however meekly, risks exile.

Just ask Mike Pence.

This dynamic was on display this month when Trump said of Iran, “Let ‘em take out Los Angeles, let ’em take out San Diego.” Whatever he intended to say, those are the words that came out of his mouth.

Abiding by the boss’s rule to never apologize, White House communications director Steven Cheung maintained that Trump “was clearly stating U.S. cities would have been threatened if a nuclear Iran hadn’t been stopped.”

This is not what Trump said, clearly or otherwise:

“It's a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, keeping our country safe. They could take out a city. Let 'em take out Los Angeles, let 'em take out San Diego. This is a very small price to pay, and it's gonna be over with very soon.”

“Let them” is considerably different from “I stopped them from.” Had Cheung simply acknowledged that the president had chosen his words poorly and then clarified what he meant, it would have been no different from what any other communications director might do. But that would have meant admitting that Trump is not perfect and had made a mistake.

None of this takes into account that Trump had previously claimed his 2025 attack on Iran had “obliterated” its nuclear capabilities. Now his administration was explaining away his own words rather than acknowledging what he actually said.

Also left unsaid was that the Obama administration had already helped negotiate the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement. The agreement imposed significant limits and international inspections on Iran’s nuclear program, but Trump walked away from this agreement saying that he could negotiate a better deal. That has yet to happen.

When a political movement is built around never admitting fault, the buck never stops. It just keeps getting passed.

The failure to take responsibility for one’s own actions is only one casualty of the Trump era. The standards of decorum expected of public officials have also taken a hit.

Again, following the Gospel according to Cohn, Trump and his administration appear willing to “attack, attack, attack” any perceived enemy, the dignity of the office be damned. The stain this leaves on the executive branch may linger long after another president moves into the Oval Office.

The press has an obligation to hold those in power accountable, but HuffPost failed that test when it hid communications director Cheung’s insult of Jack Smith behind asterisks, as if the problem were vulgarity rather than the insult itself.

Cheung didn’t call Smith a “*******.” He called him a “scumbag.” The word should be presented to the American people exactly as spoken, especially when the speaker is a public official whose salary is paid by taxpayers.

And why does the White House think Smith is a scumbag? Because he wore a Bruce Springsteen concert shirt that included the words “No Kings.”

Oh, the humanity!

Smith continues to draw the ire of many in the MAGAsphere because he attempted to do something they often refuse to: hold Trump accountable for his actions. Unable to attack the evidence (we’ve all seen the photographs of classified documents stored in Trump’s throne room), they attack the accuser.

Absolute monarchs demand fealty and resist accountability. In a free society, criticism is expected, if not encouraged. It not only keeps a leader’s power in check but also helps society move toward becoming “more perfect.”

Many of Trump’s most vocal supporters, encouraged by Trump himself, have conflated support for his policies with support for the country. To be patriotic, his most loyal supporters insist, you must support Trump and everything he does. There is little room for criticism or even questioning his actions. They have stood by as Trump has politicized the Justice Department and pursued, or threatened to pursue, his opponents.

Jack Smith has been on the receiving end of some of those threats. Given that this puts his freedom in jeopardy, is it any wonder he would wear a shirt that says “No Kings”?

Trump’s style of “leadership” has spread like a cancer through the government. This was on full display when a Senate subcommittee hauled Smith before it, not to examine the evidence behind Trump’s indictments, but to harass the former special counsel for doing his job.

Any doubt that this would be a serious hearing was dispelled when Senator Eric Schmitt called Smith a “dirtbag.”

Yes, a member of one of the world’s most prestigious deliberative bodies called a former special counsel a “dirtbag.” The remark was unbecoming of a senator and diminished the dignity of the body he represents.

And it wasn’t even the worst thing he did that afternoon.

In an attempt to manufacture a gotcha moment, Schmitt asked Smith about his attendance at an Atlanta Hawks game. When Smith replied that he had never attended one of their games, Schmitt pounced.

After reminding his prey that he could face perjury charges if caught lying, Schmitt displayed an oversized blowup of text messages from Smith’s staff indicating that Smith was at an Atlanta Hawks game on the date in question.

Game, set, and match to Schmitt.

The senator’s victory lap was interrupted when a flag was thrown on the play. Turns out Smith wasn’t watching the Hawks in Atlanta. He was actually attending a Hawkeyes game. And that game was in Maryland.

Oops.

A senator in a different era would likely have acknowledged his error, apologized, and moved on. If particularly skilled in the political arts, he might even have found a way to defuse the tension in the room with a self-deprecating remark. In Trump World, that would violate the commandment to: Admit nothing.

As should be expected with Trump in the White House, Schmitt has doubled down. Anyone with two eyes and an internet connection has been able to see the video evidence of Smith’s attendance at the Hawkeyes game. Yet, when asked if he still thinks Smith committed perjury, the senator said, “That’s going to be up to a prosecutor to determine.”

So I ask: Who’s the dirtbag?

Carl Petersen is a former Green Party candidate for the LAUSD School Board and a longtime advocate for public education and special needs families. Now based in Washington State, he writes about politics, culture, and their intersections at TheDifrntDrmr.