As the smears of Robert Mueller and the FBI intensify in order to manufacture an excuse for firing him and then claiming the institutions of governance are too corrupt to properly investigate Trump, it occurs to me that this dog-and-pony show has legs only because a lot of the country has no idea what it is to be a professional.
Every day in this country, every single day, without exception …
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Journalists accurately report about people and events they don’t like.
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Engineers execute flawless designs for projects they don’t like for clients they loathe.
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Lawyers walk into court and free people they wouldn’t allow anywhere near their spouse or children.
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Doctors fight valiantly to save the lives of people they despise — cop killers, mass murderers, drug dealers, on and on.
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Teachers struggle to educate children they privately wish had been aborted.
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Biographers write trustworthy accounts of the life of Hitler, Pol Pot, Stalin, Lenin, on and on, even though they aren’t big fans of totalitarians. Conversely, Parson Weems’ life of George Washington is an exemplar for what a professional biographer wouldn’t do.
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Military officers carry-out orders given by officers they dislike and whose purpose seems dubious.
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Pharmacists dispense medicines whose use they disapprove.
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And on and on. Contractors build homes on property they wish had remained undeveloped, mechanics repair Japanese cars whose popularity put his brother-in-law out of a job, librarians help patrons find books they consider odious — and the work gets done properly.
Likes and dislikes and facts and responsibilities are separable, and professionally-minded people do separate them. Every day.