Let's keep in mind the difference between "amoral" and "immoral".

[Atticus]

I think we often make the mistake of treating Trump, Ryan, McConnell and the rest of the cabal now in power as though they were MERELY immoral. They are not.

People who are immoral intentionally do that which they know to be "wrong" because they will somehow benefit, at least temporarily, from their wrongful conduct. If confronted about their wrongful acts, they may actually feel shame and embarrassment and they expect to be punished if they are "caught".

People who are amoral simply do whatever the hell they think they can get away with. They do not acknowledge the concepts of right and wrong; they concern themselves exclusively with whether or not a given act will benefit them or not. If an activity will add to their wealth or power or pleasure they are not at all interested in anyone else's opinion about the activity's "morality".

We should keep this in mind when we try to anticipate how these people will react to what we consider "bad publicity". And, we sure as hell should keep it in mind when Trump offers to make a statement "under oath".
Does anyone really believe that swearing an oath to tell the truth would mean anything at all to this sick man-child?

[furtheradu]

1. Awwwwwsome POST.

Thank YOU.💖

[ProudLib72]

2. You're absolutely right

All day I've been wondering how anyone could think tRump would not lie his butt off under oath.

[tblue37]

3. I.e., sociopaths. nt

[BigmanPigman]

4. That's the definition of a sociopath.

Knowingly harming others to achieve your own selfish desires (whether intentional or not). My psychiatrist told me this about 20 years ago when I was asking about a person I knew. He told me that most politicians were sociopaths. He was so right!

[Amaryllis]

6. You say knowingly harming others but I don't know if they even have enough awareness of

others to know their actions are harming them. They only think of what will benefit them and how it might affect others is not part of their universe.

[Amaryllis]

5. I have thought for a long time that when people accuse him of intentional lying that

in his world there is no difference between truth and not-truth, so he does not intentionally lie. You have to know something is not true to intentionally lie. He just says whatever he perceives will benefit him, just as you say about acknowledging concepts of right and wrong. Right /wrong, true/untrue are not part of their world. They are sociopathic.

[brush]

7. Ryan, McConnell and trump...an apt description of all of them.

[iluvtennis]

8. Thanks for the post. I will use amoral i future references to the Dumpty and the #GOPThugs

[world wide wally]

9. I have been hoping since day one that we could get Trump under oath because I know he is incapable

of telling the truth. He will be guilty of perjury after the second question. (Only because some Republican will throw him a softball for the first question).
He is incapable of telling the truth and has been for his entire life.

[muriel_volestrangler]

10. No, trump is 'immoral'. He does know of the existence of morals. He criticizes others

for being 'bad' and so on, and panders to fundamentalists on the subject of morals. He wants to be seen as 'moral' by his voters. He just doesn't want to bother actually behaving morally.

eg Penguin English Dictionary:

"amoral or immoral? An immoral person is one who breaks accepted standards of right and wrong. To be amoral means that one rejects the whole concept of morality or does not know or cannot know right from wrong. Babies, animals, and robots could be said to be amoral."

[WinkyDink]

11. Cynical and greedy cover it for me.

[oasis]

12. Governmental Obstructionist Plunderers.

Eisenhower would be ashamed of the behavior of today's GOP.