Mollette: Trump, audio tape and American hypocrisy

About ten years ago Donald Trump was recorded saying some very vulgar and appalling words. Most Americans by this time have heard what he said as many of the network and cable news channels have played the audio recording many times. If you haven’t heard Trump’s very shocking audio which is very degrading to women then just turn on your television. You will hear it multiple times between now and the Nov. 8 election.

I was shocked and disappointed over Trump’s comments. Obviously, this was a very low and gutter moment in his life that he probably had long forgotten about. Now it’s etched in history and probably eternity via the audio release.

How many people in America have had low and bad moments? What if just one of your worst moments was recorded and replayed thousands or millions of times? You probably will never run for President. However, the truth is that every person has had thoughts that they would never want replayed thousands of times for millions of people they don’t know. Most people have said a few things sometime in their lifetime they would not want to be replayed for the world. And, a lot of folks have done things they would not replay.

For any of us to say differently is just being hypocritical.

We are all guilty of sin. A lot of righteous people like to quote religious verses and so here is one, “All have sinned and come short…” Romans 3:23. This means we have all failed, messed up, screwed up, wrecked, said stupid stuff and have done some stupid things along the way. Fortunately most of the stuff we think about, say or even act upon usually isn’t recorded for the world. Sometimes as in Trump’s case, the dirty words or act was recorded and now is in mass public distribution.

One point I want to make with audio and video recordings is they seldom tell the whole story. They often present what the owner or the editor of the recording wants to present. The person taped is often left damaged or destroyed.

Trump shouldn’t have said what he did and it’s good that he has apologized now several times. However, some of those who hate Trump want him to do a Jimmy Swaggert. Swaggert when he confessed his immorality to his church and national television wailed, cried profusely and mourned and moaned and carried on like nothing we had ever seen before. Is this what people want from Trump? Tears and screaming, ” forgive me” means nothing if it’s only words. Real change takes place in the heart and Trump has apologized. Future events will tell if he really means what he is saying.

Let me go back to some religious jargon here. There was an incident in the Bible where a woman was caught in the actual act of adultery. We can only imagine how embarrassing that must have been. Even more the incident occurred in the Middle-East where people would just automatically stone a woman for such an act. The religious accusers wanted Jesus’ spin on the event and so they asked him to state his opinion on the situation. Jesus said to them, “Let he that is without sin cast the first stone.” The accusers dropped their stones and walked away.

What Donald Trump said was bad, bad and bad. However, look at all the things we’ve all said and done. We are all sinners, failures and have done or said bad things along the way. Hillary Clinton has done her share of bad deeds and we could go on to list former Presidents, ministers, schoolteachers, relatives and the list is unending. Remember, before we make any list of people who have made mistakes we should always list our own names first.

Trump has been apologizing and facing one of his very bad moments now posted for the world to hear. Hopefully, that’s something you will never have to face.

Glenn Mollette is a syndicated columnist and author of 11 books. He is read in all fifty states. Contact him at GMollette@aol.com. Like his facebook page at www.facebook.com/glennmollette