Accountability counts

Last Word | September 23rd, 2025

By Vern Thompson

Moral accountability and the crisis of leadership

As a recovering person living one day at a time for the last 35 years, I have learned not to judge others because I have not walked in their shoes. I believe in a higher power and hold myself to a set of morals, yet I fail at something every day. Despite those failures, I strive for progress, not perfection. It is this journey of humility and honesty that shapes my view of leadership today.

The burden of moral accountability

Owning our mistakes is the very proof that we are guided by something bigger than ourselves. For decades in recovery, I have taken a moral inventory, admitting my wrongs to my higher power, to myself and to another human being. Each admission, each apology, has been a step toward growth and healing. When leaders refuse that same inventory, they betray the trust of those they serve.

Bill Clinton: acknowledgement and consequences

I publicly condemned President Bill Clinton’s actions with an intern in the Oval Office, even as the economy thrived and the budget balanced. He was impeached for lying under oath, disbarred for his conduct in the Paula Jones case and he publicly apologized for misleading the nation. Clinton acknowledged his wrongdoing and sought forgiveness. He faced tangible consequences, proving that moral failures can coexist with public service — but only if leaders make their own mistakes.

Donald Trump: the refusal to admit fault

In contrast, President Donald Trump has rarely, if ever, admitted responsibility for his missteps, lies or moral lapses. A January 2016 CNN clip remains seared in my mind; when asked if he needed God’s forgiveness, he shrugged, “I don’t like to have to ask for forgiveness. And I don’t do a lot of things that are bad.” For anyone with a moral compass, hiding from accountability is a red flag that something deeper is amiss. The hypocrisy of morally indifferent supporters It is hardest to understand how people who claim to be Christians can overlook such blatant moral failures. Here are examples that go unchallenged.

After the 2005 “Access Hollywood” tape leaked, he boasted about grabbing women without consent.
Denying E. Jean Carroll’s rape allegation despite being found liable for sexual abuse and defamation, resulting in tens of millions in damages.
Close friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender and alleged trafficker of minors, complete with private jet flights, Mar-a-Lago parties, and public praise.

These are not trivial missteps, they are fundamental breaches of decency and legality. Yet many Christians treat him like a savior rather than demanding moral integrity.

The price of falsehood

Equally troubling are the myriad false or misleading statements that never seem to matter to his base.

The claim that the 2020 election was “the most corrupt in history” despite over 60 court dismissals and assurances from bipartisan election officials.
The baseless assertion that Democrats paid Beyoncé $11 million for an endorsement.
Inflation denials and wildly inaccurate claims about grocery, egg, and gas prices that fly in the face of clear economic data.
The insistence there was “no inflation” under his first term, contradicting an 8 percent overall rise in prices.

When truth becomes optional, governance crumbles. A leader who treats facts like disposable props cannot be trusted.

The cult of personality and the threat to democracy

None of these seem to shake his supporters. They treat him as infallible, a phenomenon eerily like cult dynamics. In my darkest moments during recovery, I recognized that surrendering to a higher power meant relinquishing ego, not inflating it. A democracy demands the opposite: constant vigilance, accountability and a willingness to confront hard truths.

My greatest fear is that under this administration, we are slipping toward authoritarianism. A dictator-style leader demands obedience, not debate. That is not democracy. It is a perilous path that robs citizens of their voice and erodes the moral fabric of our republic.

A call to moral leadership

We need leaders who admit when they are wrong, who apologize sincerely, and who face consequences without deflection. We need public servants guided by humility and honesty, not hubris and deceit. It may take “we the people” to rescue our republic from the brink.

God help us, for there is more to come. Yet if we hold our leaders to the same moral standards, we hold ourselves, we can steer this nation back to truth and integrity. The time for moral leadership is now.

Below are links to fact check my sources:

William J. Clinton - Federal Impeachment - Research Guides at Library of Congress: https://share.google/ssrtefExe1OpTWxj0

Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky - Public Apology Central: https://share.google/dMkOe0OVcTuWHKkSf

Explicit audio emerges of Trump sexually objectifying women: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-video-women

Beyoncé was not paid for an endorsement: https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/list/?speaker=donald-trump&ruling=false

30,573 false or misleading claims during his first presidential term: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_or_misleading_statements_by_Donald_Trump