A couple of weeks ago, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution published a front-page retraction on a story about UGA football players. It admitted that there were two statements in the series, one of which was substantial, that did not meet the AJC’s journalistic standards. The reporter, a 24-year veteran of the AJC, was fired.

Although I’m sure that the retraction and its placement above the fold on the front page were in response to demands from UGA’s lawyers, and I wondered if there wasn’t some appropriate punishment other than termination for a reporter who had evidently gotten it right for two-dozen years, I was thrilled that there was still such a thing as standards.

At about the same time, the Trump campaign launched a commercial that seemed strange for a number of reasons. The targets of the commercial, except for Joe Biden, are not running against Trump. They are prosecuting him for various crimes.  One of them is Fani Willis, the district attorney who may be responsible for Trump being indicted again. The commercial accuses Willis, among other things, of hiding a relationship with a gang member, citing a Rolling Stone article for evidence. The Rolling Stone article didn’t say expose much of a relationship. There was a quote from a gang member saying that he and Willis had had “auntie/nephew” conversations. It appears that the Trump campaign has (again) enshrined a lie in a campaign ad.

Then I realized that it wasn’t that we had no standards, but that they were so disparate. It’s not so much a double standard as it is a gaping chasm between what one group of people considers acceptable behavior and what the other group accepts.

For instance, on January 2, 1918, Senator Al Franken, under pressure from his own party, resigned from his position. The reason: he was photographed holding his hands above Leeann Tweeden’s breasts and leering at the camera. They were touring together to entertain the troops in 2006, and while the photo was certainly lame and in bad taste, it didn’t rise to the level of sexual harassment. But, as with Queen Victoria and Lady Flora Hastings, it was not evil but the appearance of evil that cost him his job.

The Democrats (at least those who called for Franken’s resignation) were all for purifying their party.

On the other hand, the Republicans not only tolerate but embrace people who by normal standards do far worse. These include:

·      George Santos, who lied about nearly everything in his pre-election life and has been indicted on thirteen federal charges including allegations of fraud, misusing campaign funds, and lying about his personal finances on House disclosure reports. He will, of course, be presumed innocent of the charges unless convicted in the trial that is set for September 7. However, his lies about his personal life and qualifications are well documented.

·      Jim Jordan, who has my nomination for the most obnoxious male in the House, has been accused of participating in a coverup of sexual abuse at Ohio State University. He claims that a report absolves him of any guilt, and it does say that the investigators found no contemporaneous evidence that members of the coaching staff were involved. However, it also says that it found evidence that the abuse was openly discussed in front of the coaching staff, and Jordan is named in a suit that the Supreme Court decided could go forward on June 26 of this year.

·      Matt Gaetz, a GOP congressman from Florida, has been implicated, but not charged in several crimes, including having sex with a minor, violating the Mann Act, and obstruction of justice. He has pleaded not guilty, but his associate Joel Greenberg, who has pleaded guilty to six federal charges, appears to disagree.

·      Donald Trump, who on this day is maybe one day away from a fourth indictment for criminal actions, is still the front-runner among the Republican presidential hopefuls. In at least one of these cases, it appears that Trump has not only admitted to the charges of having classified documents but bragged about it. It will take some serious legal sleight of hand to get him out of that one. So far his defense has been that he was lying when he told the interviewers that he was flashing a classified document that they couldn’t look at.

This, of course, doesn’t include those who go beyond the bounds of both reality and rationality, such as Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Bobart, and Ted Cruz. (I hesitated to put Cruz on this list since I think he’s probably a smart guy who just goes around saying really dumb things, as opposed to the first two, who I think are genuinely dumb and prove it about every day.)

The difference is, I suppose, very deliiberate. As Michelle Obama famously said at the 2016 Democratic Convention, “When they go low, we go high.” It’s an admirable sentiment, but we all know how that election came out.

It’s obvious that if one side plays by the generally accepted rules and the other doesn’t, the rule-followers are at a disadvantage. It’s just as obvious that it would be nauseating to get down to the level to which today’s Republican party has sunk. That, in my opinion, leaves us with only one option: to call them out even more vigorously so that their duplicity becomes even more disgusting to an even greater number of people. I don’t know if the truth can really set you free or not, especially given that something like 70% of Republicans still support Trump, but I do believe that the future of our nation and the survival of our democracy depends on it.

Once upon a time in this country, within memory if you’re old enough, there was a standard. It wasn’t equally or universally applied, but it did exist. I would like to see us return to that and improve upon it. Instead, we wake up to Trump’s threats: if you come after me, we’re coming after you.