Immoral men like Trump and Chavez ignore basic rules of humanity | Opinion

Some claim that “all’s fair in love and war.” But they are wrong. Rape and bigamy are illegal. Moral decency requires honesty, fidelity and tenderness in romance. It is a war crime to deliberately target noncombatants or to torture or execute soldiers who have surrendered. The collected wisdom of the just war tradition provides detailed rules about fighting with honor and mercy.

Unfortunately, lawlessness has taken hold of the world. The “rules-based order” is collapsing. The rich and powerful think anything goes as they take what they want.

Merciless acts and cruel language

Famous American men in the news have routinely demonstrated contempt for the rules governing sex and love. Men like Jeffrey Epstein, the deceased billionaire sex offender associated with the rich and famous, including Trump and now, apparently, even Cesar Chavez preyed upon vulnerable girls with a sense of impunity. This aura of ruthless entitlement was infamously expressed by President Donald Trump when he said, “When you’re a star they let you do it.”

“You can do anything,” he said. The remainder of Trump’s infamous quote included a vulgar reference to grabbing women by the genitals and getting away with it.

This notorious words came to mind when the president recently said that he had the “honor” of “taking Cuba.” Adding: “I can do anything I want with it.” Such a claim lacks grace, humility and respect for the rule-based international order.

Apparently, our government is also shredding the rules of war. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has explicitly rejected “overbearing rules of engagement.” For example, on March 13, Hegseth said there would be “no quarter, no mercy for our enemies.”

Trump has employed similarly merciless language. He threatened to “make it virtually impossible for Iran to ever be built back, as a nation, again — death, fire and fury will reign [sic] upon them.”

While bragging about “demolishing” Kharg Island, Trump added, “We may hit it a few more times just for fun.”

This is morally appalling — and probably illegal. Just wars cannot aim at the absolute destruction or “obliteration” of sovereign nations. And the idea of using military firepower “just for fun” is depraved.

War crimes?

Hegseth’s “no quarter” comment prompted Senator Mark Kelly to explain that a “no quarter” command “is expressly prohibited under international law, including the Geneva and Hague Conventions and would be a war crime punishable under the (US) War Crimes Act of 1996.”

Some may object and claim that laws of war only exist when there is an entity with the power to enforce them. International entities such as the International Criminal Court (ICC) lack that power, especially when powerful nations violate the rules. And, of course, the U.S. has refused to support the ICC.

Perhaps American law could prosecute war crimes, as Kelly suggests. But the president has already made this point moot by pardoning soldiers convicted of war crimes.

In our system, presidential power trumps law. The Supreme Court has granted the president “absolute immunity” for official acts. This seems to imply that Trump can, indeed, do anything he wants.

Moral rules remain

And yet, moral rules remain. Right and wrong exist, even if the powerful refuse to respect or enforce the rules. Indeed, the distinction between morality and the law depends upon the question of enforcement. Laws are human creations that exist within institutions that have the authority to enforce them. But moral rules are transcendent, and ultimately unenforceable.

It is not the threat of enforcement that gives morality its authority. Rather, the basic reason to obey moral rules are because they make us good: When we obey these rules, we behave honorably.

A genital grabber or child molester may get a quick thrill by taking what he wants. But that person is not honorable or good. A merciless warrior who destroys things just for fun is similarly disgraceful and dishonorable.

Honor and grace are fragile, transcendent goods. They are easily ruined in a crass, hedonistic culture like our own. This is a time of lawless and ruthless behavior. Many appear to believe that all is fair in love and war. But they are wrong. Rules matter; ruthlessness is despicable; and morality demands that we behave with mercy.

Andrew Fiala is a professor of philosophy and director of The Ethics Center at Fresno State.