# Heroes and Cowards of the Trump Era **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [July 28, 2025, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroes-and-cowards-of-the-trump-era/1021444 "2025-07-28T22:34:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2025, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroes-and-cowards-of-the-trump-era/1021444/1 "2025-07-28T22:34:37Z")
Heroes: those willing to take a risk and stand up to Trump. Gov Gavin Newsom (D-CA) Gov Janet (“See You in Court”) Mills (D-ME) Harvard? (for now?) Justice Katanji Brown Jackson and her 2 liberal associates The liberal punditry: Robert Reich, Trae Crowder, Rachel Maddow, Jon Stewart, John Oliver, Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert 50501 and everyone else who takes to the streets. The cowards: they have the ability to stand up to Trump but chose not to. Every Republican member of Congress, both houses Paramount/CBS ABC Columbia University The 6 conservatives on the Supreme Court Those law firms that gave away their services to Trump rather than face a lawsuit History will not be kind to these. Feel free to add your own. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2025, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroes-and-cowards-of-the-trump-era/1021444/2 "2025-07-28T23:39:15Z")
Hero-Mitt Romney. ---
**Author:** ![Zoobi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/13edae/32.png) [@Zoobi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoobi)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2025, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroes-and-cowards-of-the-trump-era/1021444/3 "2025-07-29T01:02:34Z")
Man, the word “hero” has certainly lost it’s meaning hasn’t it. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2025, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroes-and-cowards-of-the-trump-era/1021444/4 "2025-07-29T01:06:24Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Heroes: those willing to take a risk and stand up to Trump. > > Gov Gavin Newsom (D-CA) All he’s doing is talk. He isn’t actually doing anything. Even when he could. Like, if he’d ordered the National Guard to ignore Trump’s mobilization order as illegal, they’d have had to actually stop and think about which order was legal and which wasn’t. That might have made a difference. But he didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2025, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroes-and-cowards-of-the-trump-era/1021444/5 "2025-07-29T01:23:37Z")
Newsom might remember that Ike had federalized the National Guard at Little Rock. Still, he could at least make a gesture. Looking at JFK’s (Ted Sorensen’s) [Profiles in Courage](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Profiles_in_Courage), there’s a lot of futile stands and grandstands, some obvious omissions, and no few wrongheaded positions taken. But all of them cognizant acts of political suicide. That is entirely absent in the current landscape. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2025, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroes-and-cowards-of-the-trump-era/1021444/6 "2025-07-29T01:29:37Z")
Trey Parker and Matt Stone, who’ve made sure that Paramount’s $1.5 billion paid for exclusive streaming rights to South Park and for another 50 new episodes, was muchly wasted, because Trump’s going to be _very_ unhappy with any new episode that’s going to be put on the air. That $1.5 billion completely eclipses the $16 million Paramount paid in their bribe to Trump. More liberal punditry: Dan Rather, Paul Klugman - although I hate calling it “liberal”. It’s more correctly called “accurate”. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2025, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroes-and-cowards-of-the-trump-era/1021444/7 "2025-07-29T02:08:44Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > All he’s doing is talk. He isn’t actually doing anything. Even when he could. Border czar Tom Homan was mouthing off about arresting Newsom, and Newsom told him to put up or shut up. And he shut up. That’s enough to make my list right there. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2025, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroes-and-cowards-of-the-trump-era/1021444/8 "2025-07-29T22:57:14Z")
Hero: Corey Booker for that epic record-breaking speech on the Senate floor. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2025, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroes-and-cowards-of-the-trump-era/1021444/9 "2025-07-29T23:45:54Z")
Can we add the EU to the cowards list. Yes a major trade war with the US would be bad for the EU, but they could at least have waited to see if TACO kicked in. Also now that they have showed their willingness to surrender, what’s to stop Trump from coming back in a year or two and demanding more. “Once you’ve paid the Trumpgeld you’ll never get rid of the Trump.” ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroes-and-cowards-of-the-trump-era/1021444/10 "2025-07-30T00:33:53Z")
Along those lines, can we add Canada to the heroes? ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroes-and-cowards-of-the-trump-era/1021444/11 "2025-07-30T00:54:29Z")
In my opinion, you can add Jasmine Crockett to the list of heroes. There’s not a lot she can do legislatively, but she’s been tireless in calling out Trump and the Republicans for their destructiveness and hypocrisy. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroes-and-cowards-of-the-trump-era/1021444/12 "2025-07-30T12:14:59Z")
Can we add Scotland to the Cowards list, which I’m loathe to suggest, but they caved and let the ‘Bloody Bloke’ build his golf course. Eric, the bright trump, suggested that they had an unlimited budget and they exceeded it. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroes-and-cowards-of-the-trump-era/1021444/13 "2025-07-30T12:36:29Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > Can we add the EU to the cowards list. Klugman, uh, Krugman agrees that the EU should have been tougher, since they’re an economic superpower and should act like it. On the other hand, his (free) substack today lays out how all of their investment and oil and gas purchase promises are totally empty. On the energy side, the EU couldn’t fulfill the promise to purchase more LNG even if they had the authority, which they don’t. Anyway, sure, they pretended to give some concessions (which the NY Times promptly described as Trump winning his trade war…), but in reality, they conceded nothing at all. On the hero side, how about those NJ? NY? politicians who were arrested protesting ICE facilities? ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroes-and-cowards-of-the-trump-era/1021444/14 "2025-07-30T12:55:29Z")
Hero: my 90 year-old mother. She’s on Facebook daily, giving Trump the business. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroes-and-cowards-of-the-trump-era/1021444/15 "2025-07-30T13:18:51Z")
If we’re doing countries, might I suggest adding the Israeli government to the cowards-versus-trump list. If they’re not going to actively condemn someone who is an actual, literal Nazi, I think the chances are low of them having our back when it would take more than moral support. And that’s not even asking them to condemn Trump for his general heinousness, although that would be nice as well. Nah. They’re all in for Trump. It doesn’t matter what he does. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroes-and-cowards-of-the-trump-era/1021444/16 "2025-07-30T13:27:31Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > his (free) substack today lays out how all of their investment and oil and gas purchase promises are totally empty. On the energy side, the EU couldn’t fulfill the promise to purchase more LNG even if they had the authority, which they don’t. > > Anyway, sure, they pretended to give some concessions (which the NY Times promptly described as Trump winning his trade war…), but in reality, they conceded nothing at all. That’s my impression of all of his “deals” so far. He’s imposed new taxes on American consumers, and all he’s gotten in return is promises to “buy” stuff that governments don’t buy. I’ve said before, and I’ll say again, Trump fundamentally doesn’t understand how international trade works, and it seems to me that governments around the world are starting to take advantage of that. Make as many empty promises as they have to to get the tariffs as low as possible, knowing that that will never be zero, or even what they were before Trump. Trump loves tariffs, so you know there will be some, the game is to get them as low as possible. Meanwhile, the other countries are doing whatever they can to diversify their trade, to eliminate as much US trade as they can. Like it or not, the American people gave Trump real power, not just in the US, but around the world, because of the influence he inherited that was created by decades of US world dominance. The rest of the world can’t change that overnight, so they’ll have to deal with him no matter what. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroes-and-cowards-of-the-trump-era/1021444/17 "2025-07-30T13:44:34Z")
> [@SuntanLotion](#): > > Hero-Mitt Romney. I’d agree with that if he had actually done or said something meaningful while still in government. Instead, he quietly just went away. I haven’t read his book, but I believe he talked about it there. But again, this was after he could have had a real voice as a sitting senator. There have been a number of officials who quietly resigned, which I suppose they saw as a form of protest. Not everyone has to be a hero, and there’s good reason to protect oneself from Trump and his minions. But someone like Romney (who has way more money than he needs) should have felt empowered to do more. However, even he was worried for the safety of his family, which is understandable. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroes-and-cowards-of-the-trump-era/1021444/18 "2025-07-30T23:37:01Z")
Heroes: Brazil, and Jerome Powell. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroes-and-cowards-of-the-trump-era/1021444/19 "2025-07-30T23:54:40Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > On the hero side, how about those NJ? NY? politicians who were arrested protesting ICE facilities? How about the unnamed heroes actively sheltering and hiding undocumented immigrants from ICE? Hopefully, they can maintain their anonymity. ---
**Author:** ![Toxgoddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Toxgoddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxgoddess)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2025, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroes-and-cowards-of-the-trump-era/1021444/20 "2025-07-31T00:17:55Z")
Heroes: Bennie Thompson, Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, Jamie Raskin and the rest of the J6 Committee. Cowards: Every Republican who refused to impeach him afterwards. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heroes-and-cowards-of-the-trump-era/1021444.md?page=2)