You shouldn't speak ill of the dead

Let me ask you something. When Robert Mueller, former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, died last week, the president could have said nothing, right? Or he could have said terrible things, all he wanted, in private, couldn't he? But a craven soul isn't satisfied until it's shared, is it? Before Mueller's family could even make funeral arrangements, the president of the United States was gleefully posting about it. "Robert Mueller just died," Donald Trump posted shortly after the news became public on Saturday afternoon. "Good, I'm glad he's dead. He can no longer hurt innocent people!" This is not about politics. This is about a man. On one hand, it is about an 81-year-old man who died from Parkinson's, his wife of almost 60 years and his children at his side. Did Mueller, who took over the FBI just days before 9/11, and served at its director under presidents of both parties deserve that as a public epitaph? He drew Trump's vengeance for serving as the special counsel for the Department of Justice to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 election. His team indicted 34 people, including former Trump advisers, several of whom pleaded guilty. While Trump and his supporters have long said he was exonerated by the findings, Mueller has emphatically said the opposite. Justice Department guidelines prohibit a sitting president from being indicted, he pointed out. If he could have exonerated Trump he would have done so. You know it's bad when Fox News, who spent years excoriating the Mueller report back in the day, studiously turned a blind eye to the president's statements celebrating the man's death. Mueller was a Marine officer who was awarded a Purple Heart, a Bronze Star, the Vietnam Cross of Gallantry and two Navy commendation medals for his service in Vietnam. In my town we've got a whole bunch of guys who like to meet up for lunch and tell everybody how patriotic they are with their hats and their flags, that stand for the pledge of allegiance, but then tell everybody if they're not for the president they are not real Americans. It's the kind of performative patriotism we've been brainwashed to expect from this hollowed-out storefront presidency. A decorated public servant and wounded combat veteran dies and a multiple-felon, multiple-deferment Vietnam-era alleged draft dodger smears his name, and "patriots" cheer him on. The thing is, Mueller was a Republican. Both former Democrat and Republican presidents he served under — Barack Obama and George W. Bush — managed to issue courteous, dignified statements befitting the office. But remember what I said: This is about a man. This is about a man who behaves like this and America said he speaks for me. There is an unwritten rule — maybe it's that word again, "humanity" — that stills our impulses in certain occasions, death being one of them. I don't believe in making saints of the departed, but there is also a time and place to show courtesy to those grieving. Last year I wrote an entire column about the killing of Charlie Kirk, a man with whom I disagreed on everything, and yet still denounced his assassination. With Trump, public cruelty is the point. When Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner were found murdered in their Los Angeles home in December, Trump rushed to Truth Social. "Rob Reiner, a tortured and struggling but once very talented movie director and comedy star, has passed away, together with his wife, Michele, reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME, sometimes referred to as TDS." The couple's adult son, Nick, was later arrested in connection with the crime. The president's social media posts listed reasons he believed caused their deaths. Reiner had a "raging obsession" with him, Trump said, "with his obvious paranoia reaching new heights as the Trump Administration surpassed all goals and expectations of greatness and with the Golden Age of America upon us, perhaps like never before." When Jimmy Carter died, Trump wasn't happy that the flags in the nation's capital would be at half-staff by the time of his inauguration, which is customary for 30 days following the death of a president. So he ordered them raised, ignoring protocol for Carter, the man who spent his years post-White House building houses for those in need, wiping out disease, teaching Sunday School and earning a Nobel Peace Prize. "Jimmy Carter died a happy man. You know why?" Trump told reporters in April. "Because he wasn't the worst president, Joe Biden was." There is not a thing that could come out of the White House, what's left of it, that would shock me any more, but like I said this is not about politics. And it's no longer about a man, either. It's about you, my fellow Americans. Are you the kind of person who would say these things when your neighbor dies? Would you want your dad to post those words about someone else? Most companies wouldn't accept this from their CEOs, let alone their employees. Then why are you accepting this from your president? Contact Chronicle-Telegram columnist Rini Jeffers at rinijeffers@gmail.com.