Why are these Trump lackeys uncensured and unbowed? Opinion Robert Reich

[B.See]

The answer, I think, is the same answer as to why the MSM have generally reported on Trump's NUMEROUS outrages and atrocities with the same fervour as an uneventful weather forecast.

COWARDICE AND COMPLICITY. A complete capitulation of anything even remotely resembling integrity or principle.

Why are these Trump lackeys uncensured and unbowed Opinion by Robert Reich - Rawstory

Why haven’t the American Bar Association or the American Medical Association stood up against the unethical behavior of professionals in the Trump regime?

What is unfolding among doctors inside the Department of Health and Human Services is an attempt to rewrite the rules governing the entire U.S. public health system based on ideology rather than science.

What’s occurring among lawyers in the Justice Department and the U.S. attorney’s offices is an attempt to rewrite the rules governing the entire U.S. system of criminal justice based on Trump’s vindictiveness rather than the rule of law.

If professional associations have any legitimate purpose in our system, it is to enforce ethical standards and hold professionals accountable to them.

[sop]

1. Good questions.

[B.See]

3. Yes it is. And not just the MSM, and so-called watchdog agencies, and not just with Trump

They treated the s---- George Santos pulled with the same nonchalance. And the fake electors scheme with fraudulently drawn up documents designed to STEAL the election from Biden.

However, any DEMOCRAT trying to pull this kind of s... we'd hear NO end of it.

Trump fake electors plot -Wikipedia

The Trump fake electors plot was an attempt by ... Donald Trump and associates to have him remain in power after losing the 2020 United States presidential election. After the results of the election determined Trump had lost, he, his associates, and Republican Party officials in seven battleground states – Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin – devised a scheme to submit fraudulent certificates of ascertainment to falsely claim Trump had won the Electoral College vote in crucial states. The plot was one of Trump and his associates' attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election.

[Srkdqltr]

2. More agree with him than disagree?

[Ms. Toad]

4. For the umpteenth time - The American Bar Association has zero control over individual attorneys.

It is a voluntary association of attorneys. It has no power to discipline an attorney. It has no power to disbar them. Nada. Zip. Zero.

Attorneys are barred by individual states or courts. The bar in a state/court where an attorney is licensed is the only entity with the authority to enforce ethical standards, or hold them accountable.

The code of conduct referenced is a set of model ethical rules proposed by the American Bar Association. States are free to adopt them (or not), or alter them to suit what they believe is needed in their state. To the extent the rules have any force, it is because a state or court system has adopted it - and it is up to them to enforce it.

As to the American Bar Association, it has been speaking out fairly regularly about the Trump administration and the law - e.g.:

https://www.americanbar.org/news/abanews/aba-news-archives/2025/03/aba-rejects-efforts-to-undermine-courts-and-legal-profession/

They have even filed suit when they believe they have standing to sue - e.g.:

https://www.americanbar.org/news/abanews/aba-news-archives/2025/06/aba-files-suit-to-halt-govt-intimidation/

But they do not have any right/power to enforce any ethical code against any individual misbehaving attorney (or even a whole host of misbehaving attorneys - e.g. the DOJ)

Pretty sure it is the same with the American Medical Association (since medical licenses are issued by each individual state - not a national group) - but that is not my area of expertise, so I'll let doctors chime in on that front.

People who know nothing about how professional associations, or how attorney (or doctors) are disciplined should educate themselves.

[B.See]

5. I know nothing of the 'upteenth times,' however

I have found these two references that support your response:

ABA and Bar Associations Unite Against Trump’s Targeting of Legal Professionals

Two Dozen Bar Associations Condemn Trump’s Latest Attack On Rule Of Law

Thanks for your input.

[Ms. Toad]

7. Unfortunately it comes up very regularly here. I'm tired of debunking it -

And I'm particularly tired of journalists (here, Robert Reich) who perpetuate the nonsense that the ABA isn't doing its job because it "refuses" to disbar attorneys serving Trump, when the ABA has no authority to do so.

Especially since this particular journalist also happens to be a lawyer, who has every reason to know he is perpetuating nonsense.

[The Roux Comes First]

6. I Totally Agree. If These Organizations Cannot Even Do a Semblance of Integrity, Why Bother With All the Licensing and

And oath-taking crap and all? Hippocrates and others would be tying themselves in knots.

I recall being appalled back in the '60's and '70's with the incredible self-protective brotherhood of the AMA, at least as I perceived it at a time when, admittedly, the world seemed more B&W than it does now. More recently it has been police guilds with a vow that loyalty and not snitching is far more important than service to the citizenry. Alas the legal community and to a lesser extent medical profession, and of course most particularly the MSM, almost without exception, have apparently taken the vow that He Is Not to Be Challenged or Thwarted.

[B.See]

9. Well, while I'm not inclined to

speculate on what the author of the op-ed knows, should know, and what his intent was in writing his article,

I will suggest that generally speaking, there is a growing concern among left leaning political journalists, commentators, observers, analysts, etc.

as well as among many of us liberals and progressives, about what we are seeing - the continuous eroding and dismantling of our norms, of our government, institutions, and democracy, UNLAWFULLY and in ways increasingly unabated.

And to add to those concerns, the appearance (awareness) of an equally increasing blase about it, in ways that directly (and indirectly) have the effect of normalizing what had once been the unfathomable, much less, unacceptable. And sometimes from surprisingly unexpected quarters.

I keep thinking back to something Kamala said during a Colbert appearance. That she wasn't surprised by what Trump and his MAGA accomplices ARE doing to America. She expected it. (So did many of us.)

That what HAD surprised her was the CAPITULATION. In the way so many, who one thought would rise up, in fervent outcry at least, have seemingly acquiesced instead.

Which is not to say there hasn't been outspoken criticism, protest, resistance and rejection of Trump, Trumpism, and all that he/they stand for: from elected politicians, non-MSM pundits and journalists (mostly), certain groups and associations, late nite talk hosts, some within the judiciary, the Pope... people like us. etc.

I just think it's simply that some of us expected, HOPED for, a whole lot more.

[Boomerproud]

10. When hopes keep getting trampled, then what?

I'm getting numb. It's been a long process, but for self preservation I'm getting close. It's not healthy, and I'd much rather be totally engaged and caring, but...

[UTUSN]

8. K&R