Benjamin Haas

When President Donald Trump delivered a speech to a CIA crowd on Saturday, he had an opportunity to act presidential. Instead, he offered a bizarre rant that resembled his campaign rallies. Among many outrageous statements, he claimed to “know a lot about West Point.” As a graduate of this institution, I found this assertion to be peculiar.

Perhaps Trump actually does have deep knowledge of West Point. But if so, he evidently has not embraced its revered Cadet Honor Code: “A cadet will not lie, cheat, steal or tolerate those who do.” Even in the few days since taking the oath of office, Trump has managed to behave in a manner inconsistent with the code’s tenets. Let’s consider each part of the code in turn.

With Trump, the lies abound. In the same speech at the CIA headquarters, Trump uttered several. He grossly misrepresented the size of his inauguration crowd despite contrary photographic evidence, and he falsely portrayed the event’s weather conditions. He also repeated his debunked statement that he did not support the 2003 invasion of Iraq. There is, of course, a difference between a lie and a factual mistake. But Trump’s campaign track record indicates that he prefers peddling false claims to conceding mistakes.

Additionally, Trump is cheating by flouting the ethical norms of the presidency. He has decided not to divest from his business, creating a conflicts of interest quagmire. Although he may not be legally required to divest, doing so has become an established norm for presidents. He faces serious legal questions about the Emoluments Clause. Making matters worse, Trump’s administration announced on Sunday that he would not release his tax returns. These conflicts of interest — surrounded by such a lack of transparency — present a real national security issue because they could compromise Trump’s ability to prioritize the country’s interests over his personal finances.

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Also in the CIA speech, Trump reintroduced his campaign idea that the U.S. should have stolen Iraq’s oil because doing so would have prevented the rise of ISIS. Even more alarmingly, he added, “Maybe we’ll have another chance.” This proposed theft has already been discredited as not only a violation of the Geneva Conventions, but also an impractical and dangerous undertaking. Plus, it’s worth noting that his reasoning is based on a potentially false premise. ISIS has relied on a diversified stream of revenue — including taxes, extortion, bank robbery, foreign donors and antiquity sales. It is therefore far from certain that denying the group access to oil would have been decisively debilitating.

Lastly, Trump is tolerating, if not directing, similar conduct amongst his staff. Who can forget White House press secretary Sean Spicer’s briefing that was so riddled with untruths that fellow official Kellyanne Conway had to famously spin his comments as “alternative facts?” The final clause of the Honor Code also invites an important question for the public: Should we tolerate Trump’s behavior?

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The Honor Code is of paramount importance at West Point, and for good reason. When future Army officers learn to embody its precepts, they develop as leaders of character who can be trusted to make life-or-death ethical decisions. While Trump is not bound by this code, the reality is that he will make crucial national security decisions. For the sake of the country, Trump should learn from West Point’s Honor Code, especially if he’s going to profess that he knows so much about the academy.

Benjamin Haas is a student at Stanford Law School. He graduated from West Point in 2009 and was an intelligence officer in the Army for five years, including two deployments to Afghanistan.

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