There are a lot of people I respect personally, people who have expertise and good judgement or just are really decent human beings — many of them are politically miles away from my own views. I really think we should all feel this way. Life is complex. Being “politically correct” is not really the most thing about most of us.
Capt. Sully proved he was a person unusually worthy of respect and admiration. Not just because of his expertise as a pilot; still less because he was an Air Force veteran. He was personally courageous, utterly responsible under immense pressure, putting his passengers lives ahead of his own, and afterwards facing fame, and then bureaucratic carping and criticism with grace.
Politically his views are very different than my own. — he voted Republican most of his life. Working and living in NY and NJ he got to see Donald Trump up close. He may even still have voted for him in 2016 — he did not mention how he voted in 2016 so far as I know.
What is clear is that his criticisms of Trump now are mostly personal. He didn’t speak primarily of Trump’s tax policy or foreign policy. He was judging the President for his character and conduct in the White House as early as 2018, and finding them wanting. Character is not always the most important thing in judging a person’s ability to do a job. But I agree with Capt. Sully that the job of leader of our nation requires at least a minimum of integrity and character ... that our President has never shown.
