October 14, 2026 — American Values: Really?
Check out this week’s blog post by IP attorney and author Timothy Trainer, host of the podcast and video show Tim’s Travails • Follow Tim on Substack
By IP attorney and author Timothy Trainer
Image: NPR.org
There are certain places within the country where U.S. values are placed at the top of any learning pyramid. As a dependent of a career active-duty member of the Army, I can attest to how military brats on an Army post (and probably similar for those on Air Force, Navy, and Marine bases) were “taught” about country above self, patriotism, respecting the flag, and service. It wasn’t as “in your face” as one might think, but it was there every day simply because we lived with a member of the armed forces on a military installation. The lessons of duty, honor, and country were part of life.
Given those lessons, reading and hearing our Secretary of Homeland Security’s comment about the current occupant of the White House as a man who “leads the country with a very, very, very direct, forward, straight hand, and he’s restoring American values” is beyond absurd. Markwayne Mullin defends plan to livestream Nidal Hasan’s military execution. There’s no doubt that in choosing Mullin as Secretary of DHS, our Criminal-in-Chief found a man who fails at U.S. values.
Mullin believes that a man convicted of paying hush money to a porn star has U.S. values (Defendant guilty after trial, on 34 counts of Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree). What was Trump convicted of? Details on the 34 counts and his guilty verdict – CBS News, People v. DJT Clayton Decision.
Secretary Mullin, in stating his belief in the restoration of U.S. values by livestreaming Hasan’s execution, supports the policies of Boss Trump who has been found by a jury in a court of law to have sexually abused and defamed E. Jean Carroll. Carroll v. Trump, No. 23-793 (2d Cir. 2024) :: Justia. What U.S. values are represented by this type of conduct?
Trump’s “values” include the early days of his property development career. He and his father were defendants in a case brought by the U.S. Department of Justice for race discrimination in denying rental properties to African Americans. Donald Trump’s Housing Discrimination Case Still Chases Him Decades Later: NPR.
Trump’s “American” values also include the reported history of failing to pay contractors for work done on his various real estate projects. His desire to evade payment put contractors and suppliers out of business. Hourly workers and small businesses were victims of his non-payment. Billionaire Trump Fleeces Workers, Small Businesses – United Steelworkers.
As Mullin attempts to convince us of the Criminal-in-Chief’s efforts to restore American values, let us not forget the quagmire of Trump’s evading service during the Vietnam War. For all of Trump’s flag-hugging, chest-beating bravado, there’s nothing there. There’s no honor, no duty, no service to anything except self.
Trump is quoted as saying that “I had a doctor that gave me a letter—a very strong letter.” Donald Trump’s Draft Deferments: Four for College, One for Bad Feet – The New York Times. That letter was Trump’s ticket to avoiding service. To read that he couldn’t remember the name of the doctor, the guy who supposedly examined him, gave him his life free of war, is hard to believe.
In the 1960s and early 1970s, young men in those situations remember, sometimes too clearly, the events that changed the direction of their lives. I served, but not in Vietnam. I know what date a DoD telegram arrived at our front door. The dates on which I entered and left the army are etched into my memory bank. It’s hard to believe that a young man recently out of college and possibly facing the draft and free airfare to Southeast Asia wouldn’t remember a one-on-one doctor’s appointment that gave him a free pass.
Ultimately, Markwayne Mullin’s full support of a man who has displayed these characteristics informs us that Mullin has the kind of character and integrity I want no part of. Neither Trump nor Mullin has anything close to what we used to consider as U.S. values. If Mullin is telling us that Trump now embodies U.S. values, then the country has descended to a state beyond despair.
For those of us who reject Mullin and Trump’s valueless world, we must exercise that precious right to vote in a few weeks and implore those who are opposed to what is occurring to vote with us in an attempt to save what was once a country still working to improve itself.
About Timothy Trainer: Writing books is a passion for attorney Timothy Trainer, who for more than three decades focused on intellectual property issues in his day job. He has worked in government agencies and in the private sector, and his assignments have taken him to 60 countries around the world.
Tim found time to pen a few non-fiction tomes, including his first book, Customs Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights;the 15th edition was published in 2022. Thomson Reuters’ Aspatore Books published Tim’s next title in 2015, Potato Chips to Computer Chips: The War on Fake Stuff.
Fiction was a genre he always wanted to try. In 2019, Pendulum Over the Pacific was released by Joshua Tree Publishing. “This political intrigue story is set in Tokyo and Washington, D.C., and centers on trade tensions between the U.S. and Japan in the late 1980s,” Tim explains.
In 2023, the first book in his China series hit bookstores: The China Connection.
In 2025, he published the sequel, The China Factor, which ranked #63 on the Amazon Asian Literature list in May.
Coming this Fall 2026: The China Dilemma!
Click here to buy all of Tim’s books.
