Trump is the Pedagogical Gift that Keeps on Giving

Some people, events and sources seemingly never cease to provide teaching opportunities and materials for our courses on law and ethics.  I have previously credited Lindsay Lohan for the treasure trove of litigation that her travails have provided.  But I think that Donald Trump has, and will for many years, provide us with a wealth of teachable moments.

Today's example comes from his comments in the presidential debate. First, when challenged by Secretary Clinton over his failure to pay income taxes, Mr. Trump responded as indicated in the video clip below from the second debate:

In the first :50 of the clip below from the first debate, Mr. Trump gave his view on business regulations:


So, placing Mr.Trump's positions side by side, we hear:

"Don't rely on business people to do the right thing on their own.  Socially responsible conduct must be enforced by law.  But laws that seek to enforce socially responsible conduct are bad for business and government should reduce or eliminate them."

Is this just another iteration of the narrative of: "Regulations that protect me from that other guy are good, but regulations that protect the other guy from me are oppressive."?

Regardless of what happens in the election, Donald Trump has now become the most visible example of American business culture and conduct.  Students may see a failure to counter these examples in a business ethics course as affirmation of their value. Is this the business culture that we seek to foster in our students?

The Political Context of Business Organizations

We spend a lot of time in our Legal Environment classes and space in our textbooks covering the law-making procedures of courts.  Likewise, the administrative rule-making process is well covered. Inexplicably, we spend little or no time and space teaching about legislative law-making. Is it because we are too squeamish about the sausage-making?

Business law educators are familiar with the AACSB guidlines for undergraduate education and have lauded their recognition of the need for business education on legal and regulatory topics.  But one subject among those AACSB topic guidelines is all too often overlooked:

Standard 9: Curriculum content is appropriateto general expectations for the degree program type and learning goals.[CURRICULUM CONTENT] …

General Business and Management Knowledge Areas

· Economic, political, regulatory, legal, technological, and social contexts of organizations in a global society

· Social responsibility, including sustainability, and ethical behavior and approaches to management …

(emphasis added).

In very few business schools do we offer course work exposure to the political context of organizations in society. It would seem that some discussion of the political law-making process in our Legal Environment courses is not only justified but necessary.

Which brings up the topic of the  recently released publication, "The Confessions of Congressman X."  This 65 page pamphlet purports to be the candid inside disclosures of a longtime Congressman.  As reported in the New York Post, the pamphlet contains revelations such as:

“Business organizations and unions fork over more than $3 billion a year to those who lobby the federal government. Does that tell you something? We’re operating a f–king casino.” 

and:

“I contradict myself all the time, but few people notice. One minute I rail against excessive spending and ballooning debt. The next minute I’m demanding more spending on education, health care, unemployment benefits, conservation projects, yadda, yadda, yadda.”

And quoted in the Washington Post:

“The average man on the street actually thinks he influences how I vote. Unless it’s a hot-button issue, his thoughts are generally meaningless. I’ll politely listen, but I follow the money.”

The way that big business money affects public policy as expressed in law is as relevant to a Legal Environment class as a discussion of stare decisis.  Just because sausage such as this is sure to give one indigestion, doesn't mean our students shouldn't know about it.