Column: How Trump cheapened one of America’s highest honors, the Medal of Freedom

President Trump with Presidential Medal of Honor recipient Rep. Devin Nunes and President Reagan with another recipient, Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Trump has used the country’s highest civilian honor to reward his most fervent supporters — angry, divisive partisans like Rush Limbaugh, Rep. Jim “Shouty” Jordan and, of course, his favorite cow-suing congressman, Rep. Devin Nunes. “Everything about Donald Trump screams narcissism, so it’s hardly a surprise he turns the highest civilian award into a tool to reflect his own interests,” said Rob Weissman, president of the government watchdog group Public Citizen. “It was shocking to see Devin Nunes receiving the medal for his work in the first impeachment and investigations,” said Irvin McCullough, a national security analyst who specializes in military and intelligence community whistleblowing for the Government Accountability Project. With a mixture of disgust and disappointment.” In Trump’s first impeachment, McCullough said, “Republicans just abandoned the bipartisan tradition of whistleblower protection.” And it hasn’t gotten any better.