I never will understand the dodge that public figures utter when they’re revealed making hideous statements.

The latest comes from Carl Higbie, the former external affairs director for the federal agency that runs AmeriCorps.

A CNN investigation discovered that Higbie had made anti-Muslim, anti-gay, racist and sexist remarks. He reportedly said all these things in 2013. He has quit his post effective immediately.

Now he has resigned and issued a statement that said the following, in part: “I’m sorry. I’m not sorry that my words were published, I am sorry that I said them in 2013,” he wrote. “Those words do not reflect who I am or what I stand for, I regret saying them. Last night I informed the WH that I was resigning so as not to distract from POTUS’ many success. #noexcuses”

Read what he said here.

CNN reports further: Higbie, a former Navy SEAL and conservative media personality, was a surrogate for (Donald) Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign, appearing on cable news and serving as the spokesman for the Trump-aligned Great America PAC. He was appointed to the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) in 2017 to direct the public image and messaging of the federal department that manages millions of Americans in volunteer services like AmeriCorps and Senior Corps.

My question whenever I hear public figures say that their words “do not reflect who I am or what I stand for,” I feel compelled to ask: Did someone put a gun to your head and make you say those things? Did someone drug you, hypnotize you and cast a post-hypnotic suggestion on you? Is that a ventriloquist standing behind you?

This is not reflective only of the current crop of federal government appointees. Left-leaning entertainment personalities caught saying hideous things and behaving badly offer the same dodge, as do politicians of all stripes.

I won’t engage in psychobabble, seeking to explain why people say the things they do. I merely cannot accept the excuse people in the public eye use to suggest that their thoughtlessness somehow doesn’t reflect who they are.

Actually, it does.