moralize, self-righteous and self-serving sort of fatalism, custos morum,

“Had I testified,” Bolton intones, “I am convinced, given the environment then existing because of the House’s impeachment malpractice, that it would have made no significant difference in the Senate outcome.” It’s a self-righteous and self-serving sort of fatalism that sounds remarkably similar to the explanation he gave years ago for preemptively signing up for the National Guard in 1970 and thereby avoiding service in Vietnam. “Dying for your country was one thing,” he wrote in his 2007 book “Surrender Is Not an Option, “but dying to gain territory that antiwar forces in Congress would simply return to the enemy seemed ludicrous to me.”

moralize

ˈmɒr(ə)lʌɪz/

verb

verb: moralise

1. 1.

   comment on issues of right and wrong, typically with an unfounded air of superiority.

   "the self-righteous moralizing of his aunt was ringing in his ears"

   synonyms:

   pontificate, sermonize, philosophize, lecture, preach; More

2. 2.

   reform the character and conduct of.

   "he endeavoured to moralize an immoral society"

demoralize, UK USUALLY demoralise
verb [T]
to weaken the confidence of someone or something:
Losing several matches in succession had completely demoralized the team.

demoralized, UK USUALLY demoralised


custos morum (KOOS-tohs MOH-room, -ruhm)

noun: A guardian of morals; censor.

Etymology
From Latin custos morum (guardian of morals, laws, etc.)

Usage
"A self-righteous soul can identify himself as custos morum." — William Safire; Delicious Delicto; The New York Times; Mar 30, 1986.

self-righteous

/ˌsɛlfˈrʌɪtʃəs/

adjective

1. having or characterized by a certainty, especially an unfounded one, that one is totally correct or morally superior.

   "self-righteous indignation and complacency"

sélf-ríghteous[sélf-ríghteous]

[形]ひとりよがりの, 独善的な. 自圓其說

sélf-ríghteous・ly

[副]

sélf-ríghteous・ness

[名]