Make America worthy

Memorial Day is never easy. It’s a holiday, but not a celebration. It commemorates the sacrifices of many generations, beginning arguably with the black community in Charleston even before the Civil War ended. It acknowledges the risks that have been run and those that we still face. It offers respect and dignity to those who have too often died without both.

Memorial Day merits particular attention this year. America has a president who has spent more than 16 months in office without visiting service members deployed in an active conflict zone. He lied Friday in a commencement address at the Naval Academy about military pay raises and the number of US Navy ships, subjects on which the cadets are presumably well-versed. They also know what to think of liars. Bone spurs gave Trump deferments during the Vietnam war, but they don’t appear to limit his golfing. He has visited a golf club on 22% of his days in office, but has found no time for the troops in Iraq, Afghanistan or Syria.

Our civilians who serve abroad get even less attention from this administration than those in uniform. It has sought to drastically cut the foreign affairs budget and limit US diplomatic and development commitments. Secretary Pompeo is sounding a lot friendlier to the Foreign Service than Trump or his predecessor, but it remains to be seen what he will actually do.

The most important diplomatic initiatives of this administration are disastrous: withdrawal from the Transpacific Partnership strengthened China, renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement is stalled, withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal threatens to splinter NATO and free Iran from its obligation to remain forever non-nuclear, and the much-vaunted Dotard/Rocket Man Summit is well on its way to being a case study in how not to conduct diplomacy.

So it is more important than ever that we distinguish our leadership from our institutions, the president from the flag. Trump and his campaign sought foreign assistance, contravening American law. His campaign also clearly received Russian help. The only question left unanswered now is whether he or his minions actively colluded with Moscow.

That is really of little interest to me. He has already demonstrated the kind of disloyalty I would regard as disqualifying for the presidency. That is why he is so determined to undermine the Mueller investigation: only by doing so can he distract attention from his own illegitimacy, which is not due only to the loss of the popular vote. It is also due to his consistent failure to be loyal to anything but his material personal and family interests.

All that stands against him is our institutions. They need our support. That means voting. It means speaking out to dissent and criticize. It means giving to causes that will insist on transparency and hold the government accountable. It means defending those whom Trump targets and targeting those who abuse power. It means broadening the tent of those who resist to include people with whom you don’t agree. It means standing up for ideals even when they seem hopelessly tattered.

Americans need to make America worthy of those whose graves we lay flowers on at Memorial Day.