Thursday, June 4, 2020

Turn, turn, turn

From The Washington Post: “From former presidents to religious leaders, everyone is turning on Trump.” Recall Lyndon Johnson’s lament: “If I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost middle America.” Trump* has lost even Pat Robertson. Though it’s not clear to me that Pat Robertson was ever all there — in possession of all marbles, that is.

The WP piece is already behind the times, as it’s missing James Mattis’s statement on recent events, which includes this stunning passage. The comparison is clear:

Instructions given by the military departments to our troops before the Normandy invasion reminded soldiers that “The Nazi slogan for destroying us . . . was ‘Divide and Conquer.’ Our American answer is ‘In Union there is Strength.’” We must summon that unity to surmount this crisis — confident that we are better than our politics.

Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people — does not even pretend to try. Instead he tries to divide us. We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership. We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society. This will not be easy, as the past few days have shown, but we owe it to our fellow citizens; to past generations that bled to defend our promise; and to our children.

comments: 3

Oceanroar said...

I just stumbled on your blog as your cartoon image of Nancy and Hugo in the roles of Winnie and Willie (2013 post) from Beckett's Happy Days popped up in my Google search and led me like a beacon to your thoughts and words. This statement of yours particularly resonates re: the divisiveness of Trump and our need to unite. May I quote you (i.e. copy & paste this to my FB page?)

Oceanroar said...

After a more careful reading I see that these are Mattis' words. Oops. I had not read his statement yet. Scratch that. Reverse it. Regardless I am grateful to be lead to them by any route and thank you.

Michael Leddy said...

I’m glad you found Mattis’s words here.

By the way, if you like Nancy, there are many Nancy posts here. Among them: Nancy and Sluggo in Vertigo.