Two Speeches,  Speech One

This week, we take the unusual step of publishing two contrasting speeches. One is from the President of the United States, the Commander in Chief of our nation’s military forces, speaking to men and women who soon will be under his command. The other is from a well-known journalist who warns of the country the Commander is creating.

The contrast could not be greater in terms of personal and national character.  One of these speeches is a disgrace. The other is distinguished.

It will take you about three times longer to read the first speech than to read the second one.

We begin with President Trump, who wore his red “Make America Great Again” cap throughout his speech at West Point, where reports say there were awkward pauses for applause, which was tepid.

TRUMP: Well, I want to thank you very much. This is a beautiful place. I’ve been here many times going to high school, not so far away. Good, a good place. Also, a military academy. Not quite of this distinction, but it was a lot of fun for me. And I just wanna say hello cadets and on behalf of our entire nation, let me begin by saying congratulations to the West Point class of 2025, you are winners, every single one of you.

Thank you. And now we want you to relax and I’m supposed to say, “At ease.” But you’re already at ease. You’re at ease because you’ve made a great choice in what you’re doing. Your choices in life has been really amazing. So this is a celebration and let’s have a little fun. I want to thank your highly respected superintendent, General Stephen Glenn, and he is really, uh, something, I got to know him backstage with his beautiful family and his reputation — His wife is just incredible, his reputation is unbelievable.

And thank you very much. And your daughter is a winner also. Just like everybody out there, real winner. Thank you. Thank you. I also want to thank your [Inaudible] General RJ Garcia, Secretary of the Army, Dan Driscoll, Army Chief of Staff, General Randy George, Senator Ashley Moody, Representatives Steve Womack, Bill Huizenga, Pat Ryan, Mark Green, Keith Self.

Acting US attorney, Alina Habba. And very much, uh, just all of the friends. We have a lot of friends in the audience today. And I just want to thank ’em all for being here. We have a tremendous amount of my friends. They wanted to come up and they wanted to watch this ceremony and they wanted to watch you much more so than me. So I just want to thank so many people are here.

Over the past four years, an extraordinary group of professors, teachers, coaches, leaders, and warriors have transformed this class of cadets into an exceptional group of scholars and soldiers. And so let’s give the entire group, the entire West Point faculty, the staff, for their incredible love of you and outstanding devotion to the corps.

Let’s give them a little hand. And importantly, we can’t forget all of those people beaming with pride, look at them in the audience, oh, they’re so proud. They’re in the stands. So thank your parents, your grandparents and family members who made this all possible for you. Thank you. And I think they must have done something right based on what I’m looking at. America loves our military moms and dads.

Nearly one-third of the cadets graduating today are themselves the children of veterans. So to everyone with us this morning who served America in uniform, no matter your age, please stand so we can salute your service, we’d like to see who you are. Congratulations. Great job. Every cadet on the field before me should savor this morning. ’cause this is a day that you will never, ever forget.

In a few moments, you’ll become graduates of the most elite and storied military academy in human history. And you’ll become officers in the greatest and most powerful army the world has ever known. And I know because I rebuilt that army and I rebuilt the military. And we rebuilt it like nobody has ever rebuilt it before in my first term.

Your experience here at West Point has been anything but easy. — came for duty. You came to serve your country and you came to show yourselves, your family, and the world that you are among the smartest, toughest, strongest, most lethal warriors ever to walk on this planet. Looking out at all of you today, I can proudly say, mission accomplished.

Great job. But now you have to go on. You have to forget that ’cause now you have another. It’s a sad thing, isn’t it? You know, you can’t rest on your laurels no matter what. You just have to keep going. You take it, you take a little day off and you go on to the rest. ’cause you have to have victory, after victory, after victory.

And that’s what you’re gonna have as you receive your commissions as second lieutenants, each of you continues down the same hallowed path, walked by Titans and legends of US, military law. Giants like Ulysses S. Grant, John Black Jack Pershing, Dwight David Eisenhower, the one and only Douglas MacArthur, old blood and guts, George Patton and Stormin’ Norman Schwarzkopf, all great.

So many more. They and countless other patriots before you have walked out of these halls and straight into history. And today, you officially join those immortal heroes in proud ranks of the long gray line. You know that term. So beautiful. The long gray line. Among the 1,000 cadets graduating today, 26 of you wear the prestigious Star Wreath, signifying the highest level of academic achievement.

Please stand up. 26. Let’s see if somebody stands who shouldn’t be standing. Congratulations. That’s a big honor. This class includes an incredible four Rhodes Scholars. Stand up, please. Four. Wow. That’s tied for the most of any West Point class since 1959. That’s great. Four. Congratulations. Boy, oh boy, oh boy.

I wanna bring them right to the Oval Office. I don’t wanna have them go too far away from me. Eight cadets here today took on the challenge of designing their own hypersonic rocket. Oh, we can use you. We’re building them right now. You know, we, uh, we had ours stolen. We had — We are the designer of it. We had it stolen during the Obama administration.

They stole it. You know who stole it? The Russians stole it. Something bad happened. But we’re now — We’re the designer of it and we’re now building them and lots of them. And earlier this year, they launched it into space, setting a world record for amateur rocketry. Can’t get you in there fast enough.

This class excelled not only mentally but also physically last January when more than 1,000 cadets volunteered for an 18-and-a-half mile march on a freezing winter night. Cadet Chris Verdugo completed the task in 2 hours and 30 minutes flat, smashing the international record for the competition by 13 minutes.

Where is he? Where is he? Come up here. Come up here, Chris. Get up here, Chris. Wow. Come here. That’s — By 13 minutes. Come here, Chris. I wanna see this guy. Say something. Come here. Come here.

VERDUGO: [Laughs] It’s been a long five years, but I couldn’t have done it without any of these guys. Love you guys all. Thank you. Thank you.

TRUMP: Wow. That’s great. Keep it going, Chris. That really is the definition of Army strong, isn’t it? International. International. This class includes 513 graduates who completed Air Assault School, 70 who completed Airborne School, eight who made it through the ultra-elite Army Diver School, among the most difficult and grueling programs anywhere on Earth.

That includes the first two women in West Point history to complete Diver School; cadets Megan Cooper and Clara Sebu. Where are you? Stand up. Where are they? Wow. Great job. That is not easy. Congratulations, Megan, Clara. That’s a job well done. Fantastic. Thank you very much. Some of you achieved a different kind of distinction here at the academy, including seven

No. Don’t tell me I’m doing this. Oh, I’m so sorry. Would you like to stand up? (laughs) I don’t know. I think I saw Chris standing up. Chris, what, what’s going on here? Well, you had one good, one not so good. Right, Chris? Can’t believe Chris is standing up. But we want everyone to leave here today, Chris, so you’re gonna be okay because I’m gonna do something with a clean slate.

So in keeping with tradition, I hereby pardon all cadets on restriction for minor conduct offenses effective immediately. So you’re all okay. You’re all okay. The class of 2025 is a lot to be proud of, including your first-rate athletes and athletics. You are something. I’ve been watching too. I watch. I love the sports stuff.

What you’ve done is pretty amazing. Last year, for the first time ever, army lacrosse became the number one ranked men’s lacrosse team in the entire country. Look at that. Those of you on the team, stand. That’s a big honor. Stand. Great. That’s a tough sport too. That’s number one in the country. Your sophomore year, Army football beat Navy 20-17. And the you did it again, beating Navy 17 to 11 and dominating Air Force 23 to three.

But, this year, the Black Knights fought your way into the top 20 nationally and racked up your longest winning streak since 1949 with the help of graduating quarterback Cadet Bryson Daily or, as you call him, Captain America. Captain America. Stand up, Bryson. Where is Bryson? We gotta get him up here, right?

Come on, Bryson. Come on up. Man, oh, man, I heard — I heard he’s, uh — well, I came to a game, and he was — I said, “Yeah, he can get into the NFL, can’t he?” But he chose this life and, you know what, I think he made a good choice. Come on up here, Bryson. Come on up. Wow.

BRYSON: All right. Go, Army football. Shout out to Hogs, H4. Um, can’t wait to graduate. Love you, guys. Thank you. It’s nice to meet you, sir.

TRUMP: If there anything we can do, just let me know. Okay? It’s a great honor.

What a great guy. Well, I just tapped his shoulders like I hit a piece of steel. The guy’s in good shape. There’s a reason, you know, there’s always a reason for success. Thank you, Bryson. At a time when other top college quarterbacks were thinking about going pro, Bryson’s mind was on something else. As he told an interviewer earlier this year, “I’m focused on my career as an infantry officer.” That’s what he wants to do. So, Bryson, you did the right thing, and that’s service at its finest.

Thanks, Bryson. That’s amazing. He’s an amazing guy with an amazing team. Each of you on the field today is among the most talented members of your generation. You could have done anything you wanted. You could have gone anywhere. You could have gone to any school. This is one of the hardest schools to get into.

And writing your own ticket to top jobs on Wall Street or Silicon Valley wouldn’t be bad, but I think what you’re doing is better. Instead of sports teams and spreadsheets and software, you chose a life of service, very important service, instead of stock options. And I do that stuff. It’s sort of boring, honestly.

Compared to what you’re doing, it’s real boring. You chose honor and you chose sacrifice. And, instead of business suits and dress shoes, you chose muddy boots and fatigues, keeping yourself in shape, because West Point cadets don’t just have the brightest minds, you also have the bravest hearts and the noblest souls.

You’re amazing people. I could not be more proud to serve you as your commander-in-chief. And our country is doing well. We’ve turned it around. Very quickly, we’ve turned it around. I just got back from the Middle East, and I was at, as you know, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE. And, I will tell you, they said, all three leaders, great leaders of those three nations, they all said the same thing.

The United States of America is hotter now than we’ve ever seen it and, a year ago, it was as cold as it gets. And it’s true. It’s true. We have the hottest country in the world, and the whole world is talking about it. And that’s an honor for all of us. I cannot wait to see the glory that is still ahead.

However, for the West Point Class of 2025, and we’re gonna help you a lot because we’re gonna give you a nation as good or better than it ever was. That’s what I promise you. All the victories that you’ve had together on these grounds will soon pale in comparison to the momentous deeds that you’ll perform on the mission you’re accepting today and as, uh, future leader of America’s Army.

And we have that Army geared up. We have ordered, you know, we just want $1 trillion military budget, general. Do you know that? 1 trillion? Some people say, “Could you cut it back?” I said, “I’m not cutting 10 cents.” There’s another thing we can cut. We can cut plenty of others, right, Dan? We can cut plenty of other things.

And you have a good man in Dan, too, general. I think you’re gonna find that it’s a very different, uh, warfare out there today. Now, they’ve introduced a thing called drone. A drone is a little bit different. It makes — You have to go back and learn a whole new form of warfare, and you’re gonna do it better than anybody else.

There won’t be anybody close. Generation after generation, the men and women of the Army have done whatever it takes to defend our flag, pouring out their blood onto the fields of battle all over the world. And, all over the world, you’re respected like nobody is respected. Our soldiers have sprinted through storms of bullets, clouds of shrapnel, slogged through miles of dirt and oceans of sand, scaled towering cliffs of jagged rock.

And, time and time again, the American soldier is charged into the fires of hell and sent the devil racing in full retreat. No task has ever been too tough for America’s Army. And now that 250-year legacy of glory and triumph belongs to you, the 1,000 newest officers of the greatest fighting force in the history of the world.

And that’s what you are, and that’s what you’re being thought of. Again, you are the first West Point graduates of the Golden Age of America. This is the golden age, I tell you. Promise. We’re in a new age. This is the Golden Age, and you are the going to lead the Army to summits of greatness that has never reached before.

And you see that. And you see what’s happening. You see what’s going on in the world. Each of you is entering the Officer Corps at a defining moment in the Army’s history. For at least two decades, political leaders from both parties have dragged our military into missions, it was never meant to be. It wasn’t meant to be. People would say, “Why are we doing this? Why are we wasting our time, money, and souls,” in some case. They said to our warriors on nation-building crusades to nations that wanted nothing to do with us, led by leaders that didn’t have a clue in distant lands, while abusing our soldiers with absurd ideological experiments here and at home. All of that’s ended.

You know that. All of it’s ended. It’s ended, strongly ended. They’re not even allowed to think about it anymore. They subjected the Armed Forces to all manner of social projects and political causes while leaving our borders undefended and depleting our arsenals to fight other countries’ wars. We fought for other countries’ borders, but we didn’t fight for our own border.

But now we do, like we have never fought before, by the way. But under the Trump administration, those days are over. We’re getting rid of the distractions and we’re focusing our military on its core mission, crushing America’s adversaries, killing America’s enemies, and defending our great American flag like it has never been defended before.

The job of the US Armed Forces is not to host drag shows, to transform foreign cultures, but to spread democracy to everybody around the world at the point of a gun. The military’s job is to dominate any foe and annihilate any threat to America, anywhere, anytime, in any place. A big part of that job is to be respected again.

And you are, as of right now, respected more than any army anywhere in the world. And that’s happening. And I can tell you, you are respected like nobody can believe. As president, I am laser-focused on our core national interests. My preference will always be to make peace and to seek partnership, even with countries where our differences may be profound.

As you know, we’re working on a lot of things right now. When I left office four years ago, we had no wars, we had no problems, we had nothing but success. We had the most incredible economy, the greatest, single greatest economy for a president in history. I think we’re gonna beat it this time by a lot, if you want to know the truth.

But we had something going on very special. But if the United States or its allies are ever threatened or attacked, the Army will obliterate our opponents with overwhelming strength and devastating force. That’s why my administration has begun a colossal buildup of the United States Armed Forces, a buildup like we’ve never had before.

Peace through strength. You know the term, I’ve used it a lot. Because as much as you wanna fight, I’d rather do it without having to fight. I just wanna look at them and have them fold. And that’s happening. That’s happening. And I’ve approved a one-trillion-dollar investment. And that will be, again, the largest ever in the history of our country.

And we are buying you new airplanes, brand-new, beautiful planes, redesigned planes, brand-new planes, totally stealth planes. I hope they’re stealth. I don’t know, that whole stealth thing, I’m sorta wondering. You mean if we shape a wing this way, they don’t see it, but the other way they see it? I’m not so sure.

But that’s what they tell me. We have the best tanks anywhere in the world. We’re gonna start shipbuilding again. We’re gonna start ship. We used to build a ship a day. Now we don’t build them anymore. We had a lot of people that didn’t know much about getting things built. But that’s all I’ve done in my life, is build.

We’re gonna have the best missiles, we already do, drones and much, much more. And earlier this week, I think you’ll like this, I announced that we are officially building all in America, made in America, designed in America. We’re the only ones that could do it, because we’re the only ones that, with the great technology, we’re building the Golden Dome Missile Defense Shield to protect our homeland and to protect West Point from attack.

And it will be completed before I leave office. And you know, you wouldn’t think this, but our enemies are very unhappy about it. You’ve been hearing, you’ve been reading, “Why are they doing that? Why?” Well, we’re doing it because we wanna be around for a long time. That’s why we’re doing it. We’re also restoring the fundamental principle that a central purpose of our military is to protect our own borders from invasion.

Our country was invaded for the last four years, and they’ve allowed people to come into our country that shouldn’t be, that shouldn’t be here. Criminals walk in, no vetting, no check-in, no nothing. Where are they coming from? And they were taking people outta prisons. They were taking gang members. They were taking the mentally insane and allowing them to come in. And we’re getting them out of our country.

We have no choice. We’re getting them out and bringing them back where they came from.

Have no choice. And it’s not easy. It’s not easy. But hopefully the courts will allow us to continue. You know, we had the greatest election victory. This was, uh, November 5th was we won the popular vote by millions of votes. We won all seven swing states. We won everything. We won 2,750 districts against 505, 2,750 against 505. We had a great mandate and it gives us the right to do what we wanna do to make our country great again.

And that’s what we’re going to do. And on day one, I deployed our military to the southern border, and since that day we’ve reduced the number of illegal border crossings where there used to be hundreds of thousands of people coming into our country a day, we had nobody come in in the last week and a half.

We were at 99.999%, 99.999. Think of that. That was with the help of our military. We had one person come in. One. You know why? He got very sick, and we brought him through to have him brought to a hospital. One person. And for that, please don’t hold me responsible, but that’s okay. They did the right thing.

Gone are the days where defending every nation but our own was the primary thought. We are putting America first. We have to put America first. We have to rebuild and defend our nation. And very shortly you’re going to see a nation better than it’s ever been. And you see that with the trade. For years, we’ve been ripped off by every nation in the world on trade.

We’ve been ripped off at the NATO level. We’ve been ripped off like no country has ever been ripped off. But they don’t rip us off anymore. They’re not gonna rip us off anymore. And you’re seeing it. You have to watch what we’re doing on trade. I know it’s not your primary thing, but it’s quite important in all fairness.

But watch. You’ll see what’s going on. You’ve been reading about it over the last few days. We’re making deals with other nations that were not even — Nobody thought it would be even possible. And uh, the reason is very simple. They respect us again. They’re respecting our country again. That’s what you want.

And everything we do, we are bringing common sense back to America. It’s all about common sense. We can say we’re liberal, we’re conservative. The new word is progressive. They don’t like using the word liberal anymore. That’s why I call them liberal. But, but, uh, whatever you are, you know, most importantly, you have to have common sense because most of it’s — General, most of it’s about common sense when you get right down to it. And uh, we have a lotta people with a lotta, lotta very smart people, but they have to have common sense.

And we’ve liberated our troops from divisive and demeaning political trainings. There will be no more critical race theory or transgender for everybody forced onto our brave men and women in uniform or on anybody else for that matter in this country. And we will not have men playing in women’s sports if that’s okay.

I mean, I wouldn’t wanna have to tackle as an example Bryson as a man, but I don’t think a lotta women wanna tackle him. I don’t think so. How crazy is it, men playing in women’s sports? How crazy is it? So ridiculous. So demeaning. So demeaning to women. And it’s over. That’s over. We’ve ended it. And promotions and appointments will not be based on politics or identity.

They’ll be based on merit. We won that case in the Supreme Court of the United States. We’re allowed to go back to a system of merit. We’re a merit-based country again. Today, morale in the armed forces is soaring to the highest levels in many decades after years of recruiting shortfalls. And we had years and years of recruiting shortfalls, and just last year was the worst of all, the last year of the Biden administration.

We couldn’t get anybody to join our military. We couldn’t get anybody to join our police or firefighters. We couldn’t get anybody to join anything. And right now, just less than a year later, we just set a brand new peacetime recruiting record. The most, most people joined. And we are brimming — In fact, be careful.

There’s somebody gonna try and take your job. Be careful. You better be good. We are brimming with confidence and we’re brimming with people. We had the most, best recruiting month that we’ve had in memory. Nobody remembers anything like it. And that’s all because they have spirit now. They have spirit. They have a spirit for our country.

And now everybody wants to be doing what you’re doing. Think of that. So, it’s really a great honor, I will say. And I’m pleased to report that by next week, the army is expected to surpass its recruiting targets for the entire year. Something that hasn’t happened in 28 years where we’ve had that. So that’s pretty good.

And it’s nice to know that you’re doing something that everybody wants to do. Isn’t it really nice? Wasn’t — I hated to hear that. During the campaign, I was hearing that, the, you couldn’t get people to enlist. But now we’re getting people, and it’s sad because we’re telling so many people, “I’m sorry, we can’t do it.” My administration is doing everything possible to forge the most powerful military ever built.

But ultimately, the task of keeping America strong and safe in the years ahead is going to belong to you. Among you are the lieutenants, majors, colonels, and generals who’ll lead the army for the next 10, 20, 30, and even 40 years. So as commander-in-chief, let me offer a few words of advice as you begin your army careers.

And I thought I’d do this, and I can make this to a civilian audience or to a military audience. It’s pretty much the same. And, uh, I did this recently at uh, Ohio State, and they really liked it. I gave them a little advice as to what I see for what you wanna do and some tips. And first of all, and you’ve already done it different from civilians.

They’re making their decision right now. You’ve already made your decision. I love your decision. You have to do what you love. You have to do what you love. If you don’t love it, you’ll never be successful at it. And you’ve done this, and you really, many of you in the audience, many of you that are graduating, uh, you come from military backgrounds or you love the military, it’s what you want to do, it’s what you want to talk about.

One thing I see about people that love the military, that’s all they want to talk about. I’ll be out to dinner, and generals if they, if they love their job, usually the only good ones are the ones that want to talk about it all the time. But if they talk, that’s what they want to talk about. I rarely, really very rarely see somebody who’s successful that doesn’t love what he or she does.

You have to love what you do. In your case, the military is what you chose. And I’ll tell you what; you cannot go wrong. You’re gonna see it too. You’re gonna love it more and more with time. You know, I work all the time. That’s all I do is I work, whether it’s politically. Or before that, I did — I was a very good businessman in case you haven’t heard, really good.

But I was good ’cause I loved it, I loved it. I learned from my father a little bit of — My father was a happy guy and all he did was work. He’d work Saturdays, Sundays. He’d work all the time. And he was a happy guy. He just loved life. And I learned that. I say, “You know, it makes him happy.” I’ve seen other people that never work and they’re not happy.

But you gotta love it, otherwise you won’t be successful. In the army, there are a lot of different paths you can take, so follow your instincts and make sure that you take the path that you love, that you’re doing something that you love within your military. You will be happier and the army will be far stronger for it. Second is to think big.

Always think big. If you’re going to do something, you might as well think big, do it big because it’s just as tough, and sometimes it’s a lot easier thinking big than doing a small task that’s more difficult. One of your greatest graduates, General Eisenhower used to say, “Whenever I run into a problem that I can’t solve, I always like to make it bigger to solve it and solve more of it.” If you go in to solve a problem, and it might as well be a big problem as opposed to a small problem that lots of people can take advantage of and solve.

So you can achieve something really amazing. Think big. Third though, you gotta do this. Uh, brainpower you have to have, potential you have to have, but to be really successful, you’re always going to have to work hard. An example is a great athlete, Gary Player. Great golfer. He wasn’t as big as the other men that were playing against him; great, big, strong guys.

Gary was a smaller guy. I don’t want to say too small. He is a friend of mine. He gets a little angry at people because he hits the ball just as far. He said, “I hit the ball further than them. Why am I small?” But he worked very, very hard. He was always doing exercise, he was always — He was well ahead of his time.

He never stopped. He won 168 golf tournaments. He won 18 majors, nine regular, and nine on the senior tour. 18 with 168. That’s the most tournaments, internationally the most tournaments anybody’s ever won. But he made a statement years ago, and I heard it, I heard it. He’s the first one. I think I’ve heard it a couple of times since, but he was the first.

He said, “It’s funny, the harder I work, the luckier I get.” And think of that, the harder I work, the luckier I get. And he worked hard, and you’re working hard, and the harder you work, the luckier you’re gonna get. Fourth is don’t lose your momentum. Momentum’s an amazing thing. Keep it going. I tell a story sometimes about a man who was a great, great real estate man.

He was a man who was admired for real estate all over the world, actually, but all over the country. He built Levittowns. He started as a man who built one house, then he built two, then he built five, then he built 20, then he built 1,000, then he built 2,000 and 3,000 a year. And he got very big, very big.

He was great at what he did. You see them all over the country still, Levittowns, so a long time ago. But he was, uh, the first of the really, really big home builders. And he became very rich, became a very rich man, and then he decided to sell. He was offered a lot of money by a big conglomerate, Gulf and Western, big conglomerate.

They didn’t do real estate, they didn’t know anything about it, but they saw the money he was making; they wanted to take it to a public company. And they gave him a lot of money, tremendous amount of money. More money than he ever thought he’d get. And he sold this company and he had nothing to do. He ended up getting a divorce, found a new wife.

Could you say a trophy wife? I guess we can say a trophy wife. It didn’t work out too well. But it doesn’t — And that doesn’t work out too well, I must tell you. A lot of trophy wives doesn’t work out, but it made him happy for a little while at least. But he found a new wife. He sold his little boat and he got a big yacht.

He had one of the biggest yachts anywhere in the world. He moved for a time to Monte Carlo and he led the good life. And time went by and he got bored. And 15 years later, the company that he sold to called him and they said, “The housing business is not for us.” You have to understand, when Bill Levitt was hot, when he had momentum, he’d go to the job sites every night.

He’d pick up every loose nail, he’d pick up every scrap of wood. If there was a bolt or a screw laying on the ground, he’d pick it up and he’d use it the next day and putting together a house. But now he was spoiled and he was rich, he was really rich. And they called and they said, “This isn’t for us, this business.

We need to do other things. Would you like to buy it back? We’ll sell it back to you cheap.” And they did. He bought it, he bought it. He thought he made a great deal and he was all excited. But it was 15 years later, he lost a lot of momentum. Remember the word momentum, and he lost everything, it just didn’t work, he lost everything.

And I was sitting at a party on Fifth Avenue one night a long time ago, and you had the biggest people in New York, the biggest people in the country, all in that party, and they were all saluting each other, how great they were, they were all telling each other, “I’m greater than you.” It gets to be really, gives you a headache sometimes, but they had all these people telling their own stories about how fantastic.

A cocktail party, and I looked over, and I was doing well, I was, I don’t know, I was invited to the party, so I had to be doing well. I was very, very young, but I made a name in real estate. And I looked over, and at the party sitting in a corner all by himself, nobody was talking to him, was Mr. Levitt.

He had just gone bankrupt, lost everything, he had lost everything, his home, everything. And I went over and talked to him because he was in the real estate business and I loved real estate, and I said, “Hello, Mr. Levitt, how are you?” He said, “Hello, Donald, it’s nice to meet you.” He knew me from being in the business.

I said, “Uh, so how’s it going?” He goes, “Not well. It’s really not going well, as you’ve probably read, it’s been a very, very tough period for me, son.” And I said, “So what happened? it’s just, anything you can do?” He goes, “No, there’s not a thing I can do.” He said, I’ll never forget, he said, “I’ve lost my momentum, I just didn’t have it. I used to have it but I lost my momentum.” So it’s a story I tell, and you have to know when you have the momentum, but sometimes you have to also know when you’ve lost the momentum and leaving a field, sometimes leaving what you’re doing sometimes is okay, but you gotta have momentum, but you have to know if that momentum’s gone, you have to know when to say it’s time to get out.

And it’s a very sad story, I remember that story so well like it was yesterday. Fifth, you have to have the courage to take risks and to do things differently. Eisenhower, again, was threatened with court martials as a young officer for advocating a new doctrine of tank warfare. Billy Mitchell was thrown out of the army for pioneering the use of air power.

They said, “What do you mean air power, don’t be ridiculous?” People willing to try and do things differently, it’s never gonna be easy for them, but they’re the ones that are gonna really do the important things, they’re the ones who are gonna make history. So don’t be ashamed and don’t be afraid, this is a time of incredible change and we do not need an officer Corps of careerists, and yes-men, and people that want to keep it going the way it’s been because it changes rapidly, especially what you’re doing.

Because believe it or not, you’re in a, a business and profession where things change as rapidly like warfare, the type of warfare. Unfortunately we’re getting to see it with Russia and Ukraine, and we’re studying it and it’s a very terrible thing to study. But we’re seeing the different forms of warfare.

We’re seeing the drones that are coming down at angles and with speed and with precision. We’ve never seen anything like it, we’ve never seen anything like it, and we’re learning from it, but your profession changes very rapidly, you’ve gotta keep, you’ve gotta be at the top of it, you’ve gotta be right at the head of the needle.

We need Patriots with guts, and vision, and backbone who take personal risks to ensure that America wins every single time, we wanna win our battles. You know, I defeated ISIS in three weeks. They told me it would take five years, and the general that did it, you know that story, was named Razin Caine. His name is Dan Caine, but his nickname was Razin Caine.

I said, “Your name is Razin Caine, I love that, is that a nickname?” “That’s what they call me, sir.” “I love you General, I think you’re the guy I am looking for, I want to know a guy named Razin Caine.” And he is now the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and he’s a highly respected man, and we defeated, think of it, ISIS, they said, they said, “How long in Washington?” “Sir, it will take four years to defeat them, maybe five, and maybe we won’t because they’re all over the place.” And then I met a man that said we can do it in three weeks, and he did it three weeks, and that’s, uh, why he’s the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff right now.

And, uh, we did things that nobody thought were possible. We’ve had great military success, when you have the right leader and you have the right people, and we have the right people, you’re gonna have tremendous succ- — success. Six, never lose your faith in America and the American people because they’re always gonna be there for you.

I went through a very tough time with some very radicalized sick people, and I say, I was investigated more than the great late Alphonse Capone. Alphonse Capone was a monster, he was a very hardened criminal. I went through more investigations than Alphonse Capone, and now I’m talking to you as president, can you believe this?

Can you believe it? So you gotta fight hard, and you gotta never give up and don’t let bad people take you down. You gotta let them, you gotta take them down. Got a lot of bad people out there and those people, you have to figure it out, but you also have a lot of great people. Finally, hold on to your culture and your traditions, because that’s what makes something really great, and that’s what’s made the army great, the culture and the tradition.

Whether we’re talking about a battalion, a business, a sports team, or even a nation, history has shown that in many ways culture is destiny. So do not let anyone destroy the culture of winning, you have to win. Winning is a beautiful thing, losing not for us, it’s not for us, not for anybody here. If it was, you wouldn’t be here.

From the earliest days of our nation, this supreme tradition of American military service has been passed down from soldier to soldier and generation to generation, and it’s a beautiful thing to watch. Graduating today is Cadet Ricky McMahon. Ricky’s great-grandfather, stand up wherever you are, Ricky, because you’re gonna like this.

Ricky’s great-grandfather served in World War I. His grandfather served in World War II, and his uncle, father and mother all graduated from West Point. Where is Ricky? In 2004, when Ricky was just a little, little tiny boy, who would think about that Ricky, a little tiny boy? His dad, Lieutenant Colonel Michael McMahon, made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation in Afghanistan.

Today, Lieutenant Colonel McMahon rests not far from here in the West Point Cemetery. Last year, two decades after losing his father, Ricky placed a gold chip from his dad’s 1985 class ring into a crucible along 87 other rings were with it of past West Point grads that were melted down to forge those now worn by the class of 2025. Do you all know that?

Do you know that, what you’re wearing? I want one. Ricky, I want one. Each of you will carry Michael’s memory with you always as you continue the legacy he gave you. It gave you something that would be so proud, he would be so proud, he is proud as he looks down. To Ricky and his mom, Jeanette, you embody what this place is all about, and I know Michael, he’s up there, he’s smiling broadly.

So proud. He’s so proud of you today, you know that. And, uh, he’s a man that couldn’t be, and he is a man that couldn’t be more proud. And I want to just, uh, I just love that story. And everybody’s ring, they’re gonna remember you, they’re gonna remember your family, and most importantly, you’re gonna remember a great tradition.

It’s a great tradition of West Point and of winners. Thank you very much. It’s great to meet you. Thank you. You can sit down. You want to come up? If you want to come up, come up. Come on up. Come on up here. That’s nice. A handsome guy. They’re all good-looking here. I don’t know what’s going on. Uh, whole crowd is beautiful. Thank you very much.

MCMAHON: I’d like to thank my mother, I’d like to thank my family, and I’d like to thank G-3. Go Gophers.

TRUMP: These are good-looking people, I’ll tell you General, what’s going on over [Inaudible]? Look like all a bunch of male models, I can’t stand it. (laughs) For two and a half centuries, our republic has endured because of heroes like Michael. They’ve laid down their lives for America, and because young people like all of you have picked up the banner of service and carried forward the flag of freedom from Lexington to Yorktown, from Gettysburg to Sicily, and from Inchon to Fallujah, America has been won and saved by an unbroken chain of soldiers and patriots who ran to the sound of the guns, leapt into the maw of battle and charged into the crucible of fire to seize the crown of victory no matter the odds, no matter the cost, no matter the danger.

All over the world, our soldiers have made sacred the ground where they shed their blood and showed their valor. From Seminary Ridge to San Juan Hill, Belleau Wood, Omaha Beach, Leyte Gulf, and Ardennes Forest, Chosin Reservoir, all over. And even a place called Pork Chop Hill. And in all of those battles and so many more, some of the best, brightest and bravest have come from right here at the US Military Academy at West Point, one of the great enabled places anywhere in the world.

America’s army has never failed us, and with leaders like the West Point class of 2025, the Army will never fail. We will never let you down. And over the last week, I had the honor of speaking to the heads of many countries and they would say, two weeks ago they say — The 8th, they said, “Sir, we’re celebrating the victory today of World War II.” And I said, “Wow, that’s nice.” Then I’d call another one, unrelated. “Sir, we’re celebrating the victory of World War II.” Then I called up President of France on something also unrelated.

He said, “Sir, we’re celebrating our victory over World War II.” I said, “Well, whoa. What have we here?” We help them a lot. And I- I had this Russia, I talked to Putin about ending that terrible war that’s going on. And he said they’re having a big victory march. And they did lose, in all fairness, 51 million people.

But they were all celebrating. The only country that wasn’t celebrating was the United States of America. And I said, isn’t it amazing? We were the ones that won the war. And we were helped. We were helped. In some cases we had to help them, but we were helped by some of the nations, and we were strongly helped by a couple of them.

But every one of them was celebrating. They had Victory Day, they called it Victory Day in Europe, Victory Day all over. And we weren’t even thought about, nobody had a Victory Day, and so I named that special day and another special day from now on as a holiday, but a holiday where we work because we don’t have enough days.

We’re going to be having so many holidays, we’re not going to be able to work anymore. But I named it for World War II, and a separate day in November, as you know, for World War I. I said, you know, all of these countries that participated in the war are celebrating, but the greatest country of them all, and the country that won the war, nobody even talked about.

And so, we’re going to be talking about it too from now on, and I think you’ll appreciate it. We won the First World War. We won the Second World War, and you know where we won them from? Right here at West Point. West Point won the war. You won two world wars, and plenty of other things, but you want to think of it. We don’t want to have a third world war, but we won the First World War.

We won the Second World War right here from West Point. And that’s something, and we’re gonna be talking about it. You know, they can talk about it, and in some cases, as you know, they didn’t do too much to help. They were ground down, but they were celebrating victory. No, we’re gonna celebrate victory because we’re the ones that won that war.

Standing before you today, I know that you will never stop. You will never quit. You will never yield. You will never tire. You will never, ever, ever surrender. Never give up. Remember that. Never give up. That’s another little factor I could have added. Never, ever give up. Raise your right hand. I pledge I will never, ever give up. You can never give up. You can never give up. If you do, you’re not gonna be successful because you’ll go through things that will be bad.

You’re gonna have great moments, you’re gonna have bad moments. You can never give up. Through every challenge and every battle, you’ll stand strong, you’ll work hard, you’ll stay tough, and you will fight, fight, fight, and win, win, win. So, I wanna just congratulate you all. I’m going back now to deal with Russia, to deal with China. [Laughs] What’s that- what’s that all about?

Trump critics attacked the speech.  Many of them probably prefer the speech we’ll have tomorrow.

 

Is the Pen Mightier Than the Pen?

President Trump thinks his is—-

(Before we dive into his most serious effort yet to destroy press freedom, we have to get off our chest the total disgrace our president has brought to the office and to this country with the proud display on his social media site and on the White House site of the AI-generated image of him as the next Pope. He might think it is funny but it is an international insult to hundreds of millions of Christians, Catholics in particular, and is unforgivable. How his religious right followers can find this acceptable in any way is beyond comprehension and their silence reveals a great deal about their—well, to use a word often  used against the left—weaponization of religion to get and keep political power.)

And his use of his pen–or marker—to try to silence the pens of the press, in this case, National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service is clearly the pen of a frightened dictator, not a president.

Dictators are scared to death of the press or of anyone who refuses to swallow whole their statements or who opposes them whether it is on the streets, in the chambers of congress, or in the courts.

I am the press.

I am the mainstream media.

I am one of Trump’s “enemies of the people.”

And I have never been afraid of the minor league Trumps I have encountered on rare occasions and I shall not be afraid of this Political Sultan of Swat who wants us to fear him because he thinks he is bigger than the game. He is not.

I have often said that I never broadcast fake news but I have broadcast news about fakes and Donald J. Trump is deep in the second category, a man who knows much about power and cares little about service, who knows little about law and cares even less about courts, a president who swore to uphold the Constitution who tries daily to dismantle it, a billionaire to says lesser people, many of whom helped elect him, will just have to live with his tariff-triggered tax increases. His suggestion that children will have to live with just two dolls for Christmas instead of thirty is astoundingly arrogant and completely unfeeling.

From his relentless attacks on the press that dares to challenge his lies, to his snatch, grab, and deportation of people too often without regard to their citizenship status or near-status, to his disregard for legal process for all within our borders, to his unreasoning chainsaw approach to turning bureaucrats into burdens on our unemployment system, there is nothing about this man that indicates he is anything but a power-devouring plutocrat.

He is not man enough to deal honestly with those who differ with him, particularly with those who point to his dishonesty.

Whether you agree with government funding of news organizations, even those our own government has used to penetrate the darkness of dictatorships in other parts of the world, is less important than what is really behind his executive order on funding of PBS and NPR.

It is censorship.

His disrespect of our system of government is on blatant display here.  We can expect legal challenges (likely to be accepted by judges who place law over loyalty) asserting his actions are obvious attempts to shut down media that he cannot control or that doesn’t parrot what he says. They need only to point to his disrespect for political process to prove their point.

The proper path to follow for a president who does not agree with something Congress has funded is to veto the bill or the line item in it. Congress then has the check on that power by having the ability to override the veto by two-thirds votes in each chamber.

But it’s too late to veto the funding this year and he doesn’t want to wait to veto it next year, so he’ll give some lawyers more billable hours when they challenge the latest executive order as unconstitutional.  And there are plenty of law firms that he can’t bully who will protect the constitution that he seems to relish violating.

“Government funding of news media in this environment is not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence,” said his order, an obviously hypocritical  statement from someone who is, himself, corrosive to journalistic independence. s. He would not have signed his order if he did not fear reporting that does not fit his definition of loyalty and is thus is independent of him. That’s why the key phrases are “in this environment” and “the appearance of journalistic independence.”  There is no room for journalistic independence in the mental and political “environment” he lives in and wants to force on our country.

First amendment protections of free speech and a free press be damned. This is another example of Trump’s disdain for two of the foremost parts of the foremost statement in the Bill of Rights.

The White House propaganda office put out a statement proclaiming, “President Trump Finally Ends the Madness of NPR, PBS.”

Here is one of the complaints:

  • In 2021, NPR declared the Declaration of Independence to be a document with “flaws and deeply ingrained hypocrisies.”
    • In 2022, NPR scrapped its decades-long Independence Day tradition of reading the Declaration of Independence on air to instead discuss “equality.”
    • NPR subsequently issued an “editor’s note” warning the Declaration of Independence is “a document that contains offensive language.”

And what does Trump KNOW about the Declaration? Apparently nothing that requires any thought. To hear him describe it in a recent ABC interview in his office where he keeps a copy of the document, he doesn’t know jack. He was asked what it means to him and his response clearly indicates it’s just a wall decoration.

 “Well, it means, exactly what it says. It’s a declaration, it’s a declaration of unity and love and respect, and it means a lot, and it’s something very special to our country.”

Love of—–who? Not George III, although Trump can identify with him.

Respect for—-what? Taxes on imported goods? Using the army to enforce civil law?

It just “means a lot” and it’s “very special.”  Too bad the interviewer didn’t ask him to quote his favorite line.

He has portraits of past Presidents on the office walls but when asked about their importance, his answers were disgraceful for someone who is their successor.

On FDR: “He was a serious president whether we like it or not. He was a four-termer and, uh, went through a war.”

On Lincoln: He was a great president. He went through a lot.”

(So says the great military genius who described the fight at Gettysburg as, “so much and so interesting, and so vicious and horrible, and so beautiful in so many different ways.”)

“James Monroe: “The Monroe Doctrine. I think the Monroe Doctrine is pretty important. That was his claim to fame.” 

Not that Trump has ever read the Doctrine or understands why it was written.  And it is not Monroe’s only claim to fame.  Don’t ask Trump for any other things Monroe did.

To call him an empty vessel on such topics is wrong. He not an empty vessel.  His is filled with himself nobody else is important to have any room in it.

As attorney Ron Filipkowski, also an editor-in-chief of Meidas Touch News, put it, “Trump has absolutely no clue what the Declaration of Independence is or what it says.”

We don’t know that Trump’s defunding of NPR and PBS is intended to intimidate other mainline media outlets, some of which he has sued because he didn’t like the tones of their voices.  But it clearly shows a disregard for an important part of the constitution.

Unfortunately some media organizations as well as legal firms have buckled to his threats.  This is no time to do that.

Long ago I was told the best thing to do with a playground bully is to slug him in the nose the first time you meet him. Some judges, even those he appointed, aren’t afraid to do that. More people including lawyers and media organizations should be unafraid, too.

It’s important in light of this obvious censorship effort that people fight back.  We can fight back with donations to public broadcasting whether we agree totally or partially with what it says.  Protecting the right to say things is being taken from those unwilling to punch a bully in the nose.  Let it not be taken from us by whatever means he wants to take it.

He’s afraid of those who fight him.  A scared little man with delusions of adequacy that will cost us our country if we tolerate him.

-0-

Make America—

America.

Let us NOT make America great again—

—because it has never been what those who mouth the slogan promote.

The reality is starkly different.  We should not want the greatness that is being advocated by the slogan-sayers.

The poem, Let America be America captures what we have never been but can be yet.

Not “again,” but to be the America we erroneously think we have been.

The poem comes from a member of one of the many minority communities to whom America’s greatness is not what was, but what is yet to be, people who do not seem to be part of the Trumpian equation of future greatness.

THIS is what we should be striving for in the words of the great African-American poet Langston Hughes of Joplin, Missouri ninety years ago when the ideals of America seemed far, far away for the racially and economically dispossessed.

Let America Be America Again

Let America be America again.

Let it be the dream it used to be.

Let it be the pioneer on the plain

Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

 

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—

Let it be that great strong land of love

Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme

That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

 

O, let my land be a land where Liberty

Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,

But opportunity is real, and life is free,

Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There’s never been equality for me,

Nor freedom in this “homeland of the free.”)

 

Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?

And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,

I am the Negro bearing slavery’s scars.

I am the red man driven from the land,

I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek—

And finding only the same old stupid plan

Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.

 

I am the young man, full of strength and hope,

Tangled in that ancient endless chain

Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!

Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!

Of work the men! Of take the pay!

Of owning everything for one’s own greed!

 

I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.

I am the worker sold to the machine.

I am the Negro, servant to you all.

I am the people, humble, hungry, mean—

Hungry yet today despite the dream.

Beaten yet today—O, Pioneers!

I am the man who never got ahead,

The poorest worker bartered through the years.

 

Yet I’m the one who dreamt our basic dream

In the Old World while still a serf of kings,

Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,

That even yet its mighty daring sings

In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned

That’s made America the land it has become.

O, I’m the man who sailed those early seas

In search of what I meant to be my home—

For I’m the one who left dark Ireland’s shore,

And Poland’s plain, and England’s grassy lea,

And torn from Black Africa’s strand I came

To build a “homeland of the free.”

 

The free?

Who said the free?  Not me?

Surely not me?  The millions on relief today?

The millions shot down when we strike?

The millions who have nothing for our pay?

For all the dreams we’ve dreamed

And all the songs we’ve sung

And all the hopes we’ve held

And all the flags we’ve hung,

The millions who have nothing for our pay—

Except the dream that’s almost dead today.

 

O, let America be America again—

The land that never has been yet—

And yet must be—the land where every man is free.

The land that’s mine—the poor man’s, Indian’s, Negro’s, ME—

Who made America,

Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,

Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,

Must bring back our mighty dream again.

 

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose—

The steel of freedom does not stain.

From those who live like leeches on the people’s lives,

We must take back our land again,

America!

 

O, yes,

I say it plain,

America never was America to me,

And yet I swear this oath—

America will be!

 

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,

The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,

We, the people, must redeem

The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.

The mountains and the endless plain—

All, all the stretch of these great green states—

And make America again!

Langston Hughes died in 1967 while our country was locked into a great struggle to be what American could be.  We are locked in another great struggle today to make America again—-but, in truth, it is a struggle to degrade the greatness it already was and the greatness it must still try to become.

—-a greatness the great slogan-speaker will never understand.

 

I am glad I don’t drink coffee

—And that I bought my new car last year.

—And that I bought the new televisions for our new home last month.

—And that I bought my new wardrobe (I’ve lost a lot of weight in the last couple of years) late last year and early this year.

—And that I do not need the latest technological tweak that comes in a cell phone.

—And that I was prudent in my younger years and set up a retirement program that will let me afford at least the two eggs I have each morning for breakfast.

—And that, although I am a descendant of farmers, I am not one.

—And that I went to a state university before the federal thought police dictated how I could learn by punishing how it taught.

—And that I worked for people to whom “fair” and “balanced” actually meant “fair” and “balanced.”

—And that I experienced the long fight for acceptance of DEI and witnessed the good that has come from its eventual and painful acceptance.

—And that my study of history shows acquiescence to the words and deeds of demagogues, dictators, and authoritarians is never the answer; that resistance, refusal, and an understanding of rights is essential to defending and enhancing freedom

—for all of us.

.AND

—that courage and boldness will have greater political rewards than cowardice and fear in the face of intimidation and threats.

In the early, dark, days of the American Revolution, with Washington’s army on the run and seeking safety by fleeing across the Delaware River to Pennsylvania, one among those retreating troops—born an Englishman but who had come to recognize tyranny as an evil—began to put his thoughts on paper, not about retreat but about the importance of resistance and counterattack.

His name was Thomas Paine and the pamphlet he wrote in those fearful days became a rallying point for the nation fighting to be born. It has been described as, “an important catalyst for the rise in popular support for the revolution” that Paine envisaged as the start of “a worldwide struggle against oppression and for the rights of the average man.”

His colleagues sometimes called him “Common Sense” Paine because of that pamphlet. As he and his fellow troops headed for Pennsylvania, he began writing a follow-up pamphlet.  He would call it, when published in November of 1776, The American Crisis No. 1.

This is a time to recall the opening words of that pamphlet:

“THESE are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.”

Four score and seven years later, also in November, Abraham Lincoln told a large crowd gathered at the cemetery near Gettysburg:

It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Our national soul is under great trial and trying to appease a tyrant, as the world learned in Europe in the 1930s, is not the answer. This is no time for Paine’s “summer soldier and sunshine patriot.” It is time to remember Lincoln’s call that those who sacrificed so much before us “shall not have died in vain,” and that we must protect “that government of the people, by the people, for the people,” and make sure that “it shall not perish from the earth.”

For those who are greatly alarmed at the perilous direction of our country, we turn again to Paine who wrote, in part:

It is surprising to see how rapidly a panic will sometimes run through a country. All nations and ages have been subject to them…Yet panics, in some cases, have their uses; they produce as much good as hurt. Their duration is always short; the mind soon grows through them and acquires a firmer habit than before. But their peculiar advantage is that they are the touchstones of sincerity and hypocrisy, and bring things and men to light which might otherwise have lain forever undiscovered. In fact, they have the same effect on secret traitors which an imaginary apparition would upon a private murderer. They sift out the hidden thoughts of man, and hold them up in public to the world.

It is a comforting thought that things that most alarm many of us will not endure, and in the end will remind us that having seen them and survived or defeated them will leave us wiser if not stronger.

But we cannot wait them out.

Resistance is” the only choice for those who witness each day the efforts to make us less free. Our generations must never be found guilty of esteeming too lightly the benefits that we have accepted too cheaply,” as Paine said.

The United states has led the “worldwide struggle against oppression and for the rights of the average man ” but it cannot lead the world in that fight if it does not fight it within itself.

Acquiescence only leads to more loss. It is we the people who must fight for the defense of our freedoms that are based on a government of, by and for all of us.  We, not he, will make America great again.  And we must be unafraid to fight him who imperils everything we have become to ourselves and to the oppressed world through 250 years of struggle and achievement.

Anything less makes us traitors to ourselves.

 

 

Would He Really Have Said This? 

We wonder if he even saw it. Or read it.

He certainly didn’t write it because he only writes in the middle of the night and what he writes is semi-incoherent and dotted with numerous misspellings, usually lacking honesty, is often loaded with hateful attacks on those who dare to disagree with him, and id intended only to keep his base inflamed.

His Holy Week statement, issued on Palm Sunday, clearly was written by someone else. It is typically Trump, though, in that it reeks of faux sincerity and reverence.

Last Sunday, the day the statement was released, the White House listed his schedule for the day:

12:01 AM The President arrives Palm Beach International Airport

12:10 AM  The President departs Palm Beach International Airport en route Mar-a-Lago
12:25 AM  The President arrives Mar-a-Lago

10:26 AM  The President departs Mar-a-Lago for his golf club

10:34 AM  The President arrives at Trump International Golf Club West Palm Beach

5:00 PM  The President departs Mar-a-Lago enroute to Palm Beach International

5:15 PM  The President Arrives Palm Beach International

5:25 PM The President departs Palm Beach International en route Joint Base Andrews

7:30 PM  The President arrives at Joint Base Andrews

7:40 PM  The President departs Joint Base Andrews en route to the White House

7:50 PM  The President arrives at The White House.

We doubt that The President paused during his afternoon of worshiping the putter and the 5-iron and the 2-wood to have a prayer to celebrate Christ’s death and resurrection, as he promised that he would be doing.

This Holy Week, Melania and I join in prayer with Christians celebrating the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ — the living Son of God who conquered death, freed us from sin, and unlocked the gates of Heaven for all of humanity.

Beginning with Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and culminating in the Paschal Triduum, which begins on Holy Thursday with the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, followed by Good Friday, and reaching its pinnacle in the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday night. This week is a time of reflection for Christians to memorialize Jesus’ crucifixion—and to prepare their hearts, minds, and souls for His miraculous Resurrection from the dead.

During this sacred week, we acknowledge that the glory of Easter Sunday cannot come without the sacrifice Jesus Christ made on the cross. In His final hours on Earth, Christ willingly endured excruciating pain, torture, and execution on the cross out of a deep and abiding love for all His creation. Through His suffering, we have redemption. Through His death, we are forgiven of our sins. Through His Resurrection, we have hope of eternal life. On Easter morning, the stone is rolled away, the tomb is empty, and light prevails over darkness — signaling that death does not have the final word.

This Holy Week, my Administration renews its promise to defend the Christian faith in our schools, military, workplaces, hospitals, and halls of government. We will never waver in safeguarding the right to religious liberty, upholding the dignity of life, and protecting God in our public square.

As we focus on Christ’s redeeming sacrifice, we look to His love, humility, and obedience — even in life’s most difficult and uncertain moments. This week, we pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon our beloved Nation. We pray that America will remain a beacon of faith, hope, and freedom for the entire world, and we pray to achieve a future that reflects the truth, beauty, and goodness of Christ’s eternal kingdom in Heaven.

May God bless you and your family during this special time of year and may He continue to bless the United States of America.

It makes sense, doesn’t it?  The President, who proclaimed that he would “celebrate the crucifixion and resurrection” would observe Palm Sunday by playing golf all day surrounded by PALM TREES.

Now that’s a sincere Christian for you. It’s a definition of Palm Sunday most of us never considered.

We wonder if he defended the Christian faith by mentioning the Savior’s name on the golf course, perhaps when one of his shots went the wrong way.

We have read some news accounts of The President’s Palm Sunday looking for accounts of Melania joining him in this celebration and observance, as he said she would. But nobody reported her presence.  It was probably a plot by the Associated Press to ignore her presence.  Had to be. Or maybe it was CNN or CBS or ABC or NBC.

And we wonder how his prayer “that America will remain a beacon of faith, hope, and freedom for the entire world” with a future “that reflects the truth, beauty, and goodness of Christ’s eternal kingdom in Heaven” sounds to the tens of thousands of people who are targets of his revenge and his deportations.

They didn’t have time for Palm Sunday golf.  They were too busy—really praying.

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The Meaning of a Wisconsin Election

When a people choose vindictive self-service over broader public concern, they make an eventually correctible mistake.

When Congress replaces responsibility for the many with loyalty to one, a nation is in trouble.

When courts replace justice with ideology, a nation might be lost.

We live in and often must endure our own humanness. But there are protections that we must trust within our political system that keep our mistake from becoming our destruction.

This is such a time.

The current administration has attacked the courts and the “unelected judges” who are overturning unconstitutional executive orders, preferring that the court system get out of the way. We can be grateful that our founders made the court a road block to injustice.

Elected? The dangers of an elected judiciary were on plain view in Wisconsin a few days ago where an effort was made to buy a seat on the state supreme court for someone designated as a Trump supporter who would tilt the court majority politically toward Trump.

It has become obvious to many within the last few days that they were mistaken when they accepted without question the promises given last year by Donald Trump.  Now, they must place their hope with a Congress in which some are beginning to question their loyalty to him and wonder if they have the courage to remember their responsibility.

In the end, though, it is the courts that have the ultimate responsibility for saving our nation.

The courts cannot completely nor immediately reverse the course set by the mistake. But the courts are our ultimate and final refuge—

—-which is why the recent Wisconsin Supreme Court election was so critical, not just for Wisconsin, but for all of us; not just because of WHO was elected but because of WHAT was rejected.

History has shown liberal or conservative-tilting courts are not always as clearly divided as the labels we attach to their individual members seem to indicate they will be. There is a middle ground that often is the resting place for compromise on carefully designed decisions. And it is that middle ground on the finest points of a case that might produce no major progress but will save us from any major regression.

Missouri originated a system that avoids the fight we recently saw in Wisconsin that featured a concerted effort to buy a seat on the Supreme Court. It is regrettable that we still allow people to try to buy part of our state constitution by financing multi-million dollar petition campaigns (last year’s sports wagering campaign in which the casino industry spent more than $40 million to get 3,000 more people to vote for sports wagering than voted against it after a misleading campaign is an example) and they can bankroll candidates for the legislature in an effort to buy laws.

But because our highest court judges are not elected, they cannot be bought.

Chief Justice Laura Denvir Smith, who also was the Chair of the Appellate Judicial Commission, told the Missouri Senate Rules Committee in 2007:

Judges are not intended to be politicians, choosing sides based on political considerations, or what the judge’s neighbors, fundraisers or special interest groups might think was best.  Deciding cases based on the judge’s or another’s perception of what is popular or politically expedient is inconsistent with one’s duty as a judge and is just plain wrong.  

The judicial branch of our democracy instead must be neutral, seeing that the laws are applied fairly, and providing stability in the law so that there is consistency in the rules by which people live their lives.  Although some court decisions are not popular, popularity is not the benchmark of quality in the judicial branch: The nature of our business is such that half the people are unhappy because they lost and some of the ones who won are unhappy because they don’t think they won enough.  

In every case, from a marital dissolution that only affects the couple and their children to an issue of constitutional validity, the role of the judicial branch is to resolve disputes neutrally and fairly based on the facts that are presented in court.  If they are doing their job correctly, judges decide based on the law and the facts, not based on the possible political ramifications of different results.

Sometimes the public, the parties and even the judges deciding a case are unhappy with its outcome, because the law may not produce a result that accords with our personal preferences. But if you ask those same people, when they have a case in court, whether they want a judge to pre-decide it based on the judge’s views of what will look good in the newspaper the next day, or, instead, whether they want a judge who will come to court with an open mind, listen to their side of the case, and reach a fair decision – they will pick the open mind and the fair decision – every time.

No one wants to worry that the case will be decided against them because the other side, or the other side’s lawyer, gave a large contribution to the judge’s election campaign, or to those politicians who appointed or nominated the judge for office.  Missourians learned long ago, before they adopted the nonpartisan plan, that is exactly what can and does happen when politics becomes a key factor in determining who will be a judge.

Missouri was the first state to adopt a non-partisan judicial selection process somce adopted by a majority of the states, although some states have added their own tweaks.

Although we adopted our plan in 1940 in an effort to take as much politics as possible out of the judicial selection process, the issue goes back to our first Constitution that was written in 1820 and had to be accepted by Congress before Missouri was allowed to become the 24th state.

That Constitution had the governor nominating judges at all levels and if the senate gave its consent to his nomination, the judges cold serve until they were 65 as long as they engaged in “good behavior.” But if the legislature found a judge having badly, it could by a two-thirds vote in each legislative chamber, ask the governor to remove a judge.

In the next couple of decades, though, Missourians began to doubt the wisdom of that latter point because it made the courts subservient to legislative politics and legislators were too influenced by special interests. Missouri became one of the states that decided the answer was judicial elections, legalized here in 1850.

By the start of the Twentieth Century and the machine politics of the time—the Pendergast family’s control of Democrat politics in its home town of Kansas City and in much of Missouri and the Butler machine in St. Louis, for example—the public became concerned that the judiciary’s independence was in doubt.

Beginning in 1903, when four state senators were indicted for taking bribes to vote on legislation specifying ingredients for Missouri-made baking powder and the supreme court overturned the first conviction and sentence and the other three cases never went to trial, there was suspicion that the supreme court had its own “boodle” scandal.

The Pendergast grip on Democratic politics statewide in the 1930s led to a push for adoption of a nonpartisan court plan known as “merit selection.” It was part of a national movement aimed at assuring our courts would be a true third branch of government.

When the legislature refused to hold an election on the proposal, an initiative petition forced a vote—and Missouri voters bought the idea in November, 1940.  When the legislature put a repeal of the plan on the 1942 ballot, voters strongly rejected it.

When our present state constitution was adopted in 1945, the plan was not touched.

The plan was limited to judges of the Missouri Supreme Court and courts of appeals. It also applied to some lower courts, including the probate courts, in the city of St. Louis and Jackson County. Other counties were given the option of adopting the plan.  But only six of our circuit courts have been put under the non-partisan plan, recognized nationally as The Missouri Plan.

Here is how it works:

A nonpartisan judicial commission, the Appellate Judicial Commission, solicits applications, interviews candidates and picks three finalists. The commission has three citizens appointed by the governor, three lawyers appointed by the Missouri Bar, with the chair being the chief justice of the Supreme Court. The commission picks three finalists whose names are made public, and the governor makes the final choice.

When a vacancy occurs, the commission seeks applicants and encourages the public to nominate well-qualified candidates for consideration. The commission reviews the applications of lawyers who wish to join the court and selects which applicants it will interview, then conducts those interviews in public. The commission then deliberates in a closed meeting to select a panel of three nominees for the governor’s consideration.

The governor has sixty days to announce his choice. If the governor fails to make a pick, the commission re-convenes and fills the vacancy. That has never been necessary.

The new judges then serve at least a year but then have to stand for retention in a statewide vote. The vote does not involve opposing candidates. It only asks citizens if the judge should be kept in office. There is no campaigning although the Missouri Bar’s Judicial Performance Evaluation Committee (made up of lawyers and non-lawyers) gives voters information about each of the judges up for retention so informed votes can be cast.

Although all counties can adopt this procedure, only a few use it. Only six jurisdictions do evaluations and hold non-partisan circuit judge elections—St. Louis city and county, Clay, Jackson, and Platte Counties in the Kansas City metro area, and Greene County (the Springfield area).

The plan is recognized as one that keeps politics out of judicial selection as much as possible. Unlike the federal system in which a President can reward friendly lawyers with juicy judicial appointments, this plan creates a process that sends up three people whose qualifications are based n their understanding of the law and the proper administration of it. There is no Senate approval of nominees, which would run the risk of politics being a major part of the process.

It does not keep those who want to degrade the legal system for their own protection or benefit from complaining about “unelected activist judges.”  But, having learned how it operates, this system might make it clear that some of the current attacks on the judiciary have no grounds, at least not here and not in our appellate court system.

The Missouri Non-Partisan Court Plan is the greatest protection we have against those who want to replace justice with ideology.

 

The Immigrants 

I had planned on a more frivolous entry for today, but Monday I read Barbara Shelley’s commentary on The Missouri Independent website and I think it is far more important than anything I could offer.  She was an respected reporter with the Kansas City Star in my reporting days and remains a respected observer of our times. In this entry, she puts human faces onto the victims of President Trump’s vicious immigration policies that show no concern for who is hurt by them—people or our nation.

Once in America, immigration was a sign of our greatness, of our country’s promise, and our ancestors (yours and mine) came here to seek it. Now those people are villainized with lies from our President.

It is heart-breaking for one who memorized in his school days Thomas Wolfe’s Promise of America to read Barbara’s description of what President Trump has brutally cancelled in our national character. Perhaps you memorized it, too:

” So, then, to every man his chance—to every man, regardless of his birth, his shining, golden opportunity—to every man the right to live, to work, to be himself, and to become whatever thing his manhood and his vision can combine to make him — this, seeker, is the promise of America.”

Here’s her commentary about the crushing of that promise:

Friends and family arrived bearing flowers. Smiling volunteers pointed the way to seats.

Everyone loves a naturalization ceremony. I attended one recently at a branch of the Kansas City Public Library and watched 71 new American citizens swear allegiance to the Constitution of the United States. Even more immigrants had taken the oath earlier in the day.

“This room is full of the most brilliant minds that the world knows,” Wasim Khan, a cultural leader, told the group. “You guys are the teachers. You know what it takes to be here.”

After the ceremony, as League of Women Voters volunteers swooped in to invite the new citizens to register, I asked a few people how long they have been in America.

Eight years, 12 years, too many years to count.

Naturalized citizenship is a long, expensive process and everyone who achieves it does so through a combination of grit and good fortune.

I’ve attended several of these ceremonies over the years to cheer on people I’ve had the privilege to know.

One was a piano teacher who came here from Kyrgyzstan to study at American universities. Several others arrived as refugees. They overcame language barriers and all the hardships of poverty to arrive at their naturalization ceremonies as educated, hardworking contributors to their communities.

The recent ceremony was no different from others I’ve witnessed, but I couldn’t summon the usual measure of joy.

Rather, I kept wondering what a naturalization ceremony will look like once the xenophobic policies of the Trump administration have been fully brought to bear.

Last year, I signed up to participate on a team that would sponsor a refugee family, in cooperation with a resettlement agency. I told myself that it would be a satisfying act of resistance in case Donald J. Trump won the presidency.

Along with others, I welcomed a family of eight at Kansas City’s airport on a snowy evening 12 days before Trump’s inauguration. They were exhausted and one person was ill but they were here and we were ready to introduce them to America.

We had no idea how difficult that was going to be.

Within a week of taking office, Trump had slammed the door to new refugee admissions and cut off funding for the families who had recently arrived.

The resettlement community had anticipated the first move. It was gobsmacked by the second. With an executive order, Trump wiped out money that was supposed to pay for rent and utilities, medical screenings and other services for hundreds of people who had entered the United States legally in the last 90 days.

Agencies went into emergency fundraising mode, but Trump’s action was crippling. The agency I volunteer for lost nearly $1 million of federal money it had counted on. Part of that amount was already spent in rent deposits and other costs.

It’s nearly impossible to cover a gap like that through donations. Within weeks two agencies in Kansas City laid off close to half their staffs. A smaller nonprofit laid off its entire refugee services staff. A mid-Missouri agency shut down its resettlement program.

My role in the resistance now includes scanning job ads for something that might work for adults who speak only a little English and will have to ride to work on the bus. I’ve become familiar with the difficulties of booking an appointment at the local Social Security office — and good luck once Elon Musk gets through with that program.

The family that my team works with was routed from their ancestral home and spent years in limbo in a neighboring country. The adults are fully aware that the leader of the United States does not want them here.

Their status is legal, but they are afraid. They grieve family members left behind in a refugee camp, clinging to hopes of a reunion that may not happen in this lifetime.

In my head, I construct sentences that begin with “at least.”

At least they aren’t here on humanitarian parole status — a category of immigrants more endangered than refugees.

At least they have a place to stay, a small rental house in a hollowed-out part of Kansas City. A recent New York Times story reported on newly arrived refugees in St. Louis languishing in motels on highway interchanges because the resettlement agency there was unable to pay apartment leases.

At least members of my family have friends. Immigrants from their home country have sought them out and embraced them.

The situation could always be worse. But it is bad enough.

Refugee resettlement is a way of participating in the global good. Therefore, it is not a priority in Trump’s “America First” agenda.

The immigrants whom I witnessed as they became naturalized citizens last month represented 36 nations, including some of the most troubled, like Haiti, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

They had cleared a high bar to get to the ceremony. All of them passed a civics test that most Americans would find daunting. They were deemed to be of “good moral character,” a standard that we don’t necessarily demand from our nation’s leaders.

Congratulations to the new Americans. May we always find a path for them.

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Or, may we rediscover the greatness that provided a path for them and have the courage to admit the disgrace we have allowed our President to bring to the Promise of America.

Spineless

So they don’t want people such as you and me to tell them face to face what their apparent saint in the White House is doing to the country with no apparent regard for who among us is hurt by his actions.

A few days ago, Congressman Richard Hudson of North Carolina suggested his fellow Republicans avoid holding in-person town hall meetings after some constituents unloaded on some of his colleagues when they did hold one.  One video showed one of those who represents folks like us fleeing from the stage because he couldn’t stand the heat.

Hudson is the Chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. He charged, without offering any proof that we have heard, that the town halls are being hijacked by Democratic activists, which seems to imply that there are no Republicans who have been moved to activism because all Republicans think the big guy is doing such wonderful things .

Funny, isn’t it?—that whenever people take to streets with pitchforks that it’s never the local folks who are causing the ruckus. It’s those lousy activists from the other party or other side of an issue who have driven for several hours just to be nasty to those poor elected representatives.

Some of those encouraging our representatives not to talk to us say those troublesome outside agitators are being paid!  How interesting that the Congresspeople seem to think nobody from their districts wants to put in their two cents worth about the events in Washington and wants a chance to be heard without buying anything, or anybody. It’s those well-paid troublemakers from somewhere else. Surely, the home folks wouldn’t be that worked up.

So they flee, shouting “outside agitators” over their shoulders.

There are two words that are not spoken as frequently as they should be to our political leaders at all levels who make such claims: “Prove it.”

Here in Jefferson City, it’s not much of a problem.  I can’t remember the last time our Congressman even showed a face around here, let alone had the mistaken impression that constituents might not be thankful for the voting record of their representative and what is being done to them. The one time I dropped by our most recent Congressman’s office, I found the door locked and when someone opened it, the attitude seemed to be “Who do you think you are?”

But elsewhere? Activists from the minority party are coming out of the woodwork and they’re not all outside or paid. But if even one insider in the district is asking questions, the Representative for that person should feel obligated to answer. Refusing to do so makes the Representative who lacks the courage to question anything his exalted leader is saying or doing uncomfortable. And what about the good unpaid people of the majority party? Would they never think to complain?

Congressman Tim Burchett of Tennessee claimed, “It’s pretty clear that they’ve got professional instigators, people that are showing up that are not even constituents,. And it’s getting dangerous. They’re going to people’s houses, they’re putting notices out, where do they live, where do they go to church, where do they eat — they did that on me. That kind of activity … breeds a very dangerous situation for families.”

Nobody in the White House is creating “a very dangerous situation for families”?

Speaking truth to power isn’t welcomed. The big guy in the White House won’t tolerate it from members of Congress or even from world leaders and lately has been denouncing some of his media interrogators as beneath his disrespect.  Members of Congress are upset when their constituents do have the courage to comment, and the constituents aren’t nice about it. They are upset at an obligation they should feel to hear what their people think even if it’s direct.

The big problem is that Republican members of Congress can’t dodge the issues. Or maybe we should say they can’t DOGE the issues.

Get a spine, Congressfolk.  Look at what the impact on the folks back home caused by a little man with a messianic complex. Come home and tell your farmers their markets are going to suffer because of tariffs, that the concerns about the social safety net are not valid, that the dismantling of the weather bureau and the disaster relief agencies  and the air traffic control system—and the price of Mexican beer should not be of concern.

We recall from our history-readings that when Andrew Jackson felt he had been wronged by future Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton and when Jackson was threatening to shoot Benton in a Tennessee hotel confrontation, he sounded at Benton, “Defend yourself, you damned rascal!”

It’s time for the damned rascals who are scared of the man in the White House (whose idol happens to be Andrew Jackson) who places loyalty above service; retribution above public responsibility; and lies above truth to explain themselves to the people who trusted them enough to put them in their offices.

Those who lack the courage to explain to their people why they lack the courage to oppose policies hurtful to the public interest don’t deserve more time to display their spinelessness.

Well—

They can run but they can’t hide.  And when they run again, the voting activists that they did not wish to face where they live might have a more important message than the “outside agitators” they didn’t want to address had.

Cartoon Man/Man as Cartoon

Editorial cartoonists occupy a unique position in American journalism.  They can comfort. They can interpret. They can inform. They can provoke.

They can capture a moment in our national existence in a way that is memorable. They can show in their work things we mortals grasp for words to express.  Steve Burns, a Pulitzer-Prize winning children’s book author, works for the San Diego Union Tribune.

A few days ago, he captured an image of the American economy that is not what our president promised in his campaign it would be. “Stocks Down,” he called it.

It’s the most creative illustration I have seen of our president and the times he has brought down upon us.

Burns’ cartoons are syndicated nationally by Creators Syndicate.

We hope he can do another portrait someday of our president that reverses the lines, not because we want him to succeed but because we want our nation to prosper no matter what he eventually does to it.

Hats off to Steve Burns who uniquely captures this moment for our nation.

(Image credit: Creators Syndicate March 14, 2025)

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Patrick and Volodymyr

A country facing tyrannical control.  Enemy forces are at the gate. Should an effort be made for a cease fire or even full peace?  How great a price will be paid either way?

The other day I picked up a book containing a speech that might have been given 250 years ago. The style of public speaking has changed a lot in that time. But the situation and he sentiments of he remarks are appropriate for our time.

…The question before the House is one of awful moment to this country. For my own part, I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery; and in proportion to the magnitude of the subject ought to be the freedom of the debate. It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at truth, and fulfill the great responsibility which we hold to God and our country. Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings.

Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it.

I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past. And judging by the past, I wish to know what there has been in the conduct of the British ministry for the last ten years to justify those hopes with which gentlemen have been pleased to solace themselves and the House. Is it that insidious smile with which our petition has been lately received? Trust it not, sir; it will prove a snare to your feet. Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss. Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of our petition comports with those warlike preparations which cover our waters and darken our land. Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled that force must be called in to win back our love? Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These are the implements of war and subjugation; the last arguments to which kings resort. I ask gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission? Can gentlemen assign any other possible motive for it? Has Great Britain any enemy, in this quarter of the world, to call for all this accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir, she has none. They are meant for us: they can be meant for no other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us those chains which the British ministry have been so long forging. And what have we to oppose to them? Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last ten years. Have we anything new to offer upon the subject? Nothing. We have held the subject up in every light of which it is capable; but it has been all in vain. Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication? What terms shall we find which have not been already exhausted? Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves. Sir, we have done everything that could be done to avert the storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and Parliament. Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the throne! In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of peace and reconciliation. There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free — if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending — if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained — we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of hosts is all that is left us!

They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. The millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable — and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come.

It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace — but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!

We don’t really know how accurate the account of this great American speech is. There was no transcript taken at the time in the Virginia House of Burgesses. .Author Willam Wirt reconstructed it in his 1817 biography of Patrick Henry, leading some historians to question its authenticity.

Whether these words were fully spoken 250 years ago, on March 23, 1775 or whether they were partially made up or completely made up by Wirt 208 years ago, the situation and the sentiment have a certain resonance as the President of Ukraine deals with Russia’s war on his country and the demands by Ukraine’s (former?) ally that it turn over a major part of its economy to the United States and a significant part of its territory to Russia.

We doubt that our president ever read the speech or, if he did, that he ever understood its importance to our nation’s attitude about ourselves or others who share our democratic vision.

“Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?”

What should be OUR answer in today’s world? We already know his answer. Chains and slavery.