OPINION: D-Day and MAGA: Two Different Americas

On every June 6th, the annual anniversary of the D-Day invasion, as a grateful citizen of the United States and as an ex-serviceman in the US Army, I reflect on the courageous actions of brave members of “The Greatest Generation” who fought and resoundingly defeated fascism during World War II.

Indeed, the storming of the beaches of Normandy by American and Allied troops – a key milestone in the War – reminds us of so many important characteristics, such as civic service and commitment to values. Regretfully, those qualities contrast with the predominant approach of the MAGA movement that has taken hold in the contemporary United States during the presidency of Donald J. Trump.

To set out that contrast, D-Day, on the one hand, represents so many laudable aspects. The united fight of liberal democracies against the fascist dictatorships of Hitler’s Nazi Germany and Mussolini’s Italy. The close alliance of and common cause of the United States with Great Britain, Canada, Free France, Free Poland and others (not to mention a desperate Soviet Union). The self-sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of citizen soldiers and others for the greater good. The cooperation of serious-minded and substantial Euro-Atlantic political and military leaders, such as Roosevelt, Churchill, Eisenhower, Montgomery, and De Gaulle. Carefully considered decision-making based on deliberation and data combined with the capacity to choose to do great things. The extraordinary generosity of rebuilding a destroyed Europe, including Germany, and of welcoming millions of displaced persons to the Land of Liberty.

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On the other hand, there are the tendencies that increasingly typify contemporary America under the sway of Trump and his sycophants.

A tolerance for if not complicity with fascism and tyranny, particularly Putin and his Mafia-based Russia. Mainstream commentators are reasonable in speculating or suggesting that Trump, based on his actions, may in fact be a Russian asset as well as someone who emulates Putin’s long-term authoritarian rule. It is widely remarked by many “lost Republicans” – myself included – that Ronald Reagan, who made rubble of the Berlin Wall, would be turning in his grave.

Disdain for the international rule of law, including integrity of territorial sovereignty; Trump’s direct threats against Canada and Greenland; and his repetitive attempts to appease or accommodate Putin with regard to Ukraine, are examples.

Intentional isolation from and belligerence toward long-term friends, including the de facto downgrading of the historically successful NATO is another example. What pragmatists deem a re-ordering of strategic settings resonates more like a petulant resentment of European culture and its global contributions.

With Trump, we are witnessing the primacy of narcissism, nihilism and self-interest – couched in the rhetoric of “the deal” – above long-held values and any sense of civic duty; the downright immaturity, silliness and pettiness of a self-obsessed rather than self-aware president, as currently on full display with his new feud with another “man of his times” Elon Musk.

In the years to come, we’re likely to see the emergence of the direct benefits to the Trump family and cronies of various pronouncements of what are ostensibly policy “deals.”

As a child in the New York City public school system, our presidents were represented to us as paragons of honor and virtue (even Nixon had the good grace to resign when caught in a cover-up) – the leaders, who regardless of party affiliation, exemplified the behaviors we should aspire to in adulthood. Now, it’s bizarre to contemplate Trump’s toxic combination of ego, selfishness, resentments, and property developer scruples as a model for any young person.

The elimination of factuality as a basis for policy and for political practice. It is almost more efficient to fact-find Trumpism rather than fact-check it, so rare is the inclusion of objective truth. It is frightening to watch a US president knowingly or instinctively repeat the official KGB playbook of disinformation: deny, deflect and distort.

Opposition to if not hatred and racism against those new arrivals seeking to make their way in America. My parents were welcomed to the United States as post-World War II refugees. The safe haven and new beginning afforded them – after the horrors of war – was returned in their superlative citizenship, loyalty and contribution to American social capital. Their modern-day equivalents, many with legitimate asylum claims, are treated a priori like criminals.

The substitution of statesmanship with social media posts – the digital equivalent of grunting. What would have been one of the best and most honorable jobs in the world – White House speechwriter – is now one of the worst. Indeed, near-interns gleefully re-sending memes of Trump as the Pontiff seemingly have more influence over the course of events.

In all of this, including its post-truth parameters, we are at risk of losing a shared sense of right and wrong. We are at risk of losing the inherently conservative civic center that our polity has previously self-regulated towards and on which our prosperity and security was built. That is tragic, as moral vacuums are where tyrants are most comfortable and ordinary citizens most vulnerable.

I have shared dark thoughts, but I pray they are not paralyzing. One of the greatest temptations of the current era is to be resigned to the latest mess that we wake up to in our media feeds. We should resist that temptation at all costs; one way to do so is to remember a time when the American project was indeed a beacon for the poor and the oppressed of the entire world, the land of human rights, freedom and opportunity, and the home of robust democratic institutions designed for checking and balancing power in the Republic. It’s by holding on to this history, including the extraordinary events of D-Day and its ethos, that we hold in our hearts the hope of a better America.