Trump has unleashed the winds of intolerance and bigotry that had for a time been dormant and considered beyond the pale after the atrocities that occurred during WW2. He has brought carnage to the country by stoking racism and fear and hate about immigrants while ignoring the fact that it is precisely this rhetoric that encourages some citizens to intimidate and carry out violence against the “other”. We shall soon see what kind of country we have become from the vote next week. I myself am very pessimistic.
69
I appreciate this speech by George Washington being reprinted.
However he did not mean what he said, as evidenced by the fact he was a slave owner. "For happily the Government of the United States gives bigotry no sanction...."
9
Amen.
Although I could say a lot more, I can add nothing to what Mr. Friedman has written.
Thank you for your Op-Ed.
4
EVERY leader of a nation who is fully invested personally in that nation is a nationalist.
Obviously, Barack Obama never invested his heart in the things that made America special from the beginning, so he doesn't qualify. But just about every other president has indeed been a nationalist.
It is hunorous to see Thomas climbing on the Don Lemon-CNN wagon where all nationalists are wascally way-sists white people, probably from Wyoming.
A progressive seizing on a quote from a true nationalist to try to prove his incomplete point is rich indeed.
4
To paraphrase: Evil will prevail when good men and women fail to vote.
13
It's about time.
It is about time that a pundit/opinion writer for a national paper said what most of us know to be true - If you love the United States and you want our country to continue to be the shining beacon of hope and democracy...then you HAVE to VOTE for the Democrat on the ballot - all of them.
If trump gets another rubber-stamp House and Senate we will continue the slide into authoritarianism. And likely be unable to return.
VOTE
6 Nov 18
21
Our electoral system used to have some room for competent people to step forward to run for leadership positions. Since the primary systems in most states have changed to encourage populist extremism, it has become much more difficult for moderates to succeed in either party. Instead of leadership we get pandering. This trend toward polarization has been exacerbated by extremism in cable news and social media. Every politician knows (and will sometimes even admit) that the problem lies in the way that money has warped our democracy. We need to significantly reform the way we elect our representatives and our leaders and greatly restrict the amount and source of money in the electoral process. This will likely require a constitutional amendment. Where will the leadership come from for such reform? Let us pray.
7
I also wept, reading the words of George Washington, remembering that once upon a time, we were led by a man like that. How far we have fallen. I feel like Charlton Heston in Soylent Green looking at the "music video" being shown to the dying Edward G. Robinson, realizing just how much has been lost.
Speaking of falling, in response to the reader who raises the question, "how much is life really all that different from two years ago?" remember the story of the man who falls off the roof of the 60-story building. As he passes each floor, he is heard to say, "So far so good, so far so good..."
7
Patriots put love of their own people first, while nationalists put hate for other people first.
[ Can a reader help me find the source of this quote? I am unable to find the source. ]
1
@Nancy: Why does the source matter? It looks like a comparison of apples to oranges to me.
Thanks for the idea and Washington's letter. We have had some truly great leaders and Washington set the tone for all who followed. King George III, when he heard that Washington had voluntarily stepped down from President, said that Washington was the greatest man that had ever lived. Since Washington, we have had some bad presidents, some good presidents, once a while a great one --Abe Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, and Franklin Roosevelt--and some near greats. I'm hoping for much better from our next president. I have voted early.
5
@Jerry Blanton: All the greats were polymaths.
1
Just consider how dangerous this President can be. As commander in chief he just order 5200 men and women to the southern border of the United States, needlessly. For obvious political reasons that anyone with a modicum of intelligence can see. Next week he might order 10000 men and women of our arm forces to another location anywhere in the world. We already know, that even though Congress has to declare war we’ve already seen other presidents break this covenant. Think about that for a minute or two.
4
@jwgibbs: No single individual in history will have burned more jet fuel than Trump before he burns out.
6
America is at it's "waiting foir Godot". Who (besides ourselves) is going to save us from the beast that has arisen. A very real crisis is coming as it always does. One more serious than mass murders or bomb threats. It could come in the form of a politcal assassination, economic upheaval or Trump being charged with a crime. How the country reacts will reval much.
2
Heart-rending column.
1
Let me try a little different approach in this response. Let me begin with a loud YES to Thomas Friedman’s clarion cry on behalf of our democracy. It’s not that, however, that I want to speak about, but rather it’s the way he writes of democracy. He writes of it eloquently and with rhetorical force. He quotes at length our first president who writes with eloquence and a gentleness that calms and reassures. Both Friendman and Washington order their world and shape their experience by the clarity and force of language, and nowhere is the responsible, judicious, disciplined use of language more important than in a democracy. Autocratic political cultures do very nicely with language that is clumsy, demogagic, reductionist. Not so with democracy, and so I would applaud Friedman not only for what he says but the way he says it.
9
@Tom Helm: Now we live under the regime of people who have transformed the meaning of the word "liberal" to "tyrant".
2
The most insidious aspect of the conversations we are having while Trump and his enablers are in control is that we have veered away from nuanced dialogue.
Questions like: What is the best way to fund green energy to combat climate change? What are the best methods to place restrictions on gun ownership and the types of weapons and ammunition we allow to be sold? What are the best routes to rein in North Korea and Russia and hold them accountable for their actions? What is the best way to enact universal healthcare?
They morph into: Climate change does not exist; it is a left-wing conspiracy and a hoax, perpetuated by the Chinese (but we'll get them with a trade war, you'll see). America has no problem with guns. And we can arm pastors and teachers, so they can protect themselves, their congregations, and our schoolchildren. North Korea and Russia are our friends, just like the Saudis; we are all on the same side. We will repeal Obamacare and eviscerate Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security to pay for tax cuts for the insanely wealthy, and replace them all with cheaper and far better things, even though we have never indicated we have the slightest idea how to do that.
We have de-evolved, existing day-to-day in survival mode, wallowing in stupidity and our latest reactions to it. Did George Washington ever dream that this is where we would be at this point in our nation's history? Perhaps. But I suspect he hoped we could do a lot more with everything that was left to us.
8
@Blue Moon: All of human thought and ingenuity is now held to be interference with "God's will" by people who hold that propagating nonsense in life leads to eternal post-mortal bliss.
3
Reaching back into the past and re-purposing this eloquent letter from our first president is A FRESH IDEA Mr. Friedman.
It is a timely letter with a contemporary cadence. The letter is unifying and at the same time distinguishing differences of religion and vocations free under one government, but ignoring the African Slave who was a non-citizen and considered less of a human being at the time.
Was Washington courting the Jewish voter?
Was Washington so inclusive of all citizens?
Did Washington believe he was the president of a nation of White Privileged Men?
Washington was one of many thinkers and doers at the time of our nations infancy that looked to the future when making their decisions. The success of Washington and our country has been the collective effort of all those in power and all those that call themselves CITIZEN.
Up until this administration, our nation was admired, respected, appreciated and successful with all of our mistakes and flaws.
Washington was not perfect, but he was a leader.
Washington had the opportunity to be king, but chose to be a temporary leader of a new nation.
With all Washington's flaws he brought respect and dignity to the highest office of the best experiment in government ever to exist in the history of humanity.
We do not have a leader of all the citizens right now. We have an egotist, narcissist, racist, despot sitting in the most powerful office in the world.
6
@john Sullivan: The US does not have a national political office that all citizens vote for equally. That is why we never see candidates striving to govern for all of the people running for US president.
1
Awesome piece, Mr. Friedman. Your candor , advice, and Geo. Washington are inspiring indeed. GW nailed it, as usual. Bravo!!!!
1
George Washington and Donald Trump are complete opposites. If he had wanted, Washington could have become a king instead of a democratic president; however, Washington put the country before his personal ambitions and served only for a limited time. Trump would like to be a king, and would jump at the chance if he could pull it off. He doesn't care about America and its democracy. It's only about himself and his limitless ambition. However, some good may yet emerge from the travesty that is Trump. In the near future, we will program the human mind in the computer based on a "survival" algorithm, which will provide irrefutable proof of how we have tricked the mind with our ridiculous beliefs about just what is supposed to survive - producing minds programmed de facto for destruction. When we understand this, we will begin the long trek back to reason and sanity.
See RevolutionOfReason.com
6
@RLB: The internet has been a very disappointing survival contest of ideas so far.
" All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship. It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights."
Noble words spoken by someone who held a large number of slaves. It always amazes me how even the father of our country could compartmentalize his thinking. Is this hypocrisy or just a feature of the human mind?
2
@Jsailor: Washington commanded soldiers, who had to be cajoled to re-enlist to endure extreme hardships and hard discipline. It trained him to manage by persuasion.
Tom, what a nice thing Washington said.
But as Krugman noted yesterday, and which both Washington said (and Ike signaled) more seriously, as they both left office --- beware the disease of Republics: Empire.
"political parties may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.”
Ike, warned of the MIC --- which is the military sector of this Empire.
Today, the signal, singular, and seminal danger of this Disguised Global Capitalist Empire, which at least since the outcome of the Second World War of Empires was clearly foreseen in 1944, has been planning and methodically executing the development of dual Vichy parties, which could be employed to culminate in the "Quiet American" success of the last 10 "least worst voting cycles'" (since the 1980 installation of Reagan) --- and which 'bothsidesism' has now culminated in keeping the American people (as Washington warned) focused on the totally vacuous "issues" of the 'rougher-talking' neocon 'R' Vichy Party vs. the 'smoother-lying' neoliberal-con 'D' Vichy Party, while (to paraphrase Fitzgerald's "Gatsby") "the dark fields of the Empire rolled on under the night".
We are 'divided' to fighting about Parties, and ignoring EMPIRE.
1
@Alan MacDonald: The parliamentary system evolved out of recognition that like-minded people are prone to form political parties to advance common interests.
1
Fascinating and inspiring. Thanks for this.
3
@arp
Yes, arp, it's "Fascinating and inspiring", but not sufficient in Washington and Ike's warnings on Empire.
1
In memory of Dr. Jerry Rabinowitz Z"L, and the other worshippers murdered by a white-nationalist-extremist in Pittsburgh, and by Dr. Jeff Cohen, the physician who cared for the murderer, I am redoubling my efforts in performing deeds of lovingkindness toward others. It is the only rational response I can muster. I hope my efforts will bring some comfort to those who mourn. May their memory and the good deeds their memory inspire be as for a blessing. We are ONE.
5
@David Brook
David, you are certainly 'Canadian Nice' in writing:
"May their memory and the good deeds their memory inspire be as for a blessing."
And that "We are (or can be) ONE" --- by which you may mean that you Canadians are so nice as to be able to get along with our faux-president, Emperor Trump.
But, Dave, we Americans, although we did not settle in North America as soon as you folks did --- which I noted in sailing into Castine, Maine and St. Andrews, NB histories --- did not suffer under the then nearly global British Empire as long (maybe you were 'too nice', eh?)
In any case, no people want to suffer under Empire in this modern world of the 3rd millennium --- particularly people who had escaped Empire as long as 2800 years ago when Moses led his people out of the Egyptian Empire, or when the Jewish prophet Jesus tried to overcome the Roman Empire with Love and was crucified for his efforts, neither under church centric Empires, which were replaced with the nation-state centric Rise and Fall of the Great Power Empires in the last 500 years.
So, perhaps we; rational, modern, practical, informed, and 'enlightened' folks in this 3rd millennium should not only extend blessings, empathy, inspiration, and heart felt aspirations to all 'others' in our fragile little world of 'global citizens' wanting to live in democracies --- but also awaken (or now popularly) be "Woke" to the insanity, destruction, war, death, and suffering that reins from "Empire-Thinking".
1
Tired of the PC crowd changing definitions of words. Nationalism: loyalty and devotion to a nation especially : a sense of national consciousness (see consciousness sense 1c) exalting one nation above all others and placing primary emphasis on promotion of its culture and interests as opposed to those of other nations or supranational groups. American nationalism or United States nationalism is a form of civic nationalism found in the United States. Essentially, it indicates the aspects that characterize and distinguish the United States as an autonomous political community. So, while we talked about white supremacists last week and before, not the NYTimes is replacing it with white nationalists as another attempt to divide the country. Sorry, there may be nuts out their that are white supremacists or who even call themselves white nationalists, but the word nationalist is not racist by definition or use.
4
@Ma Your note on nationalism is obtuse. "Patriotism" is a love of country-- which, in the USA, Would mean a love of what the country stands for (in its founding & Constitution). A patriot goes to war to 'protect' the country, not to enslave or degrade others. But "nationalism" is always identity-bound, ethnically or racially. A 'nationalist' immigration policy would exclude those who don't look like the white majority. However, the USA was not founded as a White Christian English ex-colony.
The only justifiable 'nationalism' is that felt by a group held captive by a more powerful state. That exists nowhere in the majority population.
4
I agree with your sentiment, but not your conclusion. Reason and hope MUST prevail. THIS is what is at stake in our society today. Liberals and progressively minded individuals have in the past almost always turned the other cheek, listened to competing viewpoints and forgave those who would bear others ill will.
It allows those without such empathy or compassion a distinct advantage in the public discourse to exploit their humanity and call it weakness. There are liberals who have now started to react in a similar vein in recent years which has accelerated in the current climate of intolerance of 'the other'. They are rightly very tired of always losing to the fear mongering and vitriol expressed by those who are simply afraid of what the future holds for all of us. But there is one thing that can be done which does not require anyone to devolve their values and beliefs to achieve their stated goals. Furthering the principles of justice, truth, and in some cases simple sanity.
VOTE. Vote your conscious, vote your beliefs, vote your hopes and dreams and cast a ballot for those who share your values.
There are so many more of us than there are of them (that is why they seek to disenfranchise as many as they can through voter suppression and gerrymandering). All it takes is a commitment to VOTE - at least as long as we can for now until Trump attacks the rest of the constitution.
4
I wrote an Op-ed incorporating the same letter by President Washington, sent it to the Times oh I would say two years ago and of course never had a reply or publication.
The point being not that the piece I sent was ignored but that ignoring it then perhaps in some small way contributed to where we are now because Washington's words are eternally true and two years ago is an eternity at this point.
3
I believe the slaves he had at his Mount Vernon estate would feel differently about this letter. I believe the slaves sold on Market Square or arrived at the King Street port in Alexandria, Virginia a few blocks from Christ Church where he attended services, would feel differently.
Mr. Friedman, you should know better.
1
@Concerned Citizen
I was thinking also how times have changed, that Washington probably did not even consider either women or blacks as being disenfranchised. However, that doesn't mean we should discount anything he did or wrote! Rather, acknowledge the faults of his time, while being grateful for the extremely forward-thinking and liberal founding fathers we did have.
2
October 30, 2018
Excellent to offer George Washington as our guide to political grace and historic virtues.
As long as people like here at the New York Times guide and offer the best in citizenship journalism we are protected.
Unlike what happen in Saudi Arabia and the killing of its leading journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
1
George Washington for President? Given the current White House incumbent, I would pull the lever for King George III. If that makes me a traitor, maybe I should run for the presidency.
Thank you NY Times and Thomas Friedman. You just restored my hope in newspapers and the news industry in general.
You have helped immensely in restoring my faith in our news industry. Let's hope some of your competitors learn something.
Trump is an insult to what this country stands for. Today the New York Times and Thomas Friedman reminded us of how a "free press" should exercise its responsibility to the nation and "we the people".
Bluntlly I am in tears of graditute as I am typing this.
There is something about the air in Minnesota. THANK YOU!
1
"Republicans approve of the American farmer, but they are willing to help him go broke. They stand four-square for the American home--but not for housing. They are strong for labor--but they are stronger for restricting labor's rights. They favor minimum wage--the smaller the minimum wage the better. They endorse educational opportunity for all--but they won't spend money for teachers or for schools. They think modern medical care and hospitals are fine--for people who can afford them ... They think American standard of living is a fine thing--so long as it doesn't spread to all the people. And they admire the Government of the United States so much that they would like to buy it."
— Harry S. Truman, October 13, 1948, St. Paul, Minnesota, Radio Broadcast
6
@Bruce Sterman
Wow, that was indeed president! The problem has become the Republican Party. It has lost he balancing corrective it once offered to corruption and inefficiency in government and become a naked party of grab it while you can, representing a tiny minority of Americans but mobilizing a voting bloc by hypocritical support of the moral position of others (anti-abortion), offering short term benefits (at the expense of a future with decent schools, environmental protections, etc.), or enabling the myths and formulas that provide a measure of pseudo consolation for those who lack genuine elements of superiority or bravery but ade psychologically desperate to think they possess them.
There was another November 6 election in our history, and it was equally fraught with ominous consequences. That was November 6, 1864, the re-election campaign of Abraham Lincoln. After four long, bitter years of Civil War, the country was decidedly war-weary, and it was thought by most "pundits" that Democrat George B. McClellan, the feckless former commander of the Army of the Potomac would win the election. The consequences of that outcome would have fundamentally altered our history, because the Copperhead Democrats, as they were then known, wanted to negotiate an end to the war, likely resulting in a status quo ante, that is, the re-admission of the rebellious states along with the retention of slavery.
Of course, that didn't happen. Not only was Lincoln re-elected, but the Republicans, then known as Radical Republicans, increased their controlling numbers in Congress. Moreover, the surrender of Lee to Grant at Appomattox Courthouse took place a mere seven months following the election.
With momentous change comes momentous opportunity. I implore those of you reading this to do something I did just the other day. I asked two good friends of mine, staunch Republicans but NOT Trump supporters to join with me in voting a straight Democratic ticket, a one-time request. I'm trying to help them realize that the only way to stop the current occupant of the White House is to take Congress away from him, restoring the needed check to our democracy. Please join me.
5
Thank you for time and again reminding that the pen, and ballot, are mightier than the sword and swagger.
Another wise and invigorating piece by Mr. Friedman. I didn't know about this George Washington letter, but I am glad I do now.
Perhaps Trump embodies our Karma for embracing the slaughter of Native Americans and imprisonment of Africans as slaves. Washington's letter rings hollow as a bell that is out of tune with reality. Indeed, he may have embraced the Jewish community but clearly non-whites were excluded from his otherwise noble perspective. Our forefathers were in fact racist and Trump has taken their perspective to heart while sticking it to those who are not of Christian denomination altogether.
2
Patriots put love of their own people first, while nationalists put hate for other people first. Mr. Friedman you always write eloquently and brilliantly. Your opinions are highly respected. There is a fine line between patriotism and nationalism. Keeping a perspective is key. We can love our country and have pride in our history and have equality for all in mind. It is not just whites however, who can and do lose perspective. It happens in the Black Lives Matter movement as well, when they seem to discount other races and prefer what is just like them. Everyone, is capable of crossing the line and turning pride of our accomplishments into hatred of the other. So mindfulness and caution is the key for all when discussing issues of race and nationality, etc. We are all part of the human race, and respect for all differences keep us tolerant and diverse and harmonious.
2
Readers may be interested to know that some of George Washington's eloquent words were penned by Moises Seixas, leader of the Hebrew congregation of Newport (now commonly referred to as Touro Synagogue) who had written to George Washington during his 1790 visit to Newport asking if Jews would still be free on our new country. Seixas and the other Jews of Rhode Island had reason to be worried. Despite the religious liberty in the colony of Rhode Island, Jews could not be citizens or vote in the colony.
To read more about this follow the links to the interesting history of George Washington's letter.
http://www.tourosynagogue.org/history-learning/gw-letter
http://www.tourosynagogue.org/history-learning/religious-liberties-roger-williams
1
@IG: The Jewish concept of "covenants" evolved into the law of contracts we live under today.
Yes, our democracy hangs in the balance.
If the Republicans keep all 3 Houses of Congress he next 2 years will likely be far worse than these 2, which as a country are as bad as we've experienced in generations.
We all must do our part. Vote democratic on November 6th.
I'll stipulate to whatever "accomplishments" Trump and his supporters care to cite. Whatever good his administration has done is eclipsed by his words and deeds.
OTOH, George Washington, whatever his faults helped make America truly great throughout his service to our country.
Donald Trump. every day, weakens our nation both at home and abroad.
Two years of his malign influence is more than enough.
Put hands on Trump's powers;
Vote Democrat straight ticket this time.
4
Bravo, Tom Friedman Excellent and a timely and important reminder of just how and by whom we were brought into the state of nationhood. DeGaulle's words also a timely, resonant quotation to read again in light/view of what we face as citizens under Trump. Democrats must persevere, and others must join in the election to set our nation on another path than the one the Trump administration and others have veered from, off into a darkness that has set us against one another. Washington's words are wonderful: May the children of the stock of Abraham...continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants; while everyone shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree."
1
Somehow I just can't imagine Trump saying those words. Thanks for letting us know just how far off track we've gone.
So, now Trump thinks that a presidential declaration can prevent people born in the US from being citizens. Hey, should we all hail DT for his stupendous diversion from the real news: that 76,000 people signed a petition against him in Pittsburgh for stoking “white nationalism” another way to say, “anti-semitism.”
You can fool some of the people . . .
3
@B. Rothman
"You can fool some of the people . . "
Unfortunately those "some of the people" may happen to be just enough for him to win the electoral vote. That is all he needs and all cares about! Constitution, mal-institution (try that in French!).
1
While Thomas L. Friedman tells us that George Washington was "focused on loving our country more than hating others," we should never forget that he was a vile slave-owning white-supremacist and one of the founders of an organization, the U.S. government, that has already exterminated millions of innocent people, including its evil nuking of defenseless children. As someone said, "Evil is as evil does!!!"
3
Tom Paine didn't think much of him in the end, committing
the ultimate offense in an America sowing the seeds of a civil religion with Washington as the godhead. Paine bristled that Washington had abandoned him during his time of danger in a French prison being prepared to see him go to the guillotine. This Paine branded a “crime of the heart” and was unforgiving. He accused Washington of being “treacherous in private friendship” and “a hypocrite in public life,” and added that “the world will be puzzled to decide whether you are an apostate or an impostor; whether you have abandoned good principles, or whether you ever had any.”
Paine's catalogue of criticism appeared in a series of letters, the most scathing of which was a long open letter of July 30, 1796. In it Paine rounded the bases. Washington had “no share” in the political part of the Revolution; his generalship was lackluster, decidedly inferior to that of Horatio Gates and Nathanael Greene; his Presidential administration was “deceitful, if not perfidious”; he was vain of character and “chameleon‐colored.” About the only thing Paine skipped was Washington's slave‐holding—somewhat surprising in light of Paine's deep feelings on slavery. In 1760 Washington paid taxes on 49 slaves, in 1765 on 78, in 1770 on 87, in 1775 on 135; by 1786 his colony had grown to 216 slaves and by 1799 to 317. Paine did not delve into Washington's dodgy military expense account, leaving that to Marvin Kitman. [from the 1973 NYT]
1
If the Democrats lose the midterms. Then all is lost. We can keep reminiscing about the bygone days when the Presidents were decent and inspirational. Now it's the era of Trump fueled by white supremacists like Steve Bannon and Steven Miller (oh! the irony of this man). And the majority of Whites still support these people. Including my neighbor.
1
"Today, though, I am fresh out of fresh ideas."
May I suggest a semi-fresh idea, Mr. Friedman. You can write another article in praise of Mohammed Bin Salman. Believe me, I am not trying to be facetious. These days he is not in the best of moods and I am afraid he will do something irrational and/or impulsive. You know, he could send another sortie to bomb more school buses in Yemen. In short, he badly needs some good PR and you seem to be an expert in that.
Remember the article you wrote about him, full of praise of his ideas and commitment to westernize Saudi Arabia? The next morning, that article was on the first page of every news paper in Riyadh. May be you can again throw in one or two references to "The Arabian Gulf." That would definitely chime his bells!
1
The Sun King is a bully and will push the limits as far as he can, until something or someone stops him.
I've been having a very disturbing thought lately. Sorry to drag out the Hitler analogy, but the German people during the 1930's did not have the collective wherewithal to end Hitler, despite his initially small power base and extreme behavior. He was finally stopped by forces external to Germany, and at a terrible cost.
I've become increasingly concerned whether we, the American people have the wherewithal. There are indications that we might not.
Next week, which ever way the election goes, will be a pivotal moment in our history.
6
And you don't think George Washington was a nationalist? I understand that Thomas Friedman wanted to use the letter George Washington wrote after the visit to a Jewish community to bolster his article here. But this ignores the fact that Washington's reference to "Citizens" in this letter certainly did not include slaves and would not have included most of the immigrants considered citizens today. As far as Washington freeing his slaves, this was done only after he died and probably because he had no children of his own to will them to. While he owned slaves, he whipped, beat, and separated slaves from their families as punishment. Washington also relentlessly pursued escaped slaves and circumvented laws that would allow his slaves freedom if they did manage to escape to neighboring states. His thinking on slavery may have evolved over the years, but he did nothing in practice to advance any abolitionist agendas. I understand that Washington was a man of his times, blah, blah, blah, but Friedman could have done much better here.
1
As bad as Trump is our naive foolish approach to voting may do us in. Forty two of our states have machines made by Election Systems & Software. These machines are based on a Microsoft Operating System which is totally secret.
While we see other countries moving to a paper ballot we hold on to a very questionable voting system.
Sir a voting machine is a simple device. Fool proof voting machines can be made but we insist on machines with a computer installed.
Make no mistake about it. Your vote goes to a computer programmer who does what he or she wants with it.
4
@Allan, FYI in NYS we have paper ballorts with the first line of counting done by optical scanners/. If qestions arise they can be recounted by hand or by a different scanner.
More than a contest between the GOP and the Democrats over which party will control the House and the Senate, the upcoming election will tell us what kind of person constitutes a majority in America today.
Does Donald Trump embody the values, the outlook and the ethics of the majority of Americans?
1
Trump would had been more accurate if he had said, "I am a [white] nationalist."
1
To say - as does TF - that Republicans are 'spineless' is inaccurate. They are going all out for full dictatorship with DJT as their Leader. They haven't so publicly announced, but it is a certainty. As their control spreads, their voter suppression tactics will become more severe. A vote for any Republican - even at the most local level - is a vote for fascism.
1
I weep.
Thousands of lies, thousands of murders and trillions of stolen dollars later most Republicans still stand mute. Cowardice is only one reason they do nothing. They're enjoying this, they're participating in the slaughters and thievery.
There are direct links to the mass murders and their benefactors, the NRA. When the next weather disaster destroys your community thank a Republican for helping it along. They walk with thieves, murderers and liars to sell them more arms to desecrate the planet.
Vote. Please.
2
Washington for president? In spite of his kind words to the Jewish community at the time, this piece is an insult to all African Americans, and anyone who knows GW's history as a very brutal slave owner.
1
Aside from the Wikiquote about "patriotism," Friedman apparently knows nothing about Charles de Gaulle. De Gaulle was a committed nationalist whose program could be most accurately described as putting "France First" and "Making France Great Again." He was a conservative Catholic with a decidedly authoritarian outlook. If de Gaulle were around today Friedman would be calling him a "fascist."
The only accurate part of Friedman's column is the admission that he is "out of fresh ideas." He is just phoning in repetitive bouts of Trump Derangement Syndrome at this point.
Jews for thousands of years of their existence as ‘Gods chosen people’ have evolved themselves to be the most educated , innovative ,intelligent and hard working and as a result relatively secure financially !They are a closely knit tribe for centuries ,uniquely faithful to their faith under all persecutions and believed in helping each other for survival .
They have been as a result of above qualities ,focus of jealousy by those who could not emulate them .
They have ,through out the history ,risen from ashes even when subjected to holocaust and produced more Nobel prize winners relative to their population .They produced top professionals in every field of science and art .The top universities in the civilized world ,where they were discriminated for admission at one time , within decades ,had no better alternative than to appoint them as their Deans of Admissions and Chancellors .
Through their innovations and
un matched spirit of achieving excellence ,the world is a better place .
It is a sad fact that this world will always keep on producing Hitlers but history has taught a lasting lesson to this tribe :- They will rise again even more powerful as they are scattered no more and have a country which can stand up to the illiterate gangs of Donald Trump .
Izhar
White nationalists, and all who hold destructive sociopolitical viewpoints, put fear first. The ironic thing is, once such people have rousted all the obvious Others out, and things are still not rosy and peachy, they start to turn on each other. There is always some element of Otherness that can be identified for fear mongering, and the whiny types who resort to this in order to blame others for their own faults will always need someone else to throw under the bus.
I say fear, not hate, because a good number of people who end up enabling overt discriminatory behavior never actually get to hate in their hearts. However, enough "maybe they're right" fear rises to make them look the other way. And even with the haters, fear comes first before it turns to hate.
In claiming the right to eliminate parts of The Constitution with the stroke of the Executive pen Trump has crossed the paradigmatic Rubicon. If there are any Republicans who still believe in the Republic, and the traditions of the Party of Lincoln, they should be making a huge noise NOW against the advent of the burying of that Republic's law in favor of L'Etat C'est Moi rule by whim.
Honestly a weird definition in my opinion.
You'll never have a quiet world till you knock the patriotism out of the human race
-George Bernard Shaw
Opines Thomas, "When a person is promoted to a top job in life, usually one of two things happens: He either grows or he swells — he either evolves and grows into that job or all of his worst instincts and habits become swollen and just expand over a wider field. I don’t have to tell you what happened with President Trump."
All good points, Thomas, but I doubt you'll ever describe a single Democrat in those terms. Love and abuse of power is certainly not limited to Trump.
"In the midterm elections, vote for a Democrat, canvass for a Democrat, raise money for a Democrat, drive someone to a voting station to vote for a Democrat."
Why, Thomas? What does the Democratic Party stand for these days? Can you articulate that without resorting to buzz phrases and focus group-oriented talking points?
I believe it was Einstein that stated ," Nationalism is an infantile disease, it is the Measles of mankind,".…..not bad for a person who once asked about his background and answered, " by Heritage I am a Jew, by citizenship a Swiss and reluctantly left Germany in which he considered himself German....I think Trump's rhetoric is the perfect formula for the self destruction of himself and the entire Republican Party that will not be able to resurrect itself as the Party of Lincoln for a long time...
Sir, we are tired of reading all your rational thoughts, bemusing and seeing what is happening is the opposite of rationality.
and yet, let us not forget that simultaneously as he spoke, slavery of Africans, slaughter of the First People was here in this land. Washington's words were but a beautiful perfume sprinkled on the bloody rotten heart of this nation. A decorative cover over horrible crimes, brutal sacrifice. He expressed no prejudice against the children of Abraham. Not so much generosity towards the children of Ham. Imagine if Trump were to select his false teeth from the mouths of his African slaves as had Washington. On this Halloween, let us remember the truth of our past, and recall this is not our first dark hour, it will not be our last, that it is our eternal duty to overcome the worst of our humanity.
It, too, would have been nice if President Obama shared the same sentiments as our greatest president.
Washington's letter reminds of what the ideals of this country really are.
Trump has always bragged that he doesn’t need to be pushed at all to join the bar brawl.
That’s he’s weakest trait. Everybody can bring him down to their level by the stupid provocations.
Only the real president can manage to stay above the fray and stay focused on the big picture.
Mr. Trump is guilty of allowing the free press to lure him into the street fight.
His personal greed would be irrelevant if the Congress resisted slashing the taxes and piling up the national debt.
You cannot blame the president for the laws created by the lawmakers…
I recommend that if you are fresh out of ideas that you forgo putting pen to paper or fingers to the keys. Your anti Trump rhetoric reads like a collection of Gail Collins quotes, all bluster and no thought. Here’s an idea for you if you dare: Take a hard look at the mistakes from the past administrations and ask yourself if they have bee addressed. Look at the racial tension under Obama’s watch, the nuclear build up of Iran and NK, the assault on our embassy in Benghazi, the lack of immigration policy, etc... do a self assessment, were the Democrats really able to run this country and ensure our safety? Was our economy stuck in neutral?
Is income redistribution through taxation addressing or perpetuating the very problems we are trying to resolve? What is the agenda of the upcoming Socialist Democrats? I believe I’ve provided you with enough ideas far more interesting than mocking Trump, yet I doubt you’ll engage any of them, like most liberals your stuck in the attack mode when it comes to conservatives, and devoid of any other message e.g. the liberal mantra “if it’s not the way I think it cannot be right”.
Mr Friedman-I have long maintained that the only thing I wished to hear from you is a sincere, heartfelt "I'm sorry" for your support of the corrupt and venal Bush -Cheney war in Iraq.
However, with this column, you have begun to use your influence for good-and perhaps redeem your good name.
I wept. I vote.
I never really undersrtood why the aftermath of the American Revolution was so much more peacerful than nearly all the others I read and heard about. (Yes, I know about Shay's Rebellion and the Whiskey Rebellion.) Then I saw Nelson Mandela become the leader of South Africa and I finally understood George Washington. They were two very different men with exceedingly different pre-presidential experiences. But revlutions tend to be factional enterprises and these two men had at least one thing in common. They were trusted by nearly all factions of their revolutionary comrades. They also had the good sense to know that they would need the acquiesance of the losers - Tories and Boers - if they were to govern peacefully. So they treated them without rancor.
Washington certainly had his faults as others have mentioned here but he was a model politician.
1
George Washington was the man. Noble, forthright, enlightened, and gracious. Everyone (almost) has the potential to be Washington. We just need to exercise it.
On September 27, amid accusations made against Brett Kavenaugh, Trump suggested Democrats would object to anyone he put forward – even George Washington, the Founding Father. He claimed one of the most revered presidents in US history may have had skeletons in his own closet.
“Look, if we brought George Washington here and we said, ‘We have George Washington’, the Democrats would vote against him,” he said. “And he may have had a bad past. Who knows, you know?
“He may have had some, I think, accusations made. Didn’t he have a couple things in his past? George Washington would be voted against 100 per cent by [Democrat senator Chuck] Schumer and the con artists.”
Washington owned slaves but it was unclear which specific allegations Trump might have been referring to. Nevertheless he will always be remembered as the worst president in US history. About four out of ten Americans said so, according to a recent poll.
2
The President does not attempt to bring us together. To the contrary; he is hell bent to separate us into factions and uses rhetoric to increase the separation. He expects to have a majority and that majority wants to banish or re-educate those who do not agree with Trump. Only recently that we became so determined to create disunion. Please vote, this is not a time to retract in hope.
1
George Washington, a slave owner, may have physically penned that letter but only his abolitionist Secretary of Treasury -- and co-architect of the Constitution, Alexander Hamilton -- could have worded it. Washington's agrarian bent -- albeit agriculturally/militarily reasoned -- was too dependent on the here-and-now of zero sums. While Hamilton sought debt to literally capitalize on a strategy whence hope could at least timelessly fathom non-zero sum prosperity for all.
1
As usual, I cannot disagree with you more. Mr. Trump is definitely the best president of my lifetime and in my opinion will be one of the best ever. We all need to get out and vote republican, I repeat, vote republican so that Mr. Trump can continue to undo all the damage that the Left has done in this country over the past 50 years.
3
I had the heart of the Washington quote posted in my office at work for many years before I retired, partly in response to 'Tea Party' co-workers. They would often provoke co-workers by pushing the conversational envelope and forwarding false emails. One nicknamed me "Mr. Snopes" because I often fact-checked his forwarded bilge. He feigned innocence of knowing their wild inaccuracies. (I later learned that Koch-funded speakers encouraged them to mass-forward such stuff to 'balance the lies of the media'.)
"For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens ..." - A few words that define the great man and the American ideal. The man who easily could have been king instead.
E Pluribus Unum - 'From Many One". Yes, he owned slaves. But he also allowed black soldiers to fight for the nation's freedom, and he manumitted the ones he held at death. Not a perfect man, but a nearly perfect Patriot. And he understood the Constitution, Mr. Trump. No surprise, given that he was the head of the Constitutional Convention.
5
Great column and I thank you for it.
Trump lives in his own hate-filled world and all anyone has to do is look at his visage etched in hate, listen to his speeches at rallies, and read his tweets.
He is a destroyer and will never have a plan or policy in place because all he wants to do is destroy; the sterling reputation of others, laws, and policies that embrace we, the people. He wants to bring down America and our democracy on his watch.
Hate divides, and love unites. Many Americans have come together despite the hard work he does to divide family members, and neighbors from each other. We are a multiracial country and he can't change that dynamic.
3
One must remember that Washington realized the evils of slavery at the end of his life and how it hurt the South. He freed his slaves after his death. Also one must consider the physical cost on his health in leading the Continental Army during the long years of the Revolutionary War. He made wise choices for the first Cabinet, especially Alexander Hamilton.
Contrast this with Donald Trump. What does this say about the present day voters who elected a Coney Island barker?
2
I hit submit too soon. I was about to write phone-banking, block-walking, and driving voters to polls on Tuesday
I do not think the President is intellectually capable of making the distinction between Patriotism and Nationalism. At least, not with Grima Wormtongue Miller dripping poison in his ear. This non-credentialed 33 year old backroom apparatchik requires a thorough journalistic investigation. Tell me why this has not yet happened?
6
You mean our first President used the word "liberal' in a positive way? Ronald Reagan, and "L word" George H.W. Bush would be dismayed.
2
President Washington’s letter emphasizes the last line of the pledge that boys and girls in my elementary school repeat every morning: “One Nation under God with Liberty and Justice for All”
1
@DJ That used to be the case before liberals banned G-D from the classroom.
Two things about Washington. ONE he was a slaveowner, as many have commented. TWO He detested partisanship and parties. Yes he was very old-fashioned and unrealistic about parties but he would have hated Mr. Friedman's sentiments here.
America has moved so far away from the ideal referenced in our defining canons that I believe we desperately need an identity convention to reconcile our founding democratic values with the actual nation we have become today to try to set realistic standards that would improve our government, our economy, and our society.
The inconvenient truth is that America has rarely lived up to the platitudes iterated in the Declaration Of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, the Gettysburg Address, and the ‘I Have A Dream’ Speech. If you disbelieve this, just take a trip through U.S. history: Slavery, The American Civil War, the Gilded Age, The Great Depression, The Jim Crow Era, Reaganomics And The Cult Of Individual Wealth Accumulation.
Americans have been trapped under the yoke of a selfish, antisocial, and irresponsible brand of capitalism that has pulled us away from one another. In fact, the only time we ever come close to exhibiting a strong sense of shared purpose and community is during a communal tragedy, such as a war, a natural disaster, or a mass murder. Once these crises recede, Americans return to their private lives, losing the unity that would truly make us a great nation and a model democracy for the world.
3
When Thomas L. Friedman emotes with such despair concerning the woefully inadequate, abjectly pernicious president and the precarious state of our country, you know we are in dire straights.
1
Thank you Thomas for this article. Though you said you were out of fresh ideas, it is quite appropriate to re-fresh this one. The country could use a check and balance or two right now. Great quote by George Washington: “the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction” should do just that in the coming midterms...
America has never before elected a World Wide Wrestling promoter wannabe as president. As Trump rants and raves at his rallies I get the sense he's barking up ticket sales for a match where the bad guys are Muslim or Hispanic and the good guys are forgotten workers. Congress needs to broaden the definition of hate speech. Of course the Gorsuch-Kavanaugh Court would give Trump all the leeway he needs to keep his job as a wrestling promoter.
1
George Washington colluded with France.
1
If Trump were a student at the high school where I sit on the Board of Education, he would be expelled for repeated hate language and bully activities,
3
When T. Friedman is without words or ideas, and must resort to quoting a President who died more than two hundred years ago, you know we are in trouble. Readers, the article is not a bout George Washington- it is about the "shameless liar and abusive bully" in the White House. It begs all to recognize that we have "a president without shame, backed by a party without a spine, amplified by a TV network without integrity." Mr. Friedman is correct- there is but one answer. Vote those who are determined to destroy the nation out of office.
1
"a president without shame, backed by a party without a spine, amplified by a TV network without integrity"
This could be the best synopsis of the Trump era to date.
3
Republicans like to deal in fear mongering, so here's some fear mongering to rile up the Dem base and why you have to vote Democrat, even if you don't like the candidates or the lack of vision: Trump thinks he can revoke the 14th Amendment with an Executive Order. He can't. But with a Republican stranglehold on Congress and the Judiciary, anything is possible and then every bad thing you can imagine will happen, including deportations of people who were born here, no matter how old or their status, and establishment of state-run media (FOX) that only reports all the "good things" that Trump does, and nothing else. If Trump had his way, there would've been no news coverage of the pipe bomber or the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre last week. He's right, we won't have to worry about N. Korea. We will BE N. Korea and 242 years of democracy will end. That's all you need to know! Vote Blue!
1
George Washington may have addressed his "To Bigotry No Sanction" letter to the Jews of Rhode Island, but on behalf of the Citizens of the United States, the Father of Our Country directed this declaration to the world:
The Citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy: a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship. It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection, should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.
How dismal it is that the current resident of the White Supremacist House, abetted by the Republican injustices on the Supreme Court and the overwhelming majority of the Republicans in Congress, has been actively striving to make a liar of our first President, the Founding Fathers, and generation after generation of patriotic Americans who have shed their blood to make our no-longer-great country "a more perfect union."
There is not a single Republican in Washington, and few in state governments, who can recite the Pledge of Allegiance without perjuring himself.
There is a complex history to the framing and release of this famous letter. That there is nothing of spontaneity in its publication reinforces what a masterful politician we had in our first president. In a sense Washington invented the Presidency; the current holder of the office besmirches it.
1
So much in the tenses of words, the mill of particulars.
I do not like passive phrases here.
None of these people are victims. None of them are displaying weakness.
They are ACTIVELY subverting our government.
By intention, not accident.
The Republican party has no spine? They have massive spine, and nerve.
They've stood against the currents of all our norms and decency, they have abetted the president in every risk and wager, praised and comforted him, given him succor, ammunition and lots of money. They are destroying the electoral system to benefit themselves. They are turning everything they can over to the rich.
They aren't standing by when a bully attacks, they are holding down the victim so he can hit harder.
Nor is Fox a network without integrity, as though what is happening is because of their weak phrenology.
They have striking, evil, integrity. They have a the integrity of a deadly, prowling, reptile. They aren't just whistling, they have staff in the White House, and the change in communications since Bill Shine took over has been violent and radical. They are happy to subvert the checks and balances of the government so they can take over. This requires incredible integrity of purpose.
Nor is Trump shameless. This is who he is.
It is not a mistake. He intends exactly this.
Do not talk about these people like they are victims, when they are traitors.
Don't let a single one of them palm off their responsibility.
4
George Washington possessed and incredible mind which was consumed by foresight, morality and integrity. He wanted a country that treated all it's citizens fairly and equally. Fox News and The New York Times would both be well served by covering the news with this same fairness, morality and integrity, versus being a political platform for their respective conservative and liberal agenda.
What a tribute to the FIRST PRESIDENT of the United States. I must admit, I’ve never read this before. I knew he had wooden teeth. I knew he crossed the Delaware in a boat. I knew his was the first President of the US. I knew he was brave in battle. I thought I knew him, but not until Tom published this wonderful letter, did I truly see his depth.
What I watched yesterday was pitiful. Trump with his obsequious family trying to put on a “show” of sympathy to the massacre that took place at “The Tree of Life” when it was so obvious that the people of that community didn’t want him there.
If I yell “Fire” in a crowded gathering when there isn’t really a fire, and someone, or many die as a result of it, I’M TO BLAME! PERIOD!!!! Regards of what Sarah says at the White House.
As George Washington was our first President, let’s hope and pray that Donald Trump isn’t our last. The way our ship and current is heading today, that’s a real possibility. The rocks are clearly right in front of us. Who’s going to TURN the wheel? YOU!
1
Where is George when we need him?
A point on article, Mr Friedman. Vote as though our lives depend on it.
1
I am proud that my native country, the USA, has welcomed and embraced our Jewish neighbours. I have often told my students in European and Canadian universities that Jewish people contributed more to the intellectual and cultural life of America than any other ethnic group in the twentieth century. We are all ashamed that the American government turned away Jews trying to save their lives during the Second World War. Now it is doing the same thing to migrants from Central America. The United States should accept its responsibility for the humanitarian crisis there because it is caused by Americans’ addiction to cocaine. People are fleeing in order to save their lives. The violence is caused by the drug traffickers whose customers are American citizens.
2
Amein.
That is the only word that comes to my mind after reading Mr. Friedman's of-Ed and the letter of George Washington wrote after his visit the Newport Jewish congregation.
Wait, you think that compares to "Jobs not Mobs"?
It is indeed a very sad day when Thomas Friedman is unable to offer a brighter outlook for the future of this country. But this abomination who is our president is a reflection of the people he represents and who voted for him. America has become a country that doesn’t want an educated or eloquent man to lead them. Reality TV reigns. Outright lies are the norm, and not just from Trump, and most Americans don’t even care. In fact they are happy to watch the State Run media (FOX) and get daily doses of what they consume as truth.
1
Mr. Friedman, and President Washington, I wish I could write like either of you. Thank you both.
1
Tom, you have captured the essence of toxic Trump and his merry band of incompetents in this cogent sentence:
"When you have a president without shame, backed by a party without a spine, amplified by a TV network without integrity, reason is not an option and hope is not a strategy. "
I'm a Republican, but I am disgusted with how our party has aided and abetted trump's hateful ways and the damage to our democracy. For the good of our country, I will be voting Democrat for every office on a national level. Trump is showing himself to have the mind of an ugly, antagonistic bigot and dictator, and I am genuinely worried how much more he will abuse the office of president if he remains unchecked.
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@mike
Thank you, Mike.
5
@mike Voting for Democrats at the national level only isn't enough.
14
@John Correct, as it has been at the local and state level that the real damage began through the gerrymandering of voting districts.
The Republicans systematically and purposely built a system where they were the only probable election outcome. No checks - no balances!
Big Data has crushed the individuals vote.
10
I cry for this country.
Boring, conclusary, unsupported, etc. Seems like 23 years is enough. It may be Florida dog track time.
1
Thank you, for sharing this.
Lord, what has happened to the American mind? When you compare the eloquence and humanity of our first President with the simplistic, vulgar jabber that our current President tries to pass off as meaningful, and the jubilantly hateful response he gets from his Fox-brainwashed base, you have to wonder if there is something in the water. There are many, including Mr Friedman, who can still think and write, but Trump and his cultists are hypnotized by Fox's shameless and relentless promotion of a hateful and false narrative.
GW didn't have to tell people "I am really smart". You just had to ready his letter. Reminds me of the saying " If you got to tell them you is, you ain't".
While I agree with your overall article, you forgot to mention that GW was a slave owner so not all people did he respect.
The only thing we have to fear is Donald Trump.
A Pittsburgh rabbi today welcomed Trump to Pittsburgh—contrary to so many others—because the rabbi honored "the office of the presidency," which caused me to think: But Trump has not honored the office. He is an invalid apprentice of the office.
Yet, what does it say of America that so many cannot recognize Trump as "a disturbed man"? But it's the greatness of the U.S. form of "good government" (Washington) that we are surviving the lack of a president in the Executive Branch—enduring the tragic joke that a real estate salesman was awarded the privilege of being called President of the United States.
Recall today's review in the Times of Joseph Ellis's new book that highlights the nobility of our Founders and their view of us (https://nyti.ms/2CPjylH).
Ah yes --Washington, the perfect President. I mean, minus the slaveowning of course.
Reinvention of the 1860 ‘s Civil War, coming full circle at us in 2018.....full circle. It’s who we are, unfortunately.
Thank you for confirming thoughts I myself have had for a long time now, especially in the wake of this past week's atrocities, capped by a an intent by the President to overrule the Constitution and deny by fiat the birthrite guaranteed by said Constitution.
I'm sure President Washington, who we were so fortunate to have as our first chief executive, did not rely on a speechwriter for these golden words.
I hope he will shine down on us and rid us of the hopeless three branches we are currently burdened with.
Beautiful. With Washingon unavailable to assume his old job, at this point I would settle for just about any George -- Clooney, Foreman, or Costanza.
2
Thank you, Thomas Friedman. I've used this with students for years. It's often said that Washington defined the presidency, including his decision to walk away from it. He also grew into it, which not very many other holders have done. Some have been inert;some have disgraced it with tragic flaws. The current has simply disgraced it. And yes, I'm phone-banking, block-wa
Thank you, Tom Friedman. Sad to say, the president is not capable of understanding George Washington's letter.
I voted yesterday and was shocked and pleased to see the room filled with people voting; I've never seen this, especially in a non-presidential election.
I hope Mitch McConnell and his bunch will read your column. slim chance but, there is always hope.
1
Thank you Mr. Rriedman, for writing what I feel. I wept as I read your article and wonder how we got here, and how can one person take control of this country I love and turn it into an ugly hateful place. A place where people are given permission to kill those who worship differently, those who look different, including innocent children.
I became a citizen of this country more than 50 years ago, and I have never felt like an immigrant, or a foreigner, until the 2016 election. I miss the country I pledge to protect, the country that people loved one another, the country that welcomed me and made me feel welcome with an open arm.
137
I wonder if Trump even knows who George Washington was?
2
How far we've devolved. From a president who wrote with such brilliant eloquence to one who writes 140 characters of barely intelligible toxicity.
2
A slaveowner? No thanks.
Given the beautiful letter from George Washington that stated very clearly that we are all entitled to "sit under our own vine and fig tree" (paraphrased). The Father of Our country willed his thoughts to us in his letter.
A nagging question for me: Recent events solidified the GOP hold on our Supreme Court with a 6 to 4 majority. These 6 are 'orientalists' meaning, I suppose, that the Constitution is a perfect document and they always attempt to adhere to what the framers thought. (27 Amendments decry that thought). The Federalist Society promotes this orientalists theory. What it seems to boil down to in one sense, and as an example, for these 6 is that 'Freedom of Religion' simply means Freedom to Discriminate.
So these 6 humans always pretend to somehow divine what the framers intended. How? The Constitution itself has proved to be a living document, moving with the times.
So, George would be disappointed in us now, especially in what has happened in the last few days.
Thank you Tom for including the letter.
1
You all need to chill out. Yes this is different from years past, but read up on the late 1960s and 1970s. That was truly a bad time in America. Nationwide protests everyday turning violent, losing Vietnam, gas prices through the roof, high inflation, high unemployment. Soviets looked like they were winning. If the Dems win the House, Trump's life will be extremely difficult. Subpoenas, investigations, etc etc. Our democracy is holding up.
20
@Not 99pct
I lived through the 60s and 70s. A difficult time, to be sure. But the unrest of that era lay in our country's misadventure in Vietnam and the efforts on the part of our leaders to cover up the horrid mistake and immorality of that war. Presently, we are dealing with nothing less than validation of hatred of "other" by our president and his administration. Trump may not have created these hate groups but his views and rhetoric have given them permission to come out of the shadows and to act. For instance, prior to this presidency, we -- Republican or Democrat or unaffiliated --- used to share a view that Nazis are bad. But now we've come to learn that they're fine, that in fact "some are good people." Really?
28
I remember the time of Nixon and Agnew. It was ugly but people fought back and threw them out. Now today, it is ugly too. What Friedman is saying is that people need to fight back just as hard to restore our values - the ones George Washington so eloquently spoke to.
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@Not 99pct
Currently, our democracy is NOT holding up. The Republican Congress has completely surrendered their responsibility to act as a check against presidential abuse of power, in exchange for easy “wins” on a few issues they care about. The whole point of Friedman’s piece is that the only way back to a functional democracy is to vote out Trump and his surrogates. I am not really prone to reactionary hyperventilation, but I DO think it is as dire as Friedman indicates. Like him, ultimately I am not opposed to all Republican candidates, at all times. But in THIS midterm election, to have any hope of restoring a counter weight to the Whitehouse, Democrats need to win.
12
Thank you Mr. Friedman for "calling a spade a spade." This is a truly excellent article.
When the focus is on "divisiveness" rather than on describing the reality--which is that good people are trying to fight a vast source of hate/evil (i.e., Trump) that is being used as the primary strategy to hold power--the focus on the simple notion of divisiveness serves as mere camouflage.
We can't sit back and just allow hate to ruin our institutions and to claim our once great country by avoiding what supposedly causes "divisiveness" because to rid ourselves of this divide we have to stop the lies, stop the hate, and replace our cowardly, manipulative and dishonest "leader" with an individual who will act to benefit all of us rather than just Trump's stirred-up and deceived base.
Patriots know that self-sacrifice is necessary at times, for the good of the whole. And when the good of the whole is no longer the motivation for leaders to hold office, what is at risk is the very welfare of the entire country and its continued existence. For the good of the whole Trumpsters must be voted out this Nov. 6th.
1
We have mytholized and deified George Washington and in doing so we have actually diminished the man.
Yes, he was a hero. Yes, he was the father of his country. and Yes, he won a dreadful war almost miraculously against the most powerful force in the world.
But what makes him REALLY remarkable, is that the he was just a man, with fears, idiosyncrasies, weaknesses, and a HUGE inferiority complex. He chased power, prestige, and reaches of upper society most of his life, married for money and position, and yet, despite that, achieved SO much that set us on course that overcame every road-block, long after he belonged to the ages.
Because he LEARNED! He learned that the woman he married for money and position, Martha Custis, was far wiser and more substantial than the woman he was in love with, Sally Fairfax. She was his rock, his anchor, his best friend, and she, even more than him, is what got us through the winter at Valley Forge.
He was a LOUSY battle commander, losing constantly, but he was a GREAT leader because he realized that losing the army meant catastrophe, so he never lost the army. And he won!
He didn't talk at the Constitutional Convention because he didn't think he was smart enough to add anything, but the delegates all knew--He was The Man.
As President, he had to establish EVERYTHING from scratch, and he did so, brilliantly, with no precedent, refused kingship, and left after 2 terms.
Washington was just a man, full of flaws. But he was truly a hero.
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Enjoyed learning from your comment - thank you!
5
@Dadof2
I also place Washington near or at at the top of our presidents, for a number of reasons, despite the fact he owned slaves. That is a hard fact difficult for me to get around. But apparently most of the slaves were actually owned by his wife, and I believe he freed all of his slaves, on his death. I wonder how well he treated them.
2
@Caded He freed his slaves on Martha's death, but I don't know if she freed her slaves. I don't think she did and I believe they went to her heirs.
But being a savvy farmer, he would have taken care of his slaves, at the root, because it's good business, just as you don't abuse your tools or live stock. I know that sounds horrible, but it's sensible and he was (mostly) a sensible man. I just don't know if he also would have treated them well as a compassionate man. I suspect so, as he freed his own slaves and found the concept of slavery problematic.
2
How far removed we've become from the insight of our founding fathers.
Can we make it back in a way that speaks to today, for our children and the future?
if what we have presently in our government and the current leadership of our government is The Future, and we accept that; then we the citizens of these United States of America, have betrayed our forebears. And our forebears came on ships to this country fleeing oppression, much like those migrants walking thousands of miles now to get here.
How true:
"When a person is promoted to a top job in life, usually one of two things happens: He either grows or he swells — he either evolves and grows into that job or all of his worst instincts and habits become swollen and just expand over a wider field. "
I've seen scores of lawyers [-- men AND women -- ], "elevated" to the bench, who let their lesser angels loose when freed from the unspoken restrictions of civility imposed by those who are no longer their peers.
My sense is that the fate of our republic rests on the integrity of our Republican senators and representatives. I have no great love of their Democratic counterparts, and think that, were there a Democratic megalomaniac in the White House instead of a Republican, they would rise up and speak out against a lunacy like we are now experiencing.
I can only hope and pray they would, just as I now hope and pray our Republican legislators will put patriotism ahead of being re-elected by a maddened and unthinking mob energized by a person who . . . .
We need- we need; we need a[nother] president like Barack Obama: Eloquent, level-headed, honest discerning but a bit less idealistic in believing the GOP really wants the best for the nation.
We need everyone to vote for a Democrat; not because the have a "D" behind their names but because- at this point in our nation, they are the only ones who are rationale.
The lowly midterms are actually where the power is; this is where we send those to Washington to allegedly represent the People. We should not forget that.
It's a sad day when a respected columnist for a prominent leader of the Real Media feels compelled to urge his readers to vote only for a single party, regardless of the qualifications of other contenders, because there no longer exists any pragmatic alternative. But that's the sorry state of the country we inhabit today, and if we didn't put ourselves there, we certainly enabled those who dragged us into the mud pit.
I reluctantly reached Friedman's conclusion some time ago when, after taking a pass on repeated opportunities to stand up to their worst elements and speak out, even the most reasonable and modest Republicans meekly declined to do so and honored their spineless code of silence. Silence may not be equivalent to complicity, but the difference is inconsequential; it achieves the same shameful result.
2
Perfect! But it is a shame that the people who would benefit most from this letter do not read anymore - except for tweets. Washington should have tweeted that sentiment. Or put it on a red hat in four words. That is the reading limit for many people these days.
How brilliant was Washington? How clear minded in his pursuit and understanding of what he and his other brilliant Founders created?
I cried reading the passage as if a requiem for a long deceased country.
Thanks to Mr Friedman for reminding all of us about the lifelong pride we used to feel.
1
Timothy Snyder, the author of "On Tyranny" in Chapter 19, titled "Be a Patriot", lists the many ways that Donald Trump is not a Patriot, but is a Nationalist.
"I'm a nationalist!" he happily chirped last week, and, yes, he is.
Snyder writes: "The president is a nationalist, which is not the same thing as a patriot. A nationalist encourages us to be our worst, and then tells us that we are the best..... A Patriot, by contrast, wants the nation to live up to its ideals, which means asking the best of ourselves."
Never once have I ever heard trump asking the best of anyone, anyone at all, not his advisers, not his family, not a friend, not even a business acquaintance.
Not one person.
Ever.
Yes, vote for a Democrat.
2
Thank you for uplifting my day sir. I needed that letter today.
Of course, the Trump era will pass. But what will be left in its wake and to what will it return. Trump has stirred a long stagnant pot, dredging up ignorance and hatred with the help of Twitter, Fox News and the internet. Obama’s post-racial era had a definite self life because it was based on reason and compassion. Fear and hate are easier to summon and harder to put back in the drawer. Washington never had to consider such powerful and pervasive forces and such a diverse nation as America is today. We are always building towards the next election. The divisive rhetoric always initiated from the Right meant to inflame for political supremacy will make rebuilding democracy something even more daunting than building a nation after a revolution.
Stop thinking about anyone uniting the country. No one person will be able to do this , but what we all can do to unite the country is to focus on an attitude of compassion and empathy toward our citizens who are less fortunate than ourselves . We need to focus on an attitude that listens , rather than attacks .
We need to be thinking about not who or what we are against, but what we are FOR ..... By doing this Donald Trump is no longer is at the center of the conversation because we are not focused on being against him. And being against him is exactly what he wants us to do…
The greatest way to punish a narcissist and a bully is to ignore him . The best way to defeat Donald Trump at his own nefarious game
is to focus on being proactively in favor of all the things which he is not . Focus on honesty, compassion, empathy, and the ability to listen to one another. Focus on taking responsibility for one’s actions, and thinking always of what we can do to help one another out. These are all things that are completely alien to Donald Trump. But these ideas are not be alien to Americans ,because these ideas have helped to define us as Americans for years .
1
Reading George Washington's letter hit me hard. The contrast in intellect, humility and, beyond tolerance, genuine empathy and openness - is staggering. It makes me realize that this Trump degradation underway in our country is not complex at all, Trump as President is simply what our founders labored diligently to prevent: an aspiring dictator abusing the office of the President, our people, our freedoms, and our country's resources, for his own illicit gains.
I can't say it as elegantly as Mr Friedman, but please, VOTE DEMOCRATIC - our Democratic Republic and our very decency are at stake.
2
Trump is simply a call to action. He is a stare into the blank abyss of autocracy. He is telling us in plaintive voice, like Marley in Dicken’s tale of past, present and future Christmas, we have a choice. Either learn to own your democracy or the likes of me will own your lives. The future, however, doesn’t just require mere voting, it requires wholehearted, responsibility in ownership.
I am so afraid of next week.
I fear Republicans will prevail.
I don't want Trump's version of America - a land filled with hate and division and intentional cruelty.
I am ashamed that my white skin will allow me cover among Trump's followers.
And I am very worried for my minority family members, neighbors, co-workers and friends.
Vote Democratic on November 6th.
Every seat,every office.
Changing Majorities in Congress is our best course of action.
Turnout.
Use your citizen's voice.
Vote.
1
Your column could be called "Thomas Friedman is Freaked Out" and subtitled "For a Very Good Reason." I only add that Washington's eloquent letter was both myopic and ignorant of the inequalities he was still actively perpetuating, witness slavery. The current polarization (as reflected by Friedman in a unilateral call to support only democrats, of which I am one) is also a result of myopia and ignorance. We must be supporting our values, not political parties. I get it, we're in serious trouble with this morally vapid, self-dealing president. However, if we don't use quality education and economic support to maximize the potential of all we are doomed to repeat the same cycles of concentration of wealth and oppression of the underdog that we have had throughout human history. Ultimately, it won't matter which party is in control.
24
@BB A trip of a thousand miles starts with the first step.
The fact that you choose slavery as a criticism, reveals you are not what you say you are.
Washington had just found a terrible war, resolving issues like human rights was a future issue.
Trying to demonstrate wisdom, is not the same as living it.
2
Great summation of our national crisis:
When you have a president without shame, backed by a party without a spine, amplified by a TV network without integrity, reason is not an option and hope is not a strategy. The only restraint on Trump is a lever of national power in the hands of the opposition party that can force some accountability.
"Patriotism is not enough . . ." In 1915, Nurse Cavell was shot for helping soldiers to escape. The night before being shot, she said: "Patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness for anyone."
I like your essay very much, but I still think that "Patriotism is not enough . . ."
"Patriots put love of their own people first, while nationalists put hate for other people first."
Patriots and Nationalists of the USA put their international ignorance of other cultures and peoples first. There is no hatred there; there is just an overwhelming general, a somewhat benign, and a comfortably listless ignorance about it.
Aside from a suppressed racism, there is the nationalism of origin, religion, philosophy, economic status, and gender differentiation.
America is the land of limitless opportunities still. One more way of seeing this is to consider that Americans don't have to go abroad at all to practice all three of their relationship styles with other nationalities.
Thank you George Washington for your uplifting letter and Mr Friedman for highlighting this and how our country has veered into dangerous territory. I only disagree in that 45 does was he does based less on real ideals but SOLELY TO WIN. Truly shameful.
"...Beyond that, nothing else matters..."
For now you're right. We must stop this madness.
1
Mr. Friedman,
In this political climate, there would be chants to lock up George Washington. I recall two summers ago when NPR texted the constitution and the right called it "left wing propaganda."
Vote America. Tyrants and Despots hate democracy.
1
Washington selflessly fought for his country. Trump fights only for himself.
Washington would be horrified to meet Trump. He would be appalled at the swamp of Washington, DC, and at seeing Mnuchin's signature on his dollar bill.
But what would truly frighten Washington is that the rest of us could not figure out how to prevent this from happening, that we betrayed his ideals.
He would relegate us to the harshest of criticism. He would make it known that we would never earn his respect. Because we would disgust him.
1
I am still wondering how a country that started out with George Washington in the White House could so lower the bar with Donald Trump. We have seen the enemy of our democracy and it is us.
3
@Christy: The most important legacy of the Deist founders of the US is "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion", the so-called Establishment Clause of the first amendment to the Constitution. Unfortunately, the US fell off the wagon when the Congress decreed it "under God" back in 1953, and now it is mired magical thinking.
1
I'm not a history expert, but wasn't this Washington fellow a slaveholder who had no problem taking land from Native Americans and denying women the right to vote?
1
I wept when I read this letter. We began with a literate man such as George Washinton and have now chosen Trump, whose favorite words are “disgusting,” and “disaster.”
I do not know how to speak to my fellow Americans who revere Trump. If they cannot understand that he has stirred up and amplified all that is fearful, angry and ugly about human beings, then I feel hopeless to change their minds. I honestly believe that we as a country have never been at such a low ebb and that voting Democratic across the board is the ONLY way to begin to lift us upwards, ever so slightly.
I sense that you, Mr. Friedman, know that the message doesn’t have to be framed eloquently. The message is simply to do everything we know to do to get voters to the polls - no ifs, ands or buts. Our futures are in peril. What more evil will Trump do in two years if left unfettered?
88
@Kathryn You are not the only one in tears. I called a friend to make sure he and his family were planning to vote and broke down on the phone. That's not like me at all. He was stunned. But, you're so right, and you said it so well. Thank you.
3
Homo sapiens are ensembles of particles that interact according to the laws of physics like the rest of the universe.
Nationalism is a great description of George Washington's view of the new nation. He was an America first guy who was very concerned about bad deals with other countries. He supported slavery. Mr. Trump supports "Blexit" and "We Free".
1
There is zero evidence Pres. Trump hates America. In fact, there is only evidence he loves America.
A playboy billionaire from NY gave up his lifestyle, spent millions of dollars of his own money and became president. He’s mostly been vilified for it from an insane press. In 20 months he’s restored America’s economy and American confidence. The positive economic metrics are off the chart.
If that’s not love of country, what is?
9
@Cjmesq0 Trump "loaned" this money to his campaign. At this point I'm sure he has reimbursed himself in full. And I doubt he thought he would win. He had other plans in the works for after the election including launching a tv station similar to FOX. It was more a publicity stunt but the American public never got the memo.
24
@Cjmesq0 Maybe you’re being sarcastic, but Really? Trump loves money. Measures everything by it. It’s the only engine that drives the country according to him. Trump and his ilk have created an economically divided country that is not sustainable. Everything/everyone is a commodity to be counted. Morality is dimmed.The end (wealth and power) justifies the means (corruption and prejudice). It doesn’t matter what sort of person you are, only that you have all the chips at the end of the game. If most of the people in the country are losing, how are you winning? If you don’t look at and look out for each other, what do you have besides money? We’ve gone crazy in this country. Period.
25
@Cjmesq0 The economy was doing just fine when Trump took office. And if you want to use that as a barometer, then he has to take the blame for the recent nosedive on Wall Street. And still, day-to-day life for most people is no different than it was 2 years ago. What's different is the tone and tenor in this country has been drastically altered, and we have a President who has despotic leanings. If you're willing to risk the fair, just and compassionate treatment of people who come here seeking a better life, or of people who have an opposing view; if you're willing to risk freedom of the press; if you're willing to risk a future where your right to vote for change is severely diminished if not extinguished; if you're willing to risk irreparable damage to the environment; if you're willing to risk all of that because the economy is in an upcycle, then keep supporting the current administration.
33
As usual, Tom , you have captured the moment. I attended a vigil at our Synagogue in Toledo, tonight at which our Rabbi quoted President Washington’s letter as you have. Pray for a positive vote next Tuesday.
3
Thank you for reminding us of our heritage. I pray that we once again will have such character in a leader. These are such sad times.
1
We have a " Machiavellian Presidency ", and possibly a "Machiavellian majority Congress".
As a Canadian, I am appalled not so much by Trump, but with you, Americans- who allowed such a gluttonous demagogue to gain power. This hunger you demonstrate for celebrity, and not decency, has corroded the soul.
4
@MARK
Well said though the NeoCon/ militant Evangelical Stephen Harper was not much better.
Once again Mr. Friedman hit the nail on its head. Our nation is at a critical junction and the strength of our Republic is at stake. Our current President does not understand the meaning of the Oath he took and it appears that the members of Congress are intent on towing their respective party lines instead of working together to establish 'a more perfect union'. We as an electorate need to demand more of our elected officials and require them to aspire to spend more time doing their job than worrying about keeping their job.
2
@Steven Hochberg: "Federalism" now pits each state against all the others in a destructive internal competition of unequally protective laws tied to arbitrary regions.
1
Take action and vote
1
A very good book that deals with the background to this wonderful letter is "George Washington's Journey: The President Forges A New Nation," by T. H. Breen (Simon & Schuster, 2016). The book traces Washington's series of trips to all parts of the country in 1790, the first year of his presidency, undertaken as part of his efforts to unify the nation. On one of these arduous trips, he visited the synagogue in Newport and delivered a speech on freedom of religion. In this and so many other ways, Washington remains the best model we have ever had for what a president ought to be.
@Monty Jones: Freedom of religion cannot exist without freedom from religion.
1
George Washington invented the American presidency, yet, the line, "For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support," is a bit of fake news. In fact, 1790 was on the eve of the passage of worsening of laws of bigotry against the African American which paved the way for the Dred Scott decision on citizenship. George wanted us to improve and marry up, the way he did, but he was using propaganda, not truth, in the speech. If the speech were more truthful, as your column is, Mr. Friedman, it would have awakened the nation and maybe the additional persecution of African Americans could have been averted.
3
Sometimes, life is much like a recipe for preparing meals. One misused ingredient changes the experience and upsets the tongue, the mind, and the stomach. Whether the mistake is intentional or not, a memory is formed which suggests a second look next time around.
We've arrived at that place. Mr. Washington's graceful contributions to discourse were created by a man who understood the recipe, and importance of adding or deleting ingredients with great care. To both preserve and protect what others built and we've taken as granted, we need to heed Mr. Friedman's desperate call to correct the balance of ingredients, lest the recipe fail - recovery, if possible might take generations.
3
Eloquent, intelligent and disturbing. America is now in the 11th hour and citizens of goodwill should be very aware that the Republicans do not believe the turnout of minorities, women, millennials and outraged registered voters will materialize. If they are correct, may God have mercy on us. However, should we heed Mr. Friedman's plea, this nation can begin to save itself.
5
I am a great admirer of George Washington. I have several biographies of him scattered around the house. My favorite is the Washington Irving rendition. I have paintings of Washington in two spots. He was a great man. A patriot in the truest sense of the word. If he were here today, he would be horrified. I am ,too.
2
''Today, though, I am fresh out of fresh ideas...'' - that is and has been for a while the synopsis of the conservative movement as a whole.
'' The only thing we have to fear ... is fear itself ''
There are no people coming to take away your stuff. There is no bogeyman and there is no great threat on the horizon. The only thing you have to do is vote, and to vote is such overwhelming numbers that the chances for discrepancies and manipulation to be nil.
There needs to be a political pendulum shift, and pull back, or a check - whatever you want to call it. This is NOT us.
Show the world that Democracy still is an idea to uphold.
11
This is so moving. Thank you Mr. Friedman. We live in such a wonderful country and we will survive the hate and pull together.
If you are out of fresh idea, I propose you to make a public apology. An apology that the problem was not with both sides. An apology that the solution is not a third party in the "center", a center that really nobody wants, and whose positions are either compromised and compromises, or really the position of the Democratic party. The solution is in a total rebuke of the one party that has become absolute extremists, and has been for a long time already. Going to the "center" is not the solution, it is part of the problem, the problem of condoning the radicalization of the right, and blaming the left for that. Now the only solution that remains ids vote, now or never, literally.
4
Beautiful words from George Washington, at a time when many people owned slaves, including him, and women were citizens in name only. Obama had the same dream without these holes in it, and the other party rejected it rather than seeking a different path to it. Now this party lost control of its self and gave us Trump.
27
This is the America, the New World, that commanded the wonder and respect of Europe, the Old World, when America's economic and military might were seen in the context of inherent benevolence.
And this magnificent sentence : "The Citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy: a policy worthy of imitation." Indeed, the forthcoming elections will have a resounding impact on the world at large.
9
How far back in time was it that the republicans stated that they were aiming for a permanent majority? Since then they have used every trick in the book (including partisan gerrymandering) to accomplish that task. Wouldn't a permanent majority be the same thing as a dictatorship?
20
The internet has become the birth of us. Unfortunately, we’re realizing that we’re not who we, once, thought we were.
Somehow, long before my birth, humanity latched onto, claimed ownership of, lived by and echoed the thoughts and values of a few demagogues. Today, however, the individual has found that it has only its nascent self as its demagogue. Our, once repressed, selves are now free - the consequences being extreme confusion, agitation, commotion, anarchy and so-on.
What we should not conclude is that, because of these consequences, something is wrong about us. I believe William Yeats once said, “He needs to make this journey. He knows that unless he makes this journey / unless he defies logic and authority / unless his soul claps its hands and sings out loud, he is nothing more than a tattered coat upon a stick.” I feel the internet has shown many more of us that we’ve been nothing more than a tattered coat on a stick and has shown us our wish for the nascent selves of our souls to, one day, clap its hands and sing out loud.
So, those who, once again, desperately wish to console and contain our confusion, agitation, commotion, anarchy and so-on, please, for once, let us find our own way which, I am sure, eventually will lead us back to some common understanding. See you soon . . .
3
We should all send a copy of George Washington's letter to the current occupant of his office.
5
...and chip in to hire someone to read it to him.
There are two types of leaders in this world. One will find power through division. The other will seek to empower through unity. Trump is the former and Obama was the latter. America did not know how good they had it under the former president.
51
There is no way in which I can convince myself that Republicans support the ideals of democracy, let alone the fundamental idea of it. Read aloud, the founding documents still sound radical in their support of the individual and in their call for the responsibilities we each have toward one another. Their words set deliberately seemingly unattainable goals in order to force us to continue to strive towards their realization. Yet such eloquence does not resonate in the ears of Ryan, or McConnell, or Trump, or King or their ilk. We the people must vote them out and then remain alert to their inevitable and likely dishonest attempts at return.
38
Ironically, I visited Mount Rushmore today for the first time in 60 years and saw some REAL Presidents.
I could only wonder what Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln would think of the current resident of the White House.
Not much, I suspect.
24
We need more patriots in our current leaders and with fewer nationalist mindsets. Let’s hope this midterm brings a fresh ground to Congress who will have a new perspective a the ideals of running our country. The blame game needs to go and getting down to finding solutions that help our country start dealing with the real issues facing it.
4
How moved I am by George Washington's letter, his unwavering belief in our country's possibilities, his love that shines so freely and the comments by writers here. Itwas George Washington who gave us our country. He easily could have become a dictator, but by rejecting that path taught us that government did not need to be feared. Trump threatens all of this with every tweet and attack on his fellow citizens and humanity as a whole.
One note though. I can not help but think there are good people out there who support Trump in the mistaken belief that he has brought us prosperity or that our government needs shaking and a 'fresh' start. To them I ask is prosperity for which you give Trump so much credit worth the destruction of our constitution or blatant attacks on everything that is civil? Or does a 'fresh start' mean the over throw of everything George Washington held dear? All of us must wake up to the treasure that our system of government fought for so dearly with so much blood and that I believe is what George Washington would say to us today.
21
@just Robert
"To them I ask is prosperity for which you give Trump so much credit worth the destruction of our constitution or blatant attacks on everything that is civil? "
Wow. The above contains the phrase "the destruction of our constitution." Every member of the military service and all elected officials of our federal government have taken the oath of office that includes the phrase "to protect and defend the constitution from all enemies, both foreign and domestic." Trump's assault on the 14th amendment is a direct attack on our constitution. Even Paul Ryan knows this and he has said that Trump cannot erase this amendment with an executive order.
1
I cannot believe there is anything good about someone still voting for Trump or Republican today in the face of all evidence. I’m sorry. Granted some might have been hoodwinked in ‘16. But today? Lost ignorant and selfish to the last cell in their body.
Perhaps some brave member of the press should ask Mr. Trump if he is familiar with the seal of his office, which contains the phrase "e pluribus unum"; and, as a follow-on question, ask him to translate the phrase.
20
A lot of those who despise Trump's call to make America great again seem convinced that America never WAS great. But under Washington's leadership it was. Thanks for reminding us what we once were, and what many of us hope we will someday (without Trump's help) be again.
8
Well, what we generally intend when we say America never was great, is to remind listeners that those periods of historical “greatness” were not great for everyone: notably decimated Native American populations and slaves. If it’s the Leave it to Beaver 1950s one is showing reverence for, we’d remind you of Jim Crow.
America is a great experiment and we continue to work toward fulfilling (and redefining) the meaning of “All men are created equal...” Now, for instance, that includes women.
Conscience and consciousness is subject to evolution. I hope that viewing history through the lens of contemporary values does not mean that we throw out the baby with the bath water. Some of the noblest and most humanitarian ideas were propounded by those who were otherwise flawed or unevolved. If we are to find a unity of purpose, we can find it expressed often by those who saw justice in hanging children for the theft of a handkerchief, by those who felt their wives should not be beaten with a stick of more than a thumb's diameter, by those for whom citizenship was measured by property, and even by those who kept slaves. The sentiment expressed in these "self-evident truths" is not diminished by the faults of their authors - in fact the sentiment transcends the human flaws, just as modern values (often - well, sometimes) transcend the inhumanity of the past. Treasure the good ideas, and build on them.
12
@michaeltide,
Wonderfully put. Knowing that we will be judged by the evolved consciousness of 200 years hence, and found lacking, I hope those future humans embrace the sense humanity you describe.
6
I read the letter in class (11th grade US History) as an example to my students of why studying, and understanding, history can be a comfort in life. It is not just about getting an A on a test.
23
I applaud you Tom Friedman for giving a voice to my own fears and hopes in the face of the most trying times in my 81 years. If I were still in uniform, how could I follow a Commander with such infamy in his heart as to order the uniformed services to intimidate people like my ancestors who came here for the same kind of refuge. When Trump calls out DEMS, he means me. And all of my family. We DEMS may be the only ones to claim the Federalist mantle that Washington wore. Trump likes the word incredible. I call him un credible. If we cannot believe anymore we are all in the soup of anarchy. Without a leader it is a free for all. I live in a state where there is less hatred than in others, and I am privileged to share the aloha with anyone who visits. Thank you and bless your heart for urging us to take arms against Trump.
21
Dear Thomas Friedman,
I, too, like Bob Walker have read your writings I have agreed with you and I have disagreed with you. But today you brought me to tears as you did Mr Walker.
This America that we love is in the thrall of a man and a party that has forgotten that they all took an oath to uphold the Constitution. It seems to have slipped their minds.
Thank you for your words in support of America.
George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and so many other men who have held the office of President are surely rolling over in their graves to see how low the office of the President has fallen.
I pray for our sad and beleagured country that the Democrats regain control of at least one part of the Congress. I will do all in my power to see that that happens.
26
My ancestors fought in Washington’s army, as the certificate from the Sons of the American Revolution bearing my grandfather’s name attests. Their names are hallowed in my family.
My wife and I went to DC recently and visited the Lincoln, WWII, Jefferson, FDR and MLK Memorials and read what was written in them.
Emotions ran high and many tears were shed.
And the words of this song kept running through my head:
Those were the days,
Yes they were,
Those were the days,
Those were their ways,
Miracles everywhere-where are they now?
They’re gone.
Cream
Those Were the Days
1968
5
@winthropo muchacho I found what was written on the walls of the Vietnam memorial quite heartbreaking, I'm sure you felt the same.
@John Harper Yes, saw it when it was first installed. Haven’t been back yet; I was 18 in ‘68.
All those lives lost-for what?
Read Washington's Farewell Address when he turns down a third term and heads back to Virginia. 220 years later, his warnings about politicians cynically causing divisions among Americans are truly prescient.
31
Thomas: the problem is not the disturbed man, this can be solved relatively easy. The problem are those who elected him and still support him. Even more serious is the problem of the lack of effectiveness of those who oppose him but were and are not able to get him out of office. The problem is that the two-party democratic system is not delivering the correct optimal results!
12
@berale8
The problem is that among registered voters, his job approval rating, based on his accomplishments in office, is better than Obama's during his second year in office.
You base your opinions on personality. People who voted for Trump base their support on results.
Trump was not my first pick as Republican nominee, but his policies are supported by the majority of Americans, even though they don't like Trump personally.
Senator Obama did not support immigration reform under Bush during his short stint in the Senate. He and Democrats did nada when they had a majority in the House and a super majority in the Senate. There was widespread public sympathy for dreamers, but rather than encourage bipartisan support for them, he issued an illegal edict to give them temporary legal status, working papers and access to federal and state benefits. His intention was to poison the well for bipartisan compromise and to create a wedge issue.
Democracy is the worst possible form of government except for all others. Democrats, dissatisfied with the results, want to use rhetoric to undermine the duly elected government. Scratch a Democrat, and there is an autocrat underneath who doesn't trust the people to elect the correct politicians or to agree with the correct technocrat solutions they fabricate behind closed doors.
1
@ebmem
I would disagree that Trump supporters chose policy over personality. The studies are fairly clear that Trump’s electoral college win was driven by the race-based fears of non-college educated white people. I suppose you *could* call Trump’s race baiting one of his key policies, so perhaps you are right after all.
1
@eb
Your comment of scratching a Democrat and finding an autocrat underneath is hardly unifying or accurate.
1
Washington indeed was an extraordinary person and great President. But this greatness is achieved by a people who create and nourish a greater civil goodness, forbearance, tolerance and bravery to stand up to those who would trample on these just qualities of society. Therefore, it is our civil duty to make the next President of the United States great again by living our lives with these attributes in mind.
6
Thomas Friedman suggest its Charles de Gaulle who gave the classic distinction between nationalism and patriotism. I'm pretty sure it was George Orwell:
"The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them...
By ‘nationalism’ I mean the habit of identifying oneself with a single nation or other unit, placing it beyond good and evil and recognizing no other duty than that of advancing its interests. Nationalism is not to be confused with patriotism. Both words are normally used in so vague a way that any definition is liable to be challenged, but one must draw a distinction between them, since two different and even opposing ideas are involved."
http://orwell.ru/library/essays/nationalism/english/e_nat
8
Orwell was a great political thinker, Down and Out in Paris and London is quite prescient of our "charitable" culture. And I am a progressive
1
@David R.
According to Alice in Wonderland, a word means whatever the Queen wants it to mean. Friedman is engaging in Alice in Wonderland demagoguery. He choses a pejorative definition and applies it to Trump. And then argues that Trump is an evil nationalist and not a patriot.
Where was his evaluation of Obama when he was bowing to Saudi princes, sending planeloads of cash to Iran, ignoring Russia's invasion of the Ukraine based on his flexibility? Obama was certainly not a nationalist, because he had disdain for America. He was an internationalist, which is even worse. he thinks international money interests should rule the world, indifferent to the wishes of the masses.
When Washington wrote this speech he was being very modest and not taking credit for all the good he had done.Anyone who has read history realizes that Washington was made a General and with much bravery and courage led his rag tag troops to a final victory over the British who outnumbered him and were so much better financed.He never gave up and figured ways to achieve an ultimate victory.He personally suffered for the establishment of the new country.Along with the words of his speech we should honor Washington by protecting the Democracy he established.We must figure out how to overcome all obstacles.
12
@Janet Michael,
Thank you for words that inspire.
1
Imagine the wording of the Constitution of USA ,if Donald Trump & Pence are sitting together and dictating to Justice Kavanaugh to pen it as a legal document !
It might start with :-
All human being are not created equal .....
6
"we can restore the presidency to someone — Democrat or Republican —" And isn't that sad? Our voting for "the lesser of" continues. #electionreformnow
BTW, was that one of George's trips to attempt to get Ona Judge, Martha's "runaway" slave back?
Quite rich coming from the guy who could see no wrong in MBS the barbarian and still hasn’t apologised for his own role in hyping up that tyrant as ‘progressive’ and ‘reformer’.
7
The idea of reprints of George Washington's correspondence permanently replacing Thomas Friedman's weekly columns is a startlingly refreshing one! I look forward to next week's letter.
5
Mr. Friedman, if you don’t have fresh ideas, give your space to someone who does. You used to provide new insights; now you’re just saying the obvious. Not obvious: _how_ to get non-voters to vote? What to tell them? _Why_ do so many otherwise decent people like Trump? _How_ to change that?
4
George Washington was the richest man in America.
Sounds like the first prez was a shrewd campaign fund raiser
2
As I recall from my extensive study, Washington didn't have to run an election campaign for the office. As soon as that was required, human nature took over and things became very ugly indeed.
Current nastiness is as all decent historians know, no more nasty than in the past. Gore Vidal informed me in "Lincoln" that his detractors labeled him "Honest Ape." Hamilton was attacked via racial slurs, by opposition office holders. Instead of constantly insisting we live in some especially nasty political time and fanning needy outrage that reinforces that myth and stops more productive conversation, would it not be more beneficial to point out that this ugliness is normal? Do this so that other more substantive issues; war, militarism, peace, corporate tyranny, dominance of money, public education etc. might become the focus?
I'd like to have been the inventor of this insight, but I am just sustaining the wisdom of much more accomplished people, a trick I rely that I suggest others try.
"Politics, as a practice, whatever its professions, has always been the systematic organization of hatreds." - Henry Adams, historian and teacher (16 Feb 1838-1918)
4
Some very salient points here, and thanks for reminding me of Lincoln, a really good read. One question I still have about that novel, Where was the vice-president?
“In the midterm elections, vote for a Democrat, canvass for a Democrat, raise money for a Democrat, drive someone to a voting station to vote for a Democrat. I repeat ... “
Totally Brilliant
Thank you Mr. Friedman
2
Please let's not forget that George Washington was a lifelong slaver. He even had an escaped slave pursued for years. And don't imagine he didn't sell them off down river or have them whipped by his overseers. So you'll tell me he freed them all in his will. He didn't free them all because some belonged to his wife Martha. She eventually freed them out of fear they'd attack her.
1
@jsutton Slightly incorrect. Washington stipulated in his will that his slaves would be freed after the death of his wife Martha. She spent her remaining years nervous living among a group of people whose freedom was conditional on her death.
When I read or hear the words of presidents past I am deeply saddened that inspiring, brilliant and courageous words they said could simply not be said today. There is so much in this letter that both ends of the political spectrum today would deride in this particular political climate that it wouldn't have gotten past the White House communications office. It's easy to imaging the criticism and character attacks that would soon follow delivery of these words. There will never again be a president like Washington, or Jefferson, Lincoln, FDR or JFK. Special interests that hold an iron grip on power, a feckless press, corrosive social media, and popular rejection of common responsibilities, norms, and government in general don't breed courage, leadership and risk taking necessary for unity and progress.
There's that famous quote about good men doing nothing that I can't remember all of, but it's true. So you have to do what you can. Voting is one thing you can do. Question is, how many good "men" are left, and how many will do something, anything? November 6th may be a last chance.
1
What a two-faced person Washington was, conveniently ignoring the treatment of African slaves and Native Americans who faced ruthless extermination. This is the man whose values we're supposed to worship? Give me a break!!!
6
"Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind." (Albert Einstein)
4
Patriots put love of their own people first.
Nationalists put hate of other people first.
And globalists, like Thomas Friedman, put the interests of corporate capital first.
4
The ultimate conclusion of the MIT/CalTech voting technology project initiated in the aftermath of the Bush/Gore election had nothing to do with butterfly ballots or hanging chads. It was clear even 17 years ago that voter suppression dwarfed all other issues, a conclusion not lost on the likes of the GOP in North Dakota, Georgia, and too many other states, north and south. The Roberts court has turned blind eye. It will take a Democratic tidal wave to overcome this anti-democratic ploy. That said, "In the midterm elections, vote for a Democrat, canvass for a Democrat, raise money for a Democrat, drive someone to a voting station to vote for a Democrat."
6
The rudderless and captainless Ship of State sails on hoping for safe harbor on Election Day. Trump is exhausting the country.Trump,a winner of the tombstone lottery upon the death of his father, is a loser in life(Trump U,casino bankruptcies,Plaza Hotel, Trump Shuttle, etc.), sustained ,personally , only by his narcissistic personality.Pathology is a risky navigational tool.The Ship of State needs the wind at its’ back to survive Trump.
4
Thomas, you make an important distinction and we both owe DeGaulle for it. Many like the Golden Rule -- do unto others as you would have them do unto you. I prefer the "Silver" Rule -- Don't do unto others what you wouldn't want them to do to you. Though they overlap, they are far from the same. The former requires me to behave in a certain way, the latter only requires me to avoid behaving in certain ways. In the former, if I want hugs I better hug. In the latter, if I don't want to be ridiculed I best not ridicule. In the former, violence begets violence. In the latter, if I don't want to be a victim of violence, I should not be violent. DeGaulle had it right. Start by avoiding the hate and the best will follow.
9
Pundits have said that Trump's call to overturn the 14th amendment is meant to be a distraction from mail bombs and synagogue massacres. This is depressingly clueless. Trump is sending a message to his military that the constitution means only what he interprets it to mean. Trump is laying the groundwork for a military overthrow of our government. He will have to do this if Democrats regain control of the House, because otherwise his treachery will be exposed and he will spend the rest of his life in jail. It is utterly frustrating that the commentariat doesn't see the end coming.
So of course vote for Democrats. But far more important right now is to lobby the military to defend our constitution. If our armed forces decide to obey their commander-in-chief, American democracy will be dead by Christmas.
4
wdg,
Your comment about our military is in error. The us military is controlled by civlian authority and haven taken an oath to protect our constitution. Mr Friedmans plea to vote and support democrats for election at every level is the correct one.
Blue Wave 2018 !
2
@joe parrott Trump also took an oath to protect and defend our constitution.
"restore the presidency to someone — Democrat or Republican"
Unfortunately we are far past the point where Republicans have proven that they cannot be trusted. Not even the "good" ones. I'm sure there are a few reasonable and intelligent Republicans in Congress or running for office, but there is not even a remote possibility of them earning my vote, especially knowing that they will turn around and prop up the Current Occupant.
This leaves us with the unfortunate choice of having to vote for a Democrat, qualifications be damned. This cycle repeats and dilutes the quality of leadership in this country every election.
6
Let me see if I get this right. If my apartment has walls and there isa front door which locks, does that mean that I hate other people?
It is a felony to be illegally in Mexico. Does that mean that Mexicans are a hateful people? Give me a break!
When Democrats constantly describe rational caution as hate, they muddy the dialogue and the result is that no one but other Democrats believe them. Then they become vulnerable to the "boy who cried wolf" problem.
4
The Republicans have controlled the executive and legislative branches and have not passed immigration reform. The broken immigration system is on them now, just like broken infrastructure that doesn’t get fixed because tax cuts for red-state billionaires is a higher Party priority.
Immigration bothers people and the laws should be changed so that they can be enforced without ambivalence. With a guest worker program, modifications of family-based immigration, and a merit-based pathway we could get there - but this far there has been no Republican proposal that shows an appropriate blend of brains, heart, and guts.
That said, immigration doesn’t even make my top ten list for America’s problems. The Republicans’ willingness to make many of them worse while whining about immigration (but not fixing it) is truly pathetic. With a reminder that this former Republican does not advocate open borders, MS-13 and crime in the streets, let’s hear from the America First party about their solutions for:
Climate change
Air and water pollution
Underfunded public schools
Unaffordable college
A wasteful and inefficient healthcare system
The suicide/opioid epidemic
Crumbling infrastructure
Corrupt campaign finance
Voter suppression
Foreign interference in our elections
Vulnerability to cyberattacks
The President and his party are distracting America with rants and philippics while his cabinet is doing damage - and neglecting real problems - that will take years to repair.
7
@Barry Fogel ---- your comment is all too true. What's happening is so many times worse than what's being headlined. Forget the rants - reclaim realities.
From half a world away - thanks for such a relevant list.
That last big immigration bill, SB744, was a bad bill. It did not deserve to be passed.
Congress needs to do a better job. That includes both sides if the aisle.
I’d point out a couple things to some of the holier-than thou types now bellowing at Washington, the first of which is, why yes, of course Washington was by our standards, by any decent standards, reprehensible for owning slaves. No question about it. And if we were to go through and sanitize every ugly moment in our history, or to reject everything built on those ugly moments, we’d have no history left. And would properly need to shoot ourselves.
Second thing I’d point out is that you’re all Americans, right? Citizens in a country that throws away, or gives to cats and dogs, enough food to make sure that every child on the planet goes to bed with a full stomach every night? A country that STILL takes more than a lion’s share of the world’s resources? A country that has My Lai and Rwanda in its IMMEDIATE past? A country that won’t be able to get as much as 30% of its viters aged 18-29 to vote in a vital, absolutely life-or-death election?
You think you’re squeaky-clean innocent of all that? Ha.
So go read Brecht, “For Those Who Come After,” and the old story, “Jungle Doctor.” And reflect, before you next wax all sanctimonious, that 400 years from now a little girl is coming hime from history class crying.
“There, there,” her mom is saying. “It’s awful, but they just didn’t know any better.”
To her, YOU’RE Washington.
2
Agree. Goes without saying Trump is an embarrassment but not to the GOP. Defining the stakes, what is at risk in the midterms brought into focus by the proven Trump reaction to a win however slim the margin.
He will argue the vote giving him a one vote margin in the house, a sweeping vindication of all his policies. Yes Helen, racism, tribalism, tax cuts for rich, fake news, white nationalism, the threats of immigration, Kavanaugh, trade wars, hugging on autocrats, rank indecency, lying before awakening, bullying allies, and birtherism stamped with approval by the overwhelming one vote majority in the House.
Suffocating in nonsense for another two years.
Any one of George Washington's enslaved black Africans would be a much more honorable humble humane moral empathetic President of the United States than he would.
1
And brought back to life, Washington wou’d STILL be better than the toad we got, so what’s your point?
9
who knows, maybe Trump is the reincarnation of Washington. he certainly had the same penchant for covering up the truth with lies. cannot tell a lie...right there you know you've got a great fabulist
One of the many things that is reproached trump, is the fact that he says one thing - well, all kinds of inanities - but believes and does otherwise. trump has clearly divided and antagonized the nation along racial and religious lines. Bringing up Washington only seems to lend support and credence to trump's modus operandi and point of view. I'm not sure that choosing Washington as a contrast is the best choice. According to mountvernon.org :
"What is clear is that Washington frequently utilized harsh punishment against the enslaved population, including whippings and the threat of particularly taxing work assignments."
Me thinks you might have done better.
I look forward to opinion pieces which look forward rather than back. Perhaps ones that suggest meaningful changes to the broken American democracy. Some ideas:
-- a third and/or fourth political party - a two party system is much too easy to corrupt.
-- Paper ballots.
-- Dissolution of the racism-inspired electoral college.
-- One person - one vote.
-- Amending the Constitution to outlaw the absolutely ridiculous result of Citizen's United. Corporations are not people. People are people.
I wonder what our esteemed first president's slaves thought of him.
1
Since there don't appear to be any Americans who are alive and who are qualified and willing to be President, we might as well recycle our dead, qualified Presidents. I heard in a seance that Lincoln also may be interested. JFK certainly should be permitted to come back since he never got to serve a full term.
2
Beautiful words but ironic coming from a slaver.
No sanction to bigotry or aid to persecution?
Hardly. Just another Founding Hypocrite.
And don’t bother excusing him by the “don’t judge him by today’s standards” argument. There were plenty of Abolitionists around then.
As for Trump and his “Nationalism” I’m reading Arendt on The Origins of Totalitarianism”.
Fifty years on it’s never been more relevant.
Especially her warnings about when the business elite and the nativist mob unite. Like Germany in the thirties we are going down this road here today.
Can it be stopped? Let’s hope next Tuesday is a first step.
3
Actually, there were not many true abolitionists around then though Washington was among the most noteworthy.
John Lauren's of South Carolina who was one of the 32 men who served at one time or another as one GW's aide de camp, was an outspoken abolitionist. His father was Henry Laurens, who was president of the Continental Congress. It is a possibility that had young Laurens not been killed in a senseless skirmish after Yorktown that the history of slavery in this country could have be greatly.
Nonetheless, Washington is the only Founding Father who freed his slaves, albeit after he and Martha had died. Still that was not an easy task to accomplish, as the laws in Virginia made that very difficult. One requirement of freeing a slave was to guarantee that there would be resources to care for the former slave should that be necessary. Washington's estate was paying for the care of the last former slave until 1838, almost 40 years after he died.
4
@Gregory
"Washington is the only Founding Father who freed his slaves, albeit after he and Martha had died"
No greater love can a man have than to lay down his succession of indenture post mortem.
I'm welling up.
I am not a supporter of President Trump, I agree with Mr. Friedman that he is a dangerous mad man.
But if we are going to talk inclusion and support for diversity at least Mr. Trump, unlike Mr. Washington, never owned more than a hundred human beings. While I wouldn’t put it past Mr. Trump to think that was OK we know for a certain fact that Mr. Washington did.
3
@ Ross,
'Mr. Trump, unlike Mr. Washington, never owned more than a hundred human beings.'
Oh, I don't know about that...
Trumps owns more - all the synchophants in Senate, House, Cabinet, White House staff, et al., Strange, they show up, then go home, then start all over again, showing up for more abuse. In his mind, you know, he thinks he owns his people's
and his base.
Autocrat rule - he smart mouthed Leslie Stahl, "In the President and your not!" In his 'house' they tow the line and he cracks the whip.
4
Well, that's lovely language, but I can't help thinking that when it was written many people were enslaved and not allowed to be citizens. Women enjoyed the freedoms of citizenship only to a point having no voice in their government... no doubt Mr. Washington was a dam sight better than the current toddler-in-chief, but let's be real about who the 1st president was and was not.
"Patriots put love of their own people first, while nationalists put hate for other people first." Except that trump is an egotist rather than a nationalist. Trump puts love of himself first and hatred of other people first too and uses his base of fools as his tools.
Trump already thinks he can edit, even erase, the Constitution at will with an executive order. How can a country of immigrants be so anti-immigrant? What gives?
"amplified by a TV network without integrity" - all for the financial profiteering of a foreign born immigrant and naturalized American - to exploit our freedom of the press in order to harm those who protect his freedom of speech for wealth.
"restore the presidency to someone — Democrat or Republican"? Republican?!! Really? The same people who before and after trump have been so busy dividing Americans, suppressing the votes of the majority, steeling elections and SCOTUS seats, destroying everyone's environment and giving multi-trillion dollar wealth transfers from our nation to the billionaire class? The Republican party should be destroyed and replaced with a real counterpart to the Democrats.
Sorry Thomas, but there can no longer be any claim of "fine people" on both sides if that includes today's Republicans on one of those sides.
3
Jean Cooper (below) put her finger on the problem with this column. Washington owned hundreds of slaves at the time he wrote this letter. He thereby amplified an American tradition that, in the same week as the massacre at the synagogue, led to two African Americans being gunned down by a white supremacist while they were shopping. One of the ways for the country to heal itself is for American journalism—including wonderful, humane journalists like Mr. Friedman—to become a little less myopic. If journalists had been more outraged by Trump’s birtherism before November 2016, he might never have been elected.
1
I disagree with your statement about being out of ideas, Mr. Friedman. Your have written as fine a piece as I have read of late.
The only drawback for me after reading it and many of the comments posted here was feeling profound sadness about how low we have fallen. But I will not give in to that.
Remembering what the first American President and the rest of the country had to endure to launch this wonderful experiment will help raise our resolve to keep it. Thank you.
1
Well, here we are. We've managed to go from having a man like Washington as President to having a man like Trump as President. While we have managed to make tremendous progress in some areas (abolishing slavery, etc.), we've somehow managed to allow our country to completely disintegrate in other areas.
It would be a mistake place all blame for our current predicament on Trump and the GOP. If "both sides" remain in denial that they've each contributed to this mess, we may be forced to wait for a "new Washington"--who will arise after another bloody revolutionary war.
1
"When you have a president without shame, backed by a party without a spine, amplified by a TV network without integrity, reason is not an option and hope is not a strategy."
A wonderfully accurate and terrifying line, made more disgusting when you consider all those mentioned are in it for money.
Trump wants his brand pimped and his future media empire.
The party wants its donors at all costs.
The network wants its ad sales.
Meanwhile "Reality TV" America genuflects and opens wide for another mouthful of lies and hate.
9
Thank you Mr. Friedman for one of your best thought provoking columns I've ever read.
2
Successful democracy takes work. And sadly, we have not worked as hard as we should. We have politicians who spend more time campaigning that governing. We have a president who watches television more than reads. We have an electorate driven more by fake commercials than real news. We have no one to blame but ourselves.
Yes, we can vote and should vote next week. But, beyond that we must work to get money out of politics and eliminate the outdated Electoral College which gave us a minority president. If we don't, we will likely end up with a president in 2021 who, with a straight face, will tell us "I cannot tell a lie...." and people will believe him and George Washington will weep.
12
Shockingly, in this time of a relatively healthy economy so many are so angry, so hateful, so misguided. What will the country do when the recession arrives and times grow hard?
You think you've witnessed a disturbed narcissist as president, just wait. We should be repairing the damage now, not making it worse. Violent upheaval is on the way and Trump is its flagbearer.
6
Trump’s appetite for chaos is huge.
It is wearing out the best of us, but requires all of us to oppose this madman.
7
Without Washington, there would be no U.S.A. Remember in Sept. 1777 he kept the Revolutionary Army together at Valley Forge when it was in a desperate situation. Due to his sheer will power and leadership he saved the Army to fight another day for final victory at Yorktown in Oct. 1781.
To those who mention slaves let it not be forgotten that Washington’s Army was integrated something that happened only later in Korean War – some 170 years later.
11
There are two distinct ways to look at this letter. On is the manner in which Friedman is responding: a beloved American patriot responding eloquently to Jewish citizens. I need to point out to you that there is another way to look at this letter. George Washington was not only a beloved American patriot but also a Virginia plantation slavemaster who did NOT (despite everything your civics teacher told you) free multiple slaves upon his death but merely one individual, his personal servant. And, the Jews of Newport, Rhode Island, with whom this Virginia plantation slavemaster was so magnificently commiserating, were people deeply implicated in the international slave trade that had supplied Washington’s plantation with its black African slaves.
I for one do not perceive this George Washington as any sort of worthy role model for our American nation, and do not perceive this Newport congregation as any sort of honorable model to be emulated by American Judaism. Get a clue, racism is racism even when the racists are American “founding fathers” and “religious people.” Such things you don’t just get over —you don’t just elide —you don’t just ignore.
Still, it was a cute letter, one that it is easy reading especially for those who don’t know their history.
4
Thank you, Mr. Friedman, for this letter from the first president. I wonder, with the current occupant, if we are not on our last.
The Republicans, for years, have extolled the supposed virtues of “patriotism,” of course, nodding and winking that only white people were the true patriots, the protectors and sentinels of every boiled platitude they could conjure up in their country clubs, on their campaign trails, in their pointedly divisive rhetoric—from Nixon to Trump. Translated, “patriotism” equals (white) nationalism. It is meant, deliberately, to build a chasm, not a bridge, from “us” to “them.”
This anger and whetstone politics, honed to the finest cutting edge, is all that Donald Trump has to offer America. Whenever I listen to Barack Obama’s speech from 2008, when he was an Illinois Senator and fighting off charges of collusion with hateful pulpit frothings shouted by the reverend Jeremiah Wright, I am struck by the tone of dignity, underlain with an anger that perhaps inattentive listeners missed. But Senator Obama took one historical wrong and attempted to steer it through the narrow, perilous straits of race in America—and how we should and could grow out of our limitations and come together, as much as was humanly possible, in a reach for the perfect union, rather than the mere golden mean.
His successor, as president, is the classic nationalist who hates—hates what and whom he cannot love, or even like. Yet, 40% of America loves him.
Just who are we, really?
7
One conjures this locker-room image of A.G. Sulzberger assembling his players to put some spine in them toward the end of a game that saw them SO confident at its outset that they would roll over the opposing team … but it’s no longer looking remotely like a slam-dunk. In fact … they could lose EVERYTHING! And that’s got the home-town crowd gibbering with outrage and fear. “Ross and David, announce that you’re becoming DEMOCRATS!” “Krugman, start channeling Blow on Trump and Republicans!” “Stephens, lighten-up on conservative convictions, you can go back to individualism after we’ve WON!” “And Friedman … Tom, start oozing a sense of desperate hopelessness and loss of anchors! Wah, wah, wah!!”
I’ve NEVER seen Tom Friedman so unmanned about ANYTHING. The Trump-Monster, like Satan with his three faces, will spend eternity chewing on us in each of his three mouths! “This nation is heading for a disaster of biblical proportions! Real wrath of God type stuff! Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling! Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes ... the dead rising from the grave! Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria!”
“Okay, my loyal players, are you getting the point yet?! Because A.I. software is getting good enough that I’m not sure we even NEED human pundits anymore, and I’m always looking for ways to cut structural costs!”
GAWD, what are you guys going to do if you actually LOSE? (I mean … BESIDES the Senate?)
1
@Richard Luettgen. My guess is that this commentator popped some champagne corks when that Republican tax cut passed. You know, the well celebrated legislation that turned toxic to Republican candidates once the General public wised up about whom it actually benefited.
16
@John Grillo
Actually, like Steve Bannon, I thought the tax cut should have been targeted only to corporations. Alas.
But I'll say this for Republicans: unlike Democrats, they don't tell their constituencies that they've got their backs then try to slam them with some of the most regressive taxes imaginable -- like gas taxes and the pass-through effects of a carbon tax.
@Richard Luettgen. “Unlike Democrats”? The hands-down legislative lie of the decade was the shameless Republican whopper that the middle and working classes would be the bill’s beneficiaries. In the end, after the plutocrats and corporate donors were well provided for, those classes were able to, maybe, fund a yearly Costco membership fee!
6
I don't think the Democrats are perfect. But here's a tip: don't confuse them with the alternative. And don't kid yourself that there is an alternative worth considering, like staying away from the polls next Tuesday. Don't be part of the problem.
Vote. Please.
20
It should be remembered in the years following Washington politics became quite rancorous.
Ascribing hateful motives to Trump supporters in the days leading up to is also rancorous.
Wonder how George would view today's politics, would he side with deplorable Republicans or a party that consisted of 40% 'Democratic Socialists'... no private property
So much for sitting under YOUR OWN vine or fig tree.
1
@Lane
Yeah, no private property in Denmark. Right.
1
There is a singular failure of journalists and writers to acknowledge the changing rules of the 21st Century. Like Mr. Friedman, they all, lock step, insist that the worldview remain fixed in the liberal democratic orthodoxy of 1968. Trump blurts out bold statements, yes, they're not phrased tactfully, but he does show that he, and he allone, seems to grasp the shifts in worldview. "nationalism" is NOT the same as "nazi germany", Mr. Friedman.......you sound ridiculous when you cleverly hint at that comparison. And your concept of "globalism" is really just "american empire" in disguise. If anything, Trump is espousing a retreat from Empire and a return to American Democratic Ideals, which the USA will teach by example....instead of imposing "globalism" at the end of a barrel. Y'alls very confused.
1
This letter was written by man who owned slaves !
"while everyone shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid"
I wonder if Washington's slaves would agree? Perhaps GW, a slaveowner, isn't the best example to challenge the current bigot in the White House.
Lining up totally behind Democrats now is the most minimal step imaginable; nowhere remotely close to adequate.
Pay attention to the words of all three of the first three US presidents:
"Let me…warn you against the baneful effects of the spirit of party...The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism...The common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it...They are likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government."
~ George Washington, 1796
"There is nothing I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, concerting measures in opposition to each other. This...is...the greatest political evil."
~ John Adams, 1780
"I never submitted...my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever, in religion, in philosophy, in politics, or in anything else, where I was capable of thinking for myself. Such an addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent. The happiness of society depends...on preventing party spirit from infecting the common intercourse of life..."
~ Thomas Jefferson, 1789, 1801
4
Wow...what a diatribe. The more extreme anti-Trump hysteria we get from the Left, the more moderate voters are likely to vote Republican. The Dems appear to have nothing to offer but ‘Resistance’, ad infinitum.
‘Russian internference’....’teenage Brett Kavanaugh’ ‘Abolish ICE’... ‘Protect the rights of illegal economic migrants and their US-born babies’....
Really? Is that all ya got?
1
In Ancient Greece, an idiot was defined as someone who either through lack of intelligence or culture contributes nothing positive to society. Everyone was born an idiot. Citizens were educated into the role.
When getting elected became about tax cuts and give aways, we lost our country to the idiots.
Oh my gosh, could this possibly be:
recognizing the contribution of a dead white male!
(Maybe that wasn't your 'fresh idea', but it sure would be for a lot of people here.)
1
Mr Friedman , Please stop the Hate Speech . This is a time for our nation to come together and Move On
2
OK Mr. Friedman, it is clear you despise President Trump, but why do you believe your readers are imbeciles? You are commanding them to blindly support the Democratic Party and every single Democrat running the in the midterm election--without regard to personal qualification. Is that your idea of a democracy? Is that your idea of what Washington and the Founding Fathers sacrificed to create our Constitutional Republic?
You are just as scathingly partisan as President Trump. I would commend readers to do their own research and thinking to inform their vote for the best qualified person in each elective race.
1
Friedman,
Are you desperate for subject matter? Washington owned over 300 slaves, and yes he did put his love of his own people first. White dudes with money.
If you were not white, male, and a landowner, you had zero power in Washington's world. Zero. Do you read history? This is 6th grade civics, man.
The op-eds here are getting kooky.
1
As I read and reread George Washington’s eloquent letter to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, I return to such phrases as “The Citizens of the United States have the right to applaud themselves” and “inherent rights”. These remind me of Thomas Jefferson’s words “and are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights,” in the Declaration of Independence. In other, words, they are a natural, intrinsic part of every American citizen that cannot be taken away, as in, they are their God-given birthright by virtue of being born in the United States and, ultimately, by becoming naturalized citizens. How hubristic, arrogant, presumptuous and ignorant, then, for Donald Trump to suggest that he can challenge everyone and -thing from God to the founding fathers and the Constitution by proposing that it is his “right” to summarily and arbitrarily remove the very essence of what it means to be a member of this nation. No wonder that he is unwelcome in Pittsburgh, much less in the land over which he ostensibly presides.
331
@Steve Griffith
But neither George Washington's nor Thomas Jefferson's enslaved Africans were persons or citizens.
14
@Steve Griffith - Jefferson used "Creator" precisely because he was a Deist who did not believe any god listened to or took action upon humans. The hypocrisy of the Declaration is so bold as to not need reiteration: very few Americans were thereafter allowed any say in how this place would operate under his scheme. Jefferson's conditional view of equality was so strong he reneged on his promise (to the Polish nobleman Tadeusz Kościuszko) to free his slaves after having been willed the money to do so, calculating that their value as breeding stock was too dear. So please don't be invoking a mythology about our Founders that they do not deserve. They did good, we are grateful, and acknowledge the severe flaws.
21
@Blackmamba,
I offer no apology for any of the Founders who failed to accord to every person the liberty and freedom they accorded to any person. I also accept that human civilization evolves and what we think just today may well be considered an abomination in 200 years. That said, and still no apologies, Washington freed every single one of his slaves on his death. I don't know what Jefferson would have done, but since he was so far indebted at death that his entire estate was lost within 2 years, it was probably beyond his power to do as Washington had done since his slaves went to his creditors under the law as it then existed. We don't do ourselves or anyone else any favors by taking "three-fifths" out of context, or to ignore that it was the ONLY way to get the Constitution ratified. The general outcome to "all or nothing" is nothing.
4
The mind boggles what the General would make of this reprobate being in the oval office. The contrast could not be greater - the father of our country -with a monster.
3
We need the benevolence and wisdom of George Washington.
This is the first time in the country’s history where one party - in this case the Republican Party - has been so openly, vehemently inhumane toward all Americans, regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation or even political affiliation; and not just in one incident or in a single series of political moves, but in virtually every aspect of every American’s life: from Social Security, to Medicare, health, education, the environment, voting rights, civil rights, sexual freedom and families. Theirs is not just a stance against a conflicting ideology, as Republicans conveniently aim to paint it, rather it is an assault on humanity, civility and decency.
Americans are finding it hard to see it as the monstrous Evil it is, because they cannot fully comprehend the scale of its immorality; and that the people they trusted could ever repay them with such brutal malevolence.
429
@S Jones
I do not believe that George Washington's enslaved Africans thought that he was benevolent nor compassionate. That is why they kept trying to escape or resist.
5
@Blackmamba
Your point is well taken. But Washington and Jefferson had political ideals that are worth extending to all those who wish to be Americans, even though the founders themselves were too blinded and fettered by evil constructs of race to extend the embrace of those ideals to the people of color they enslaved.
White supremacy underlies the enslavement of Africans and the systematic displacement and genocide of the nations who flourished on this continent before the arrival of Europeans. White women, despite their privilege, weren't full citizens allow to vote, either.
But to me, the story of America as a quest across generations to extend ideals of self-governance and liberty has been two steps forward toward universality, one step back to white rule and patriarchy. Trump is in danger of taking us many, many steps back. There is much ground to be lost. At this moment, I have to agree with Tom Friedman and Roxane Gay that it is necessary to cast our votes with a singleminded purpose of stopping Trump and restoring the checks and balances intended by our constitutional system. Get Democrats in power and hold them accountable. Like you, I do not rely on or assume anyone else's benevolence or compassion. I want accountability.
12
Exactly what I was going to say! thank you.
4
I agree with your headline and love your sub headline, so true.
I also agree with everything you say about Trump.
However, I disagree on what to do about it.
You see the Democratic Party as the sole answer. You forget that the Democratic Party of Hillary Clinton indirectly help elect the ego maniac demagogue Trump. A majority of electors did not want an identity obsessed east coast liberal and Trump demagogued it and took advantage of it.
The Republicans are not the problem now, Trump is. Make deals with Republicans like asking them to vote democratic in the House but republicans in the Senate to both reign in Trump but safeguard their conservative agenda.
Lincoln did this during the Civil War. He worked with border state union democrats, many who were slave owners to help him achieve the issue at hand, preservation of the union and then worked on things like the end of slavery because with the former, he could not get the latter.
2
I feel for Trump's base some. They were looking for Andrew Jackson and have yet to realize that they got Warren G. Harding. Protectionism, unconditional support for big business, corruption inside the administration, it's all there. The hate speech and white nationalism was carried by the Klan and Jim Crow laws back then but in their absence, Trump has picked up that mantle as well.
2
In some ways the most remarkable aspect of the letter is that Washington no doubt wrote it himself. In that respect he is like Trump who eschews staff and speechwriters to post his illiterate musings on Twitter. This makes the comparison even more stark since both men are speaking their own thoughts in their own voices. What you see is what you get -- selfless adherence to high moral principle in Washington and pathological narcissism and shameless, amoral self-advancement ungrounded in any visible moral standard from Trump.
If there was ever a time that the brilliance of Jefferson and the other architects of our constitutional system will be manifest, it is now. The damage from Trump can be contained only if the institutions designed by the framers of the Constitution. Personally I have no use whatsoever for most of the current crop of Democratic politicians, who are almost as shameless as Trump in making divisive appeals to their base. However, we need Congress to act as check and the only way that will happen is if the lapdog congressional Republicans get their butt kicked in the midterms.
This is the most succinct and powerful expression of what I believe is the truth. It is incumbent for all Americans to vote Democrats for all offices to wrest control of American institutions from a disturbed sociopath and demagogue whose aim is to destroy our democracy and divide our fragile society with hatred,fear, and endless lies.
I implore independents and even traditional Republicans to do so and consider country over party in these turbulent times.
Republican Office holders in the Senate and the House should be welcomed to caucas with Democrats and abandon their support of Trump and his divisive policies. When this national nightmare is over, they too will regret what they sanctioned and will rejoice from the light that comes from renewing democratic ideals and starting to speak the truth and to campaign on policy ideas not lies and innuendos.
3
Tom, thank you for including Washington’s words at this difficult time. These words reinforce the values our country was founded on and remind us that Presidents can lead us morally as well as politically.
I don’t agree that Trump has swollen, rather he shrinks in stature every day. What a small despicable man he is. The current void of leadership and complete incompetence will only change when he is gone.
1
Tom, though I've often thought you a little too naively in love with tech and misguided on W's war, this was beautiful. It also caused me to despair, reminding me of how far from civilized discourse this country has moved (and peace to the trolls who jump on Washington's slaves—he was a man of his times and class just as most of us are. How many of us have serious faults that are socially acceptable non-the-less?).
"May the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while everyone shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid." I'm sure this rolled effortlessly to the page from Washington's intellect. ...and that he believed it. I doubt "Der Furor" could read it from a teleprompter after hours of prac... wait, practice? He can't even spend minutes doing anything but boasting.
Your call to action is correct. Pelosi and Schumer attempted an abortive effort to work with him, so even Ross Douthat should be bright enough (sadly, he ain't) to see that a Democratic House and Senate might actually make America OK again. But, even among intelligent conservatives, party "trumps" country.
Please keep up a non-stop effort to make this point.
2
I am afraid that we are very mistaken that all it takes is the end of the Trump era to get this country back on the right track. Much like a cancer patient is not automatically well after the excision of the tumor.
1
Otto Rank once announced, "Enough has been written"
It's time to vote D.
1
I heard a quotation yesterday that I will keep as both an aspiration and a promise. It went something like this,:
I helped because they were Jewish. Now I help because I am Jewish.
Substitute your own belief. I will try to live by mine.
I'm immensely impressed by the manner in which Washington referred to God in the most nonsectarian manner possible: "May the father of all mercies...". If only we could hear such carefully considered phrases these days!
A more non-partisan message is "Vote the In's out and the Out's in." Then do it again in two years, again in two years and if it feels good one more time. Then vote your conscience.
thank you again for your wisdom. I have only one complaint about your message: please, please, run for office, democrat or republican or independent. we need you.
1
And when might we expect your support for the removal of President Washington's likeness and statues? Can we ever hold a slave owner in high esteem? Well, yes, when we compare the first president to the current president.
From Wikipedia, I share.
"During Washington's presidency, increasing abolitionist sentiments in the U.S. caused him to have misgivings about his own slave ownership. Though publicly Washington said little against the institution, privately he expressed a belief that slavery's end would ultimately be necessary for the nation's survival. He supported legislation both supporting slavery (e.g. the Fugitive Slave Act) and opposing it (e.g. the Northwest Ordinance).
Washington's will included manumission for the enslaved people he held upon the death of his widow Martha Washington. She freed her husband's slaves in January 1801, just over a year after his death.[1] However, while she lived, Martha did not emancipate any of the slaves she herself owned. When she died, on May 22, 1802, at the age of 70, all of those enslaved people went to the descendants of her first husband, Daniel Parke Custis.[2]"
While the good president may have been two-faced, or at least two-policy-ed, his wife was less generous.
To be clear, I do NOT advocate the removal of President Washington's likeness and monuments.
It is certainly true that no current politician could come close to writing a letter like Washington's. On the other hand, language like "to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance" coming from someone who owned slaves is pretty rich.
Yes, let us drive out any elected rep who supports Trump in any measure. But much more than that is needed, if we're ever going to allow ourselves to start pulling together again.
We're up against a systemic infection, a civil septicemia. The racist supremacy "arguments", conspiracy theories, and fear-mongering that so infect right-wing social media, the Internet, and radio add up to nothing less than a public health crisis, which we've barely begun to acknowledge.
The agents of this infection are virulent fascist memes that are as dangerous to our society as nasty bacteria and viruses are to our bodies. The communities that infest these venues encourage one another with the comfort of "you are not alone" and stoke outrage after new outrage, 24-7, so that they addict one another to being outraged at all the Others out there, who aren't like "us". Is this good for anybody?
Weird thing is, none of the incessant outrage seems to satisfy anyone deeply, or make that itch go away. Isn't it time to find other ways to get some satisfaction out of life? Addictive behavior is notoriously hard to quell, but treating an addiction as if it were something else doesn't fix the addiction. Treating it AS an addiction, on the other hand, focuses on how the addiction happens, not on demonizing the addicts. It will cost money and take time, but better education and training opportunities, with a "surge" of infrastructure jobs would be a start. How about some real "maga"??
1
What could those words do, how could they resonate in the mind of one who prefers not to read? When hate is the guiding light, all become acceptable so as to elevate yourself now with your own deeds but by the hate of others. The sad part is that even after his term ends he will most likely continue doing the same for his own benefit.
When you have no class in your veins, nothing can bestow it upon you. And, money is not class!
It’s ironic that our comments @ NYT are edited for civility while no such restrictions apply to Donal J Trump, self imposed or otherwise. Forty four presidents before him, diverse as their philosophies were, seemed to understand that the office was bigger than they were; bigger than any individual. And now, over 200 years into our democracy, precisely when we need the intellect, ethics and empathy of a great leader, we find ourselves burdened with a man too weak to rein in his own ego, to control his own mouth and demonstrate even a remote inkling of what is expected of him.
1
At a time of healing, in a city whose economy was devastated by a long war with Britain, when it would’ve been conceivable the populace would seek to scapegoat the Jewish community in Rhode Island, that didn’t happen. The citizens of the most tolerant of the colonies sacrificed together for the rewards incorporated in the newly ratified constitution. They understood the risks of their actions and honored the commander in chief who sacrificed to help make it a reality. He humbly reciprocated. A great leader.
A much simpler time. But perhaps more precarious.......to this day it is representative government by the consent of the governed that guarantees the freedoms Americans have. Those of us who doubt their participation matters will ultimately pray for another George Washington when it’s all too late.
98
@Adam Kristol
Which colonies abolished slavery?
Which colonies did not?
George Washington's enslaved Africans in Virginia did not likely pray that anything good would come to their master owner. Jews and Christians owned black slaves.
1
@Blackmamba Mamba, you beat me to it. When Washington wrote the letter, in 1790, I believe that slavery was legal in all of the former colonies, there were about 700,000 slaves, Washington owned some of them, and as nearly as I can tell, none of them are addressed in his letter.
1
We don't need George Washington, slaveholder. We need Jimmy Carter.
4
Thank you for referencing my own personal American hero "George Washington". The man couldn't write to save his life but he could set an example of courage, fortitude and decency. The people of his own time re cognized his sterling qualities and were grateful and thankful for him. I wish we could all know someone of his caliber in the 21st century. Don't look in the Swamp... There are no heroes there. Wish our schools taught more early American history. I'd love to feel patriotic again!
2
Thoughtful column from our friend as usual. Some problems though. Washington couldn't make it in today's political arena...being able to tell not just 'a lie', but thousands of them are a prerequisite. Secondly, one needs ambition way beyond the role of President and serving the country to qualify. You need to work tirelessly at continuing to enrich yourself and your family while in office and have ambition to hold office in perpetuity. George was asked to serve longer but believed the democracy really needed to practice the plan of a successful, non disruptive transfer of power that respected the past and built upon it. The office has really evolved into a new role all together. Kind of a "Plunderer in Chief" if you will.
5
Each time I watch on a PBS channel scenes of wild life on the African tundra, inevitably a scene comes when lions are in the hunt for their prey. As the group bring down their prey, first move of one lion is to go for the jugular. They are there for the kill.
Extrapolating this scene, donald operates in like fashion. He goes for the jugular regardless of circumstances or consequences. He is out for one thing only, that is to win, whatever it takes.
The nation suffers a crisis of being under attack by a pride of vicious political animals. Defense can only come in our vote.
Abdicating this responsibility returns us to the jungle.
2
What George Washington would say today with respect to America's racial, ethnic group, religious, etc. problems?
He would probably say the Constitution is no longer viable in profound respects. And he would say we should have seen this coming a long time ago. It's been merely an American ideal to have various groups formed along the fundamental identities of race, ethnic group, religion, etc. flourish together, an ideal born of small population in the past and much land in which various groups could exist.
But population has risen dramatically, land is scarce, and no matter how much official, public American society says we must not hate each other, we in fact live hypocritically, have no real love for each other, certainly have no intention on all sides of giving up our racial and ethnic group categories and religious and other identities.
We live a fiction that we can continue to live in mutual tolerance in our racial and ethnic group categories, our religious identities, as population continues to rise and land becomes even more scarce. Hatred, conflict will obviously continue to rise because we, on all sides, have no intention of really loving each other, giving up our religious identities, mixing as much as possible racially and ethnically in formation of some as yet unstated racial category.
We can neither transcend our identities nor Constitution nor ourselves. We simply do not love enough, settle for mere "tolerance" and hate all too easily.
3
@Daniel12 wrote:
"We can neither transcend our identities nor Constitution nor ourselves. We simply do not love enough, settle for mere "tolerance" and hate all too easily. "
How sad that you believe so. I know many who do have love for others, and live in self-sacrifice and self-reflection to be worthy of the joys of a diverse community. These are, to be sure, not the natural state of humanity, but are the results of education and indoctrination.
At one time, it was demonstrated every day that infectious diseases were an unavoidable scourge on individuals, families, and nations. But medical advances have turned them into hazy memories. Because of this, we, today, have become complacent. Many believe that freedom from such plagues is the **natural order of things**, and such precautions as universal vaccination are themselves the cause of disease.
In the same way, the conflagration of WWII showed all of the world that it takes very little to turn a nation and people away from reason and compassion, and make them hunger for violence and atrocity. But, less than a century later, that memory is dying, along with the last witnesses thereof.
But, just as public health programs can be reinstated, so, too, can education and acculturation be shaped. Let's resolve to use the tools of manipulation and propaganda for positive ends, so we can *become* like Washington, and live worthy of his heritage.
1
Thanks Tom. I hope the GOP reads your column. The day after the midterm election is the day all in congress need to speak out against Trump, but don’t speak to Donald. That does no good. Instead. Speak to America. The lame ducks should be brave. The successfully elected or re-election candidates should speak to out future.
I agree we need to vote Dem. and I am a registered Republican and I recognize the need to vote Dem. My fellow never Trumpers, vote for our country.
2
It was Washington who warned on his departure from office the dangers of political parties. (There are no parties in the Constitution to this day.) the people did not listen and after he left instituted parties in the government which are largely responsible for much of the grief and problems we are experiencing today.
1
I don't see a "George Washington" on the political spectrum. Nor, a John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, or James Madison. Not a Lincoln either. Not even a Johnson or Reagan who could work across the political aisle. Any suggestions?
1
What a pleasure to know that the father of our country could write those words 238 years ago. A beacon of light and pride in a world temporarily darkened by the baser elements of human nature as embodied by another President, an antithetical bookend to President Washington.
2
Washington also set a tone of humanity for the Presidency by stepping aside after two terms, when surely he would have won more.
A second-term Trump will resist the 22nd Amendment with all his might. Only defeat in 2020 will ensure that he leaves office in the regular course.
But, a prediction: Trump will not survive until 2024, and possibly not until 2020. I say this not because he will be assassinated -- I don't wish that on him, or anyone -- but because his own excesses, some of the very ones Mr. Friedman speaks against, plus an awful diet, will overwhelm what remains of his health.
6
Three cheers for George!
7
Did they not have a commanding way with the english language....those statesmen of yore...?....would that such a mentality could flourish in these "modern" times.....
2
You don't think Trump's tweets come close?
I believe, as a long-retired Licensed Therapist, That our “President” is a Sociopathic Personality Disorder, who has been free to lie and openly manifest his full range of symptoms without correction or any Public censure. While he is Diagnosable, we,
the People, are in Need of Treatment. The Democrats seem
Helpless, and the Republicans don’t Care. Sometimes the sanest reaction to an insane situation...is Insanity!
15
It is not Washington’s portrait that is ceremoniously hung right behind Trump’s Oval Office desk, but Andrew Jackson’s, his personal hero and the architect of the notorious “ Trail of Tears” native peoples’ forced relocation. Sound familiar?
12
Fox News is complicit in endangering our democratic institutions, Mr. Friedman? I thought attacking the press was authoritarian. And I thought columnists are not supposed to be brazenly partisan, advocating for the election of one party over another, no matter the candidate or issue. Wow.
4
Fox News is not the press. It is a propaganda machine for Trump and the Republican party. It even classifies itself as an entertainment channel. It is, however. neither entertainment nor news. It is propaganda, and you are one of its victims.
7
@R.P.
I'm glad that you choose to read this column. I'd really like to know why you support a man who bragged about grabbing women by the "p", blatantly lies every day and then calls people who challenge his lies, "fake news". It seems that as long as he is not assaulting you or your community, you are okay with almost anything he does to other people.
4
They're not the press, they are conspiracists, racists, sexists, and hate mongers. I invite you to research and confirm their stories. You would be the first to do so!!
5
My only problem with this column is the mention of reason (in the terrific paragraph beginning with "When you have a president without shame..."); you can't reason with the unreasonable.
When I lived in Brooklyn many years ago I voted Republican because I felt the Democrats of the time were unreasonable. Over time I've changed my voting to the point where I'm confident that I'll never vote Republican again, for the same reason. The political spectrum has shifted so much that while I was once moderately conservative I'm now solidly liberal; and I don't believe that my views have shifted!
I'm still conservative in many ways, but I can not support a party of religious fanatics that disputes established fact and lies to cover their tracks. I don't need to keep an open mind because theirs are closed.
21
"The bosom of America is open to receive not only the opulent and respectable Stranger, but the oppressed and persecuted of all Nations and Religions; whom we shall welcome to a participation of all our rights and privileges, if by decency and propriety of conduct they appear to merit the enjoyment."
-- George Washington to Joshua Holmes, December 2, 1783.
"I had always hoped that this land might become a safe and agreeable Asylum to the virtuous and persecuted part of mankind, to whatever nation they might belong."
-- George Washington to Adrian Van der Kemp, May 28, 1788.
21
Thanks for these statements.
2
A big, bold, and daring idea: stop with the imprinting of young to automatically, per religious idea, hate others. It doesn't make any sense. Imprint all young, world wide with the facts: we are biologically identical and if we consistently optimize with education everyones potential we can all thrive ridiculously well. Like a revolution that only a global George Washington could lead, wipe out all antiquated religions, ideas of race, ethnicity and all that jazz from the animal kingdom -- reach for the truth of our human potential. We, alone among social mammals, can know what we need and collectively get it with science, math, and technology.
3
I don't know - I'm not a historian - just an American and I feel there is something inherently wrong with invoking George Washington when speaking of this thoroughly corrupt man - I can't explain it rationally - I just feel it to be wrong somehow.
1
Unfortunately, we are in a time when a wonderfully well written column, will become cannon fodder for our madman in charge.
Within a weeks’ time, I predict he will brag about his tossing the entire national mint across the Potomac, (possibly even the Atlantic Ocean) and that he chopped down an entire forest. That act alone saved the entire pulp industry and millions of jobs with it!
My great, grandfather was murdered in a pogrom. I’m happy to be here.
7
We're living in an evolving nightmare but today, Washington's words made it a bit more bearable.
Thank you.
15
If you watched Trump's rally the other night there was an interesting moment. He asked his base, who comprised his audience mainly, "Should I be nice?" Their instant response was jeers. There is a sick, co-dependent relationship between the base and the president. He throws them red meat, is entertaining and bullies groups they hate, and they applaud and support him with over 90% approval ratings in the party. That's the bargain they have with each other.
This is relevant to Mr. Friedman's article, because Trump sees his strategy as securing his base, and the others, the establishment, the centrists and independents, will "tag along" for the ride. He has no need to appeal to a broader base, a wider American electorate, because that's not his strategy, and he assumes their vote if they simply like him and the party candidates more than the other side.
He is simply a performer playing to his audience and hoping to get enough votes for him and his party to somehow appeal to the rest of the voters enough to carry the day. The only way to stop him is through the upcoming elections, and the massive voter turnout of those who dislike him.
11
If you don't vote, or if you vote for a third-party candidate, you are voting for Trump.
If you vote for Trump, you are supporting the White Nationalists.
If you are supporting the White Nationalists, then you personally are complicit in their crimes.
Vote Democratic. For every office.
81
We don't need another George Washington -- nothing that monumental. We just need another imperfect but basically decent president like Gerald Ford.
Ford: "Our Constitution works; our great Republic is a government of laws and not of men. Here, the people rule. But there is a higher Power, by whatever name we honor Him, who ordains not only righteousness but love, not only justice, but mercy. ... let us restore the golden rule to our political process, and let brotherly love purge our hearts of suspicion and hate."
403
@JMF
What would do is another Millard Fillmore.
5
@JMF But then he pardoned Richard Nixon.
1
@JMF Remember, Gerald Ford said: "I am a Ford. Not a Lincoln." We need good, not necessarily great.
18
He is not only a shameless liar and an abusive bully; he also has zero moral residue in his soul.
14
Well said.
People please VOTE for Democrats. Help US M A S A (Make America Sane Again).
Real News. Fake President.
25
Too often we bundle all the blame into one or two individuals for the failings of a whole society. Take Hitler as an example, look at all the willing enablers he had, he was voted into office, Millions of Germans did that, he easily could have been stopped on the first day and laughed out of political life as a charlatan with perverted ideas and a funny mustache if the people had voted wisely. Later on, when they started rounding up the Jews and implementing a political police force which had no checks and answered only to itself, the German people could have rebelled and rioted in the streets, that would have stopped everything. The examples are endless, every society that rushed headlong too its doom had a chance to put on the breaks and avert disaster, many times along the line. No would be Dictator or demagogue can last 2 seconds if the people themselves say no. Washington and the rest of the founding fathers proclaimed that the Government was for the people, and any time the Government overstepped its bounds it was the obligation of the people to correct the problem. The American people have an obligation to George Washington and the rest of the founding fathers to restore balance to this government and vote democrat next Tuesday, if they do not, then any disaster that fate can visit upon this nation will be well earned.
18
@artfuldodger
"Take Hitler as an example, .... he easily could have been stopped on the first day and laughed out of political life as a charlatan with perverted ideas and a funny mustache if the people had voted wisely."
You are jumping to the end of the movie, and with a lot of simplifications, my friend. What Hitler initially proposed to Germans, following the collapse of German economy and market crash, sounded reasonable: a better life, a vibrant economy, and restoration of national pride by overturning the Treaty of Versailles.
In the beginning, Hitler's "reforms" appeared sensible to many Germans. Even leaders of many large industries supported them. But, then he run into problems fulfilling many of his promises, and started looking for excuses to explain his failures (sound familiar?).
Then, he found economic activities of a few businessman, who happened to be Jewish, as a good excuse for why the German economy was not changing overnight. And, later on, he conveniently generalized that to activities of all Jewish people in all economic areas (Like starting with MS-13 activities and then generalizing those to all immigrants).
The point is Hitler did not become Hitler overnight. He got there through a process. And, that is what we are witnessing now: the slow process of undermining the US constitution, bypassing "checks and balances" by claiming that much can be done by Executive Orders, which sets the stage for the "one man rule" in the second term.
If you want to be a dictator you need to crush the free press and claim to be a nationalist while using "others " as scapegoats. You need to control all levers of power , check that box and use the military for political purposes , check, bring your family into government check, groom your son to be next Dear Leader. You need to lie constantly to obscure truth and facts you cash in on your presidency , check, you need to jail your political opponents , (working on it). With a new Attorney General and Sec of Defense more compliant the take over will be complete . When finished this family will be hard to remove from power ala Kim's North Korea Trump's hero and role model.
12
George Washington owned 317 slaves.
1
You imply there is no value in Washington's words as quoted. Want to remove him from the dollar bill?
Slavery was outlawed over 150 years ago. It is not at issue. Donald Trump's autocratic and psychotic behavior IS. Don't try to change the subject, lest we readers come to think you are defending Trump's indefensible behavior.
14
@Roy Smith, I agree with Roy. Washington was a slaveholder and this should never be forgotten. But is it approptiate to apply 21st century concepts of morality and behavior to everyone living in the 18th century?
4
@Telecaster
At the time of the American Revolution slaves existed in all of the original 13 States. Slavery wasn't exclusive to America or white people back then. He was a product of his times. Like we all are.
It has been the Republican strategy since Newt to win elections and only serve the republican voters, or donors, who put them there. Doesn't matter if half the senators or representatives are democrats, elected by American citizens. Shut them out of the process. No bipartisanship.
This is taxation without representation for people who elect democrats, for whole states who elect democrats. We are two countries under this strategy: Republicans who have representation in government and Democrats who do not have representation because their elected representatives are shut out.
19
Reading the thoughts of the Father of this great nation, I weep for the America of today! Rise up fellow patriots, and be the “effectual” citizens that Washington asked of us to be. Choose light over darkness, always!
7
George Washington, even long deceased, would make a better president than the mango man currently in the White House.
14
Tom, many many thanks for describing the American Nero, as so many millions see him! We must stop hiding behind civility (and civil words) while our civilization burns.
America truly is at an existential crisis, heading straight into an abyss. This Trumpian "leader" is blind, without foresight or inhibition. He behaves only with instinct, driven by the most fear-based part of our mammalian brain. And he talks to that part of everyone's brain - using fear. He does this to maximize his own pleasure and safety - while he corrupts our country!
He is a viral human - a parasite - who has always survived only by taking from others. He now continuously takes from our government and from us - clandestinely. And he doles out pieces of our futures to his corrupt friends, in return for their support. No wonder so many have already been indicted.
Trump is a bad person.
Trump installed rampant corruption deep in our government
Trump is destroying America.
Trump is mentally ill.
Trump is the proverbial Nero - he's really setting fires.
To save America, young Voters must VOTE SOLIDLY BLUE!
32
It isn't just Fox News, Mr. Friedman. Donald Trump is president today because ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, CNN, the New York Times, the Washington Post and others were so fascinated by his constant stream of absurdist trash, and so certain there was no way he could win, that these media outlets gave him tons of free coverage. Witness Les Moonves brilliant statement that, "Donald Trump may be bad for America, but he's great for CBS."
Now, he is President, and these outlets continue to be fascinated by his racist, nationalistic, homophobic tripe and rush to get the latest statement on the air and into print. The only way the national situation will improve is if the media acts like the friend of the people, and stops publishing anything Trump says or tweets. Report solely on what he does. Take away the unlimited oxygen of free publicity you give him. The only way to deal with a narcissist is to ignore him. No more photo ops, no more shouted answers on the White House lawn, no more news conferences, no more tweets. There is no other major figure you would publish on a regular basis knowing that he was lying to you 50-70% of the time. Why do you do it with Trump?
124
Do that and the only reporting on Trump on the record will be from Fox News. You want THAT?
3
@Mark Oristano
Rather than debate and persuade, the current default strategy of the Left is to name-call and "de-platform" their opposition. But this thing called "the Internet" exists now. So blocking deplorable viewpoints from the MSM is no longer an effective way to silence opposition.
Tom, many many thanks for describing the American Nero, as so many millions see him! We must stop hiding behind civility (and civil words) while our civilization burns.
America truly is at an existential crisis, heading straight into an abyss. This Trumpian "leader" is blind, without foresight or inhibition. He behaves only with instinct, driven by the most fear-based part of our mammalian brain. And he talks to that part of everyone's brain - using fear. He does this to maximize his own pleasure and safety - while he corrupts our country!
He is a viral human - a parasite - who has always survived only by taking from others. He now continuously takes from our government and from us - clandestinely. And he doles out pieces of our futures to his corrupt friends, in return for their support. No wonder so many have already been indicted.
Trump is a bad person.
Trump installed rampant corruption deep in our government
Trump is destroying America.
Trump is mentally ill.
Trump is the proverbial Nero - he's really setting fires.
To save America, most Americans must VOTE SOLIDLY BLUE!
3
George Washington never visited what is now known as the Tauro Synagogue; his letter was in reply to a congratulatory letter from the synagogue's congregation.
1
Mr. Friedman sometimes I do not think you are so cerebral. Did you really just quote George Washington the slave owner? Seriously! I would bet a Shekel that President Trump is a finer person than George Washington do to the fact that he does not own any slaves. There is a thing called 'common sense' Mr. Friedman.
One thing my wife and I do agree with you on is that Fox News does not have integrity. It is turning into a trashy tabloid news station, as well as the fact that it seemed to support the racist protesters in the Charlottesville, VA incident.
One last thing too Mr. Friedman. You mentioned Dana Milbank of The Washington Post! He is by far their best columnist! My wife and I read The Times and The Post everyday and to be frank we are starting to find The Washington Post and Dana Milbank more entertaining.
You are attempting to change the subject to slavery, which was banished from our legal structure over 150 years ago after a deadly civil war. This isn't about slavery then or now. And you know it. This is about Donald Trump and his totally unacceptable behavior as President in 2018.
6
@Robert Curley Jacobs: Go make a list of every president and vice-president from George Washington all the way to Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation and let us know how many were slave owners. Or did you never study history in your life?
Meanwhile, everyone who votes for Trump (or anyone in the GOP) is owned by Trump - and he loves owning all of you!
1
Does trump have conscience?
Can he sleep at peace at night?
I used to be a fan of his. His book really inspired me, although somethings really not quite right. But it turned out he didn’t write the book. The promotion of his “university” (to my email account) finally woke me up.
I really worry for the country. I know his magically (for lack of better words) influential power. His support would/may grow larger and stronger. I hope I am wrong.
Washington was far from perfect. I would have been counted as livestock in Washington's U.S., for instance. Yet I can still respect his legacy because he did something that I don't think is celebrated as it should be.
At least to me, Washington's place on Mt. Rushmore is secured not for fighting the British or being our first president, but because he resisted the corrupt urge to position himself as a de facto king.
"Mandate" anyone? There were 12 presidential candidates, each with a political party. Washington was unaffiliated and was not even running for president. He nevertheless received 100% of the popular vote and 100% of the electoral votes at the time (he was elected again unanimously).
What, I ask, might a lesser person do with a country begging them to take up the reins of power... no term limits, norms, law enforcement, ethics committees, judicial review or a strong legislature? Imagine this lesser person was also a war hero and founding father who had just helped defeat an oppressive superpower.
Washington declined to take advantage of the moment for his own personal glory and did not consolidate power in his person (as he easily could have done). Instead, he tried to set some precedents for the office that would give the country a fighting chance at avoiding a descent into demagoguery. He was reluctant to take up power and eager to lay it down.
I trust we all understand the significance of that and how things might have gone a bit differently?
61
@Matt from someone who is not a liberal, this is one of the best comments I have read.
6
I had to stop and think a minute about which "TV network without integrity" is doing the most to "amplify" that man.
I'm sorry, but giving him his oxygen via airtime -- whether you are praising or criticizing him -- continues to make the argument that it's all about him. And you know he loves it.
Panels of 3 and 4 and 5 and 6 commentators should not spend 45 minutes of every hour of news coverage discussing his every lunatic tweet or campaign rally. Does management of CNN STILL not get that THEIR wall-to-wall coverage did more to legitimize his campaign than anything Fox News could have done?
The more they criticize him, the more it stirs up his base. The more we run the risk that Democrats will be swamped at the polls. The more he can point to how "biased" and "unfair" the media is. Does no one get that this is no longer about what is objectively right or wrong? It's about what people believe, and how they feel.
Take the oxygen out of the room.
391
@JM - I have to disagree. Like it or not, presidents and the things they say and do are news. News is the mission of news organizations, as is commentary about the news. Intentionally censoring themselves to reduce their coverage of Trump would be just as wrong as the glowing, superficial coverage he gets on Faux News. The soaring ratings of Faux, CNN and MSNBC are all the justification they need that they're serving their viewers what they want. If you don't want to hear it, turn off the TV.
10
@JM
I understand your point but this is a five alarm fire. I think a reasonable strategy would be to ignore Trump the person, which he would hate, but discuss his "policies", which he would hate even more.
51
@JM
I have been watching way too much CNN lately and I wholeheartedly agree with you. I keep wondering what the answer is, because the news cannot ignore Trump: he is the President.
But then I think of this newspaper and the Washington Post. They have sections for national news, local news, sports, books, theater and of course exceptional in-depth investigative pieces.
There *are* other things to talk about. The comedy shows even get it: Trevor Noah did a piece on the toxic algae in Florida and John Oliver did a piece on partisan attorneys general. Both were important for civic education.
I guess it’s time to vote with my feet and turn off CNN. I voted early in the election. In case I get hit by a bus.
19
I can't take this seriously from one of the greatest cheerleaders of the Iraq invasion.
Mr Friedman had no problems endorsing President Bush Jr, the destroyer of the Middle East, New Orleans and the World Economy.
Trump is awful, Bush was worse.
2
When Washington was near the end of his second term, Hamilton offered to head a movement to make him King. He refused. We know what our current president would do with an offer like that.
29
Thomas: Now have a talk with your collegue, David Brooks, who, only days ago boasted of being “nationalist,” I suppose, to keep his buddy Trump happy.
10
@Bluebeliever It appears from your comment that you didn't bother to read Brooks's column, but prefer to spit on him, just because.
As DeGaulle said “ Patriots put love of their own people first”. Trump would say that he is a patriot. He loves his people.That is white Americans.Those who attend his rallies and mindlessly support him.In his mind he is the patriot.Saving America from a horde of invaders.True Americans by their vote must save America from Trump.He is a greater threat to American values that the invaders at the gate.
3
@Milton Lewis You are giving Trump too much credit. He sees his supporters as chumps, gullible idiots. In his mind he is a clever manipulator who always wins.
“If I may even flatter myself, that [these counsels] may be productive of some partial benefit, some occasional good; that they may now and then recur to moderate the fury of party spirit, to warn against the mischiefs of foreign intrigue, to guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism.”
General (President) George Washington Farewell Address, September 19, 1796
"The point is that you can't be too greedy."
Cadet Bone Spurs Trump: The Art of the Con (1987)
VOTE
November 6 2018
47
@Socrates: Can you define "greed"? Is there some level of income at which you determine that someone is now called "greedy"?
This is a lovely, moving letter to all of us from our nation's Founder.
Thank you, Tom Friedman, for broadcasting that message in these dark times - and for repeating the incantation, which if heeded, may yet save us... "In the midterm elections, vote for a Democrat, canvass for a Democrat, raise money for a Democrat, drive someone to a voting station to vote for a Democrat."
5
I am reminded of George’s reply to Martha’s letter complaining that among the six hundred slaves many religions exist and therefore numerous religious rituals and celebrations. Asking his advice regarding the strange and exotic forms of worship, Martha wonders if she shouldn’t ban all practices. George writes aghast that this might be her solution to the multi form practices of many alien ideas, wondering instead if she comprehends why he spent seven winters fighting for freedom of religion, among others. Let them worship whatever however they choose, he insisted, since religious freedom was the first impulse that led to the colonies. That they referred to the religious freedom of unfree people didn’t cross the mind of their letters of course, but Washington, who could have sat out the Revolution as one of the wealthiest men in North America, having married wealth, chose to risk being drawn and quartered for freedom from tyranny we refer to as the Bill of Rights. Given his inflated sense of executive power, Trump could decide to honor the original doctrines of the Constitution and reintroduce slavery, which I have no doubt thirty eight percent of the electorate would cheer.
5
As a family we are going to Alabama and help people get to the polls. We have been to Texas to help register people a few weeks ago. I want my children to be involved in democracy and to realize that we need to fight for it daily. We can reverse this insanity and ensure that we live the life we all deserve.
Other citizens and families are going to states where we are needed. Voting obstacles can be overcome It is a time to show our children what we are made of. We need to ensure that there is a country going forward for them, that has clean drinking water, health care, pensions everything that we have fought for in the past.
Vote Democrat get off of social media, the phone and help your fellow citizen. Take control of our future and put an end to this Trump swamp.
We need to do all that we can and lead by example so that our children can be proud that we stood up when it was so needed.
As
15
What Trump really needs is his own planet. I vote for Mercury. He'll blend in quite nicely with the Sun's Corona. His mass will speed up Mercury's orbital velocity and make him feel like he has accomplished something. Win-win.
11
The USA desperately needs a leader like Washington, Lincoln, TR, or FDR...
And what do we get? Trump, Pence, McConnell, Palin, Huckabee, Ryan, Cruz...
Our nation is in deep, deep trouble.
25
The letter Friedman publishes in his column today was recited on NPR yesterday. I never knew such a letter existed until hearing on NPR. It gave me goose bumps. I am so glad Friedman published it -- everyone should read and re-read T. Friedman's column to remind us who we are as a country. G. Washington's language is so clear; his message cannot be misconstrued. This letter should be published on the front page of every newspaper and read on every cable channel. It should be read in every church, mosque and synagogue If we had a real president, he/she would be shouting it from the bully pulpit to remind those folks who lay claim to this country based on their whiteness that it is THEY who are the interlopers. LK
5
From "I cannot tell a lie" to "I can tell a lie and I will not tell the truth".
9
“I repeat: In the midterm elections, vote for a Democrat, canvass for a Democrat, raise money for a Democrat, drive someone to a voting station to vote for a Democrat.”
A meme well worth the repetition.
9
Doubtless Donald would malign General Washington's impressive military record.
5
America: From the sublime to the ridiculous.
2
If ignorance is bliss, welcome to the USA. No problem small enough to fix, no penalty for being shameless, lying has become the new truth and our alleged leader is blissful.
Fortunately, we will sink into the mire pretty soon.
1
Washington’s letter was full of grace and civility, and another reminder of how far we have fallen when contrasted with the steady stream of Trump’s moronic and hate filled tweets. As far as anything more taxing than a 240 character tweet emanating from Donald Trump, I believe he relies on his poison pen amanuensis Stephen Miller to do the job. Washington elevated the presidency, but Trump only degrades it.
3
The term "nationalist" is the translation of the first word in the name of the party in Germany that was responsible for the second world war and the holocaust. The term has not been one to be used by a president until now - beyond a dog whistle.
2
@Harpo, Words don't always mean what they say. The name of the second word in the name of this party is "socialist". Putting them together is "National Socialist" (abbreviated as "Nazi"). Names in themselves do not always reflect what the people or nations actually stand for. See, for instance, the various "Democratic People's' Republics" of places like China and North Korea, etc.
1
If George Washington wasn’t a nationalist, then we would have no nation. We’d all be speaking English right now.
2
I love the fact that you included the entire text of that great letter. I despair over the fact that our own Mussolini’s base will neither be able to read it nor care.
4
Thank you, Mr. Friedman. I had heard this quote recently and was searching for it when I came upon your article. How great America was before the scourge of selfish celebrity. I live it hope it will rise again in my lifetime.
5
Leave it to President George Washington to remind us what it means to be an American. To shed light where there is darkness. He certainly knew darkness as Commander in Chief during the American Revolution. The presidency as outlined in the Constitution was based on his character. First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen. Today we have a president that thinks of only himself in a struggle for his legal and political survival. It is time for his countrymen and women to speak and provide a check to his presidency.
7
Doubtful the President would have the attention span to even make it to the George Washington letter. If he did he wouldn't understand it, and would tweet that it was long and boring. That's the genius who occupies that same office. Something that still makes me shudder.
18
Capitalism & democracy are not serving our nation well in part because there is no firm underlying ethos which joins us all together as a society that exists to first provide for the common welfare. Our founding documents, etc., broadly define our limits & operating instructions, so to speak, but not our character … if our leaders do not define our society, darker forces will fill the vacuum.
Today corporate interests & the obscenely wealthy control our government; their purpose is to remain in control & change government in ways that benefit themselves. Government, those in positions of power, is on life support as those in elected offices fail to carry own their sworn Constitutional responsibilities. The current administration, inept, rudderless, & contemptible in its disdain for the American people evidenced by its daily lies, is a leader of only the rich who would subvert it to their own ends. All else is drama to that goal. The only people who really seem happy are the rich & powerful.
Our previous national contentment now appears to have been something of an illusion since it led us to today. Perhaps this was inevitable & necessary so we will decide what future we really want. Now politics & economics are intertwined, with the worst of both ascendant. We can vote for change, but must also re-think our goals as a society. We could be working as one instead of constantly against each other. Other nations have shown it can be done; I envy them.
9
Wooden teeth notwithstanding, George W. said a lot. He did not have the megaphone Trump has, however. He didn't even have the mouthpiece that you do, Mr. Friedman. And that limitation, perhaps, is one reason he was able to remain civil and sunny under his fig tree. The bully pulpit is something left and right leaning contemporary loudmouths are now seizing with equal velocity, and we are exhausted with the rhetoric.
Can't we cease and desist blaming our ongoing national train wreck on one monster? It gets us nowhere. We are all complicit until we ALL put down our poison pens and step away from this destructive obsession. I can't think of a more civil way to describe it.
Listening to BBC World this afternoon, the politics of cricket are given equal time with a negative Trump ad, featuring a black woman hatefully ranting a pro-Kavanaugh political message. It's the most shocking and incendiary appeal to partisan motives I've ever heard. Beyond "he's not my president" I am beginning to feel it's not my country.
Please stop reciprocating in kind. And then showcasing someone who lived in another world, not just another country. We need to find the leadership to rise above this in ourselves, not on a pedestal or a web site.
But then how would we elect a lazy, TV addict who can blindly sign all our tax cuts?
2
If only some of his supporters would read your excellent opinion piece and see some truths.
If only all democrats would vote.
We'll see on Nov 6th if we will survive this madness!
If only we can breathe a sigh of relief on November 7th!!
2
It is not that you are out of ideas, but instead that ideas (and ideals) are useless to this administration and to Trump in particular, who can't assemble a complete sentence much less a coherent thought. How refreshing to read literate, thoughtful, respectful words from leaders we can admire.
How does one counter willful ignorance, moral turpitude, depraved indifference? You will not bring scoundrels to heel by advancing well crafted arguments, they will just dig in further. Neither will debasing ourselves to that lower level of dialogue which just creates more of what we are trying to rid ourselves of.
Vote. Vote them out. Let's hope enough people of conscience still exist. I have great fear when I reflect upon the best and worst of our history and realize the moral and cultural abyss whose edge we stand upon.
6
As I wipe the tears from my eyes, thank you President Washington, you were a true mensch.
Scott K.
4
I share your frustration. It's as if a mentally unstable man is president and forty per cent of the people think it is normal.
16
Great piece Tom. But neither you, nor your more liberal colleagues have been able to sway the opinion of people like Ross Douhat, who, despite his complete agreement about Trump's character, nevertheless still thinks it's OK to leave Mitch McConnell as majority leader.
How depressing is that?
11
Tom
I have read your books, agreed and disagreed.
This time you made me cry.
I weep with you for all that I have loved and now seem to have lost.
Thank you for this.
Bob Walker
443
@Robert Walker
See " An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves and the Creation of America" Henry Weoincek
1
we are crying with you and for the future.
3
how can you cite George Washington without an asterisk stating : "everyone except black slaves"
138
@Jean Cooper The British Empire started slavery in North America. The United States ended it.
22
@Jean Cooper A million times this. The guy thought owning other human beings was fine and then had the audacity to say "For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support."
Anyone who owned slaves and didn't disavow the practice at any point during their lives was evil. Full stop.
16
@Real D B Cooper B-b-but didn't the British end slavery in their country without bloodshed and supported abolitionists in the US?
36
In 185 Chief Seattle of the Indian nations in a likewise famous speech said;
"A few more moons, a few more winters, and not one of the descendants of the mighty hosts that once moved over this broad land or lived in happy homes, protected by the Great Spirit, will remain to mourn over the graves of a people once more powerful and hopeful than yours. But why should I mourn at the untimely fate of my people? Tribe follows tribe, and nation follows nation, like the waves of the sea. It is the order of nature, and regret is useless. Your time of decay may be distant, but it will surely come, for even the White Man whose God walked and talked with him as friend to friend, cannot be exempt from the common destiny. We may be brothers after all. We will see."
Is it our time of decay?
100
We Democrats, like Thomas Friedman, are all out of fresh ideas as the chance to go to the voting booth is only days away and, with it, the chance to put some restraint on Donald Trump, a man who no longer pretends to be presidential.
Mr. Friedman’s advice about voting for Democratic candidates and working hard for them is good, and his inclusion in full the oft-quoted letter of George Washington to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport was a timely and appropriate reminder of how a president is supposed to lead.
As part of being a Democrat and a liberal, let each of us remember that our fellow citizens and neighbors who are black will read the words of Washington and agree with the sentiment. They also will be aware that in 1789, their ancestors in America were not citizens.
They were slaves and would not be free for more than seventy years after Washington’s letter.
8
And therefore the moves are already afoot to knock Washington and Jefferson down, remove their statues and place names, etc., in the never-ending assault by "progressives" on every social institution in the nation.
2
@Longue Carabine
No, you are wrong. Black Americans overwhelmingly want the truth of their predicament from the horrors of slavery to the nearly-as-horrific Reconstruction Era to the sporadically violent days of Jim Crow to be acknowledged and remembered. Museums exist for that exact purpose, and national reconciliation is the goal.
Your choice of a French version of Long Rifle and your use of “progressives” as an insult demonstrate how racial prejudice sparks an impulse to violence in some people, which Donald Trump has encouraged repeatedly.
Not everyone in Spokane shares your views, but some lonely white man somewhere with a long rifle may do what was done in Pittsburgh or Charlotte or, a few years ago, in Charleston, South Carolina.
2
response to a splendid column
apologies to Poobah in G and S's MIKADO
MidTerms despair
Unless you vote
Don Trump will fare
Winner and gloat
Your anger, fear,
Will persevere
You slacker and you stay-at-homer.
So make sure
you get out and vote
Your thoughts are pure
On a high note
Get to the poll
Fulfill your role
On election day don’t be a roamer.
From the pearly gates
You’ll hear Lincoln say
Beat the man he hates
On election day,
And if you ain’t a stay-at-homer
Trump will at his mouth, be a foamer.
22
Bravo, Mr. Friedman -- regardless the absence of any "fresh idea."
As for a the quoted words of forefather #1, the last lines of which recite,
"May the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while EVERYONE shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid. May the father of all mercies scatter light and not darkness in our paths, and make us all in our several vocations useful here, and in his own due time and way everlastingly happy." [Emphasis on "everyone" added]
G. Washington
THE SLAVE OWNER? One and the same.
3
The constitution is a beautiful document as is the system of self-governance outlined in it.
but this country has never lived up to the ideals of the constitution. in 1790, women were not allowed to vote and african americans were enslaved and not even considered humans. truthfully, equal rights and protections under the law was at best put in place warily on paper anyway, in the late '60s. and in parts of the country it has never even been realized fully for minorities.
so really, we are only now starting to realize what true equally for all might look like for all peoples. and for those accustomed to privilege, equality for all feels like oppression and they will resist it to the end.
10
Excellent piece. Love the George Washington letter.
We have a president who has created an environment so toxic that those who hate feel they have permission to act on that hate.
Vote vote vote for a Democrat!
45
Barack Obama for president.
If only it were possible. He's everything Trump is not, and the policies he pursued then remain the best course for the United States now, whether in health care, foreign, environmental or economic policy. He improved our economy, strengthened relationships with our allies, contained our geopolitical opponents, kept us out of new wars and diminished the ones he inherited.
Speaking of inheriting, he was left a disastrous economy by the outgoing GOP administration and turned it around despite foot dragging by the GOP. Now they try to take credit for his accomplishment.
History will show Obama and Trump in dramatic contrast, one of the best in history followed, most likely, by the worst.
149
Mr. Friedman, thank you for giving a voice to millions of Americans that are agonizing about the State Of The Union, the attack on democracy, and our democratic institutions. It is so critical that prominent voices continue to speak out in hopes of slowing and even putting halt to this terrible journey that we are going through. It is disturbing and frightening that the attack on our institutions and our way of life is coming from the man in the White House. However, I am more frightened about the millions of Americans that support and follow that president no matter what amoral and dangerous direction he takes us toward. I am frightened about the leaders of the Republican Party that are not meeting their responsibility of protecting our nation from internal attacks. I am frightened about the millions of Americans that do not support the direction that this country is going toward but will not go out and vote as if their lives depended on it. We all need to do a better job in delivering the critical information that you routinely write about to all those people that may not read the New York Times. The question is, how do we do that?
23
Too little time/space here to rehash everything we now know about the deep trouble we’re all in.
Suffice it to say that, in just under two years, this amoral, corruptly misguided administration has led us into a nonstop downward trajectory of negative inflection points designed to divide us, conquer us and destroy our democracy.
The only legal way out of this morass is to vote. Fortunately, at the time of this post, hoping and praying are still legal yet becoming increasingly dangerous. Neither side is willing to compromise which means this country, as we knew it, will never be the same for at least the next generation.
Your vote still counts, yet due to voter suppression, gerrymandering and the like, definitely not as much as it used to.
And we'd all better get used to that, until we can get more and more and even more people such as ourselves to exercise their precious right.
While this message may seem unnecessarily strike you as negative, it should be considered as realistic. And that should be considered as a positive in order for us to regain our democracy before it’s too late.
Vote.
Once again, Mr. Friedman, thank you for reminding us of how urgent and important it is for us to take action.
25
If we were able to sit in safety under our own vine and fig tree, and there should be none to make us afraid, that would be the America that Washington envisaged. However, the belief that guns are more important than human life, a misreading of the Second Amendment, coopted by the NRA, paid for by a foreign enemy power, makes it impossible for schoolchildren to learn, for congregants to gather to worship, for a grandfather to shop for school supplies for his grandson or for a woman to go shopping without fear of a crrazed gunman, white Nationalists, who have been emboldened by Trump’s hate spewing language.
The father of our country deserved that appellation because he nurtured the seeds of liberty, justice, and faith in a new nation.
Trump wants to exhaust us, sow division between us, and destroy the environment so that our vine and fig trees die.
It is up to all of us who have fervent wishes for our nation’s well-being and have enjoyed the felicity and mercies that she has provided to protect and defend her against those who would destroy her founding principles. Vote Democrat across the ballot.
35
Wonderful, and sadly true. This is the election of our lives so vote early, let nothing deter you, and vote for Democrats at all levels.
10
If he’s not directly taking his cues from Putin, then he’s learned well at the feet of the master. This really helps explain a lot.
Such a quick and purposeful descent away from all we used to depend on as normal, deserves objective explanation.
7
There was a time when the general population was not constitutionally empowered to elect a President. The electoral choice was made by the Senate, because our Founders did not think the citizenry intelligent or sophisticated enough to make an informed decision.
Perhaps our Founders had it right. Donald Trump is not one who has hidden his dishonesty,lack of integrity, and indecency from us for his entire adult life. He is a six times bankrupted financial failure under suspicion for decades of financial impropriety and tax evasion. He has long been known as a racist, adulterer, misogynist, and liar, and has had shady financial dealings with some of the most corrupt, and autocratic individuals in the world. Trump also was given ample opportunity to release his tax returns and business portfolio for public scrutiny well before the general election, and he refused. The fact that the Republican Party was willing to nominate such an ingrate is not surprising, considering how the Party has devolved. But the fact that some 60 million people still voted for him leads one to believe that they were either not smart enough, or not of sufficient integrity to reject him for the unfit and unqualified candidate that he was. Washington, Lincoln, FDR, LBJ, Obama? Come on people, you can do better than Trump! HRC had her shortcomings and may not have been an ideal candidate, but she doesn't hold a candle to Trump when it comes to destructive incompetence, bigotry, and divisiveness.
22
@Stu Well, today's Senate is no brighter than the general populace - or if they are, too blinded by greed to care about doing well by our country.
3
@Stu
I agree with you. I continue to be amazed at the people who are hypnotized by the Royal Donaldness. I'd like to point out, however, that in 1787 the Senate was elected by the state assemblies, who are responsible for the gerrymandered districts of today!
3
Tom, please not again. You are terribly off base. Trump is certainly not the best messenger but his message resonates with many. To look out for America first can help us rebuild the American middle class. It is your globalism and Barack’s desire to make up to the world for the white man’s so called transgressions that have caused the most dramatic transfer of wealth to Asia known to man. So now we are going to argue over terms like Nationalism. Of course we all know that Trump believes nationalism is synonymous with Patriot, right? Let’s just move on and solve some problems working together instead of you elites spending time pumping hate in the guise of meaningful discussion of words.....
5
@Dan Locker The trouble is Trump's messages include regular doses of racism and misogyny. Yes, racism and misogyny resonate with lots of folks but that doesn't make it OK.
3
@Dan Locker
You appear not to understand nor do you seem willing to understand that giving an inch is handing over power. Trump's words have the worst kind of power. I suggest you study the use of rhetoric, repetition and vilification as exemplified bar none by the Nazis. If you do not recognize the parallels, it is not because everyone else is wrong, it is because you do not want to hear or see it. Thinking that Trump does not know the difference between patriot and nationalist is being the gullible fool he wants you to be.
Thank you, Tom Friedman.
4
Hate eventually infects everyone. Having it preached from our leaders is toxic to all. Poor or rich, religious or not, lonely or loved, we’re all subject to fear. There is no freedom when we have to fear others and worst of all, are asked to do so by our leaders.
9
Mr. Friedman,
Outstanding column. The Washington letter is the icing on the cake.
13
I have seen that letter of Washington's referenced elsewhere. It's wonderful. It reminded me forcefully of how fortunate America was to have a leader of such wisdom at the beginning of its nationhood. The words about giving bigotry no sanction and persecution no assistance seem to be a direct and stinging rebuke to our current administration, which thrives on rhetoric that enables attitudes of bigotry and policies which affect those who are not white, evangelical Christian, straight men in ways that could well be termed "persecution".
It strikes me that Washington was also the one who warned against giving too much power to the "military industrial complex". I'm afraid that warning went by the wayside quite some time ago. Sadly, under Trump, we also seem to be turning away from the rejection of bigotry and persecution that he wrote of. But we still have a chance to turn back.
Let it begin with the results of the election on Nov. 6!
8
@Debra Petersen. Eisenhower warned against the military-industrial complex. Washington warned against foreign entanglements.
12
@Citizen60 Thank you. Whoever said it, that was a warning that ought to have been heeded...but hasn't beem
I am an atheist Jew. My father served in India during World War II. His generation was called (with some but not complete merit) THE GREATEST GENERATION.
We now have the worst President in USA History. Vice President Mike Pence would be even worse.
We should strive to be the GOOD ENOUGH GENERATION to keep our nation legal and decent. Vote legally. Protest peacefully. Be extremely civil.
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Who can run in 2020 and plausibly beat this man? I suggest a political moderate, a very wealthy businessman unafraid of Trump's 2 billion dollar buffoon-bluster.
Democrats and Republicans alike respect most business as necessary and if very wealthy, this one fact will diminish Trump's big selling point. He should be a Colin Powell-type, essentially above politics, someone who will not alienate conservatives. But the winning candidate cannot be either female or of color right now; still too much blow back from Obama and HRC.
He will be a bit old in 2020 but is far wealthier, all earned unlike Trump. And like Trump, he is a New Yorker unafraid and well able to stand up to the bluster and can tell Trump to shut up.
Michael Bloomberg.
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@AG
I don't know what reality you live in, but I've lived in B'klyn since 1980 and worked in the NYC Department of Education since 2000. I'm pleading with the 16 people who recommended your post to listen to someone who has had to deal with the consequences of giving Bloomberg political power. No to Bloomberg! No to the man who engineered a third term for himself in spite of the vote of the people to have term limits. No to the man who staffed a cabinet with his rich socialite friends. No to a man who fired members of an educational panel that dared vote their consciences. No to a man who made a lawyer Chancellor (Joel Klein) and later, a publishing executive Chancellor (Cathy Black), both with disastrous results. No to the mayor who made sure the Upper East Side residents were taken care of in the winter while Queens and Brooklyn lay buried under snow, some streets never to be plowed. No, No, No! Much of what we find fault with in Trump, we would find in Bloomberg. We don't need another businessman to run government his way.
3
And yet, Mr. Friedman, as you know there is already talk among progressives of removing even Washington from school and other institutional names, taking down the statues, etc. Why? Because he was white and a slaveholder, of course.
I ask you, when will the "progressive" assault on our institutions end? The Left has shattered everything it has touched, destroyed the Judeo-Christian moral consensus of the country, and politicized even the family and the relationships between men and women.
I voted for Trump's opponent, but I see him as an antibody thrown up by a diseased social organism. Antibodies can be dangerous, too, but they come forth for a good reason.
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@Longue Carabine that must be the pretty far end of the spectrum. However, we are going through what I hope is a truth and reconciliation processes where we can stop "whitewashing" the past. The idea that our founders were flawless, brave, intellectual luminaries is - flawed. They were shaped by their times but today's standards count when judging who we choose to lionize and hold up as a modern role model. And you can't more forward based on lies and let's pretend. But we CAN move forward, as one people, aware of the good and the bad in our history, taking the best ideas to the next level, but wary of our own blind spots when it comes to seeing the full humanity in everyone.
14
@Longue Carabine:
Taking your extreme argument.... would you say the disease lupus (which occurs when antibodies go amuck) "came forth for a good reason"?
Then neither did trump.
Some "antibodies" are viral, and must be removed.
We need to remove trump. He is a parasite. Nothing good has come since he came to power.
Even our economy is now shaky.
7
@K: people are complex; history is complex.
Washington was a hero -- the father of his nation -- a good man, leader, husband, stepfather -- and he also owned slaves.
Slave ownership was normal for a land-owning farmer in Virginia, in the 18th century.
Someday, your great-great grandkids may consider you a bloody monster for eating MEAT -- killing cute little animals for your dining pleasure. They may shake their heads and wonder how you could be so evil, heartless and morally corrupt.
You cannot judge people in the past by the morals of the present day.
The reality is that though Washington and Jefferson owned slaves...both were conflicted about it....and thanks to them, in about 80 years....slavery -- which had existed for millennia in all societies -- was eradicated.
5
You refer to Trump as "disturbed". That is incomplete. He is a demented, disturbed individual with personality disorder. Place his anonymized psychiatric picture with his symptoms before a neuro-psychiatrist, and you get a diagnosis of dementia superimposed on personality disorder. His election confirms Alexis de Tocqueville's pessimism about how a democracy can go wrong.
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@KLS
Completely agree. But how do we explain his followers? After this past week, "Deplorable" doesn't seem strong enough.
Wow, and to think that the Federalist Society, that mob of strict interpretationists and slavish fans of The Founders, has foisted "Bart" Kavanaugh on this country to carry out the ideals set forth by Washington. I'm pretty sure GW was not a member of the Ralph Club, did not treat woman like chattel, and never boasted of being any woman's "alumnus"...
7
Trump is the embodiment of the Peter Principle, that people in a hierarchy tend to rise to their level of incompetence. Even more frightening is that, not all but many, rally supporters appear to have risen to theirs.
9
@Dan315
Six bankruptcies (or was it 7) and he was not yet at his level of incompetency? The Peter Principle does not apply here. It refers to people good at something, promoted to something higher, repeated until they reach a level at which they are not competent. Trump reached that level many years ago.
2
@Dan315 - Throw in the Dunning-Kruger Effect for good measure.
Yup Yup and Yup.
Allow me a slight correction to our first president, however.
"An enlarged and liberal policy: a policy worthy of imitation"?
Yes, except for that whole enslaving other human beings thing.
But I get your main point, TLF, and you are right on the money.
7
I guess you forgot about GW the slaveholder. Here is a reminder from the pages of the NYT. I raise this because I continue to be concerned about the less-than-honest portrait that we get of our first president and the founding fathers.
To quote the columnist Shaun King: "Slavery was a monstrous system. Everybody who participated in it was evil for having done so. Period. No exceptions."
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/06/arts/george-washington-mount-vernon-slavery.html
2
Finalmente Thomas, what took you so long?
Trump's strategy is simple, attack, attack, attack, not brilliant but this strategy has worked very well for him. He has kept the opposition off balance, on the defensive, while captivating his American Apprentice followers with awe. Sick, disgusting, despicable; I fear for America for she's lost her way.
1
We have fallen quite far as nation when one compares the eloquence of George Washington to Trump's tweets.
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The irony of the tragedy in Pittsburgh is that the architect of Trump's anti-immigration, anti-Muslim hate fueled political strategy was cooked up by one of his top advisors who is a 5th generation Jew whose family fled persecution in Europe 120 ago. Anytime I hear 'top presidential advisor' I'm thinking incompetence, nepotistism, and oppertunist.
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George Washington to Donald Trump: the arc of history better start swinging the other way. Soon.
6
Thank you for publishing. It is a good reminder.
I will quibble with you about the GOP, though.
You call the party "spineless" and the President as "without shame". I have long thought that of the GOP also, but I now feel that they are not simply "spineless". Rather, they are in agreement with the racism, the division, the subtle anti-Semitism, the sexism, the hatred of all views that are not their own. If they were simply spineless, you would find some degree of resistance.
Rather, you are seeing many members embrace the message; others who are silent and similar to the Nazi era bureaucrats who did nothing and saw nothing, yet allowed its evilness to operate, and all GOP are following the lead of Grassley, Graham, McCarthy and mostly McConnell and Ryan in prosecuting this rape of American ideals and norms. if you don't think McConnell and Ryan et al know what they are doing, and are simply "silent" and "spineless, I think you misread them. And make no mistake (as Obama would say), Democracy is under not just attack but full blown war.
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In downtown Detroit on one of my usual paths is a great statute of Washington with an excerpt from Henry Lee's eulogy of Washington, "First in War, First in Peace, and First in the Hearts of his Countrymen..." Why was this true? Lee tells us, "he was second to none in the humble and endearing scenes of private life; pious, just, humane, temperate and sincere; uniform, dignified and commanding, his example was as edifying to all around him, as were the effects of that example lasting." We can only hope that such a leader appears soon.
10
Friedman's column reaches its crescendo in the eloquence of Washington's letter. By today's rhetorical standards (not high), the founding President's language is rather stiff and starchy -- which further encourages our concentrated attention.
American education would be enriched, and our politics matured, if every student at upper high school level were required to take a year-long class in American Civic Foundations. The class would include close reading, recitation and teacher-led transliteration (to modern American English) of the Declaration, the central elements of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, along with five outstanding letters, messages or declarations from each of seven great Americans (I would suggest Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, King, Anthony and the two Roosevelts).
Add to those, optional additions of pertinent brief readings from major American voices of civic eloquence (Madison, Whitman, Emerson, Douglass, DuBois, Wlm. James, Steinbeck, Eleanor Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Thurgood Marshall, Malcolm, Chavez, Kennedy, Addams, Obama, Buckley, RBG, Baldwin, etc). This class will nurture a life of voting citizenship and a taste for inspired prose, and each student should keep a bound study text of the key works for enduring perusal.
14
George Washington's kind thoughts are certainly noble, and I appreciate them. But we cannot continue to shovel money at hopeless domestic causes because they appeal to our notions of self virtue; we can alleviate suffering for Americans, we cannot provide a perfectly egalitarian society. We cannot continue to waste the health and life of our servicemen in a fantasy that we can turn the whole world into peace loving democracies. We cannot continue to pretend that our resources are finite, and the whole world will be well if we just let them over our border. At some point, people's wish to survive is going to overcome morality, and I don't wish to see it reach that point. We can afford just so much self deception.
3
@Mary:
The flaw in your argument is that we were able to do so during Obama's tenure, WHILE he saved our economy from total collapse, and pushed it into a trajectory that even today sparkles in sunlight.
Facts: It does not cost us much to help others, especially if you consider the alternative costs of not helping them. As you'll soon see, trump's 5000 (14000?) troops will be much more expensive than if we simply treat those wanting asylum in a humane way - and then help those with meritorious claims.
You are assuming it costs us much to help others.
3
Mr. Friedman's tone of desperation is less indicative of the nation's need than his own party's refusal to face the reality that it has lost relevance and needs to reform, in the true sense; take on a new form. Why is this so painful for Democrats? Because change would mean telling substantial numbers of party faithful that the time has come to embrace self-responsibility, that is, support themselves and quit waiting for the government to do it for them. It would mean an admission of the fundamental failure of their favored economic model; responsibility-shifting. It would mean telling its members that it's time to fold the old tent and try anew as some sort of centrist, reality-based party, not yet envisioned, that by its nature would leave a lot of old-time Dems standing out in the rain--not a very happy situation for them.
3
Oh, the stereotypes... why are Republicans so cruel? It’s not the way of Jesus.
2
Wonderful. Now Democrats need to show what they stand for, not just what they are against.
Here is a simple statement of the problem:
Republicans: Tax cuts, smaller government, pro business, and Making America White Again
vs.
Democrats: Depends on the Democrat.
Not gonna work for the long-term.
So how about this:
Democrats: Universal healthcare, free higher education, and fiscal responsibility.
58
@David Doney YES, YES, YES!! Dems, give a reason to vote for you! Move beyond you're not Donald.
4
@David Doney
Let us know how universal healthcare and ‘free’ higher ed are related in any way to fiscal responsibility.
Bonus points for letting us know how high the Euro-level value-added tax will have to be.
2
@EGD. Rethink the concept, the wealth of the nation. Why, in our system, does the wealth of the nation reside so overwhelmingly at the top? We all work. We all want. We all love, if we are in any way balanced. Why does even the gentlest sketch of a fairer society so shut down your imagination? Wouldn't it be wildly wonderful if more people in America were happy? Employment, opportunity, health, aspirations fulfilled. What we have today is largely wage slavery, pretty much from near the top to the very bottom. In all that work that we Americans do there is a LOT of responsibility happening. It is the "commons" the shared space that has failed. We must do better as a collective. If that word triggers some cold sweats, then use the word, country. Even the most inspired, motivated and brilliant cannot thrive in a place with no common.
19
Perhaps William F. Buckley Jr. would have updated one of his most famous quotes had he lived to see what has happened to Republicans in the time of Trump:
"I'd rather entrust the government of the United States to the first 400 people listed in the Boston telephone directory than to the vile Trump and a weak-kneed Republican party."
Or perhaps that is just wishful thinking.
But Buckley did say this about Donald Trump in 2000 when Trump was talking about running for President:
"When he looks at a glass, he is mesmerized by its reflection. If Donald Trump were shaped a little differently, he would compete for Miss America. ... We have no substitute for relying on the voter to exercise a quiet veto when it becomes more necessary to discourage cynical demagogy, than to advance free health for the kids. That can come later, in another venue; the resistance to a corrupting demagogy should take first priority. "
The remaining principled Conservatives need to consider voting for Democratic. As Buckley said: "the resistance to a corrupting demagogy should take first priority."
182
@LTBuckley is spinning in his grave at what has been sold as "conservatism."
13
@LT Thank you for this reminder. As I rode a crowded NYC subway car this morning containing all manner of well-disposed persons I thought - if only we could be transported as a group to Capitol Hill in DC and empowered in place of the current occupants, what could we not achieve.
24
One further observation on this column and its quotation of George Washington’s letter, it is wonderful to remember that we have had Presidents that were both compassionate and literate. I yearn for a President again, as we have recently and so many times been advantaged by, who could actually assemble a coherent thought and deliver an effective message.
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@BruceC
How much compassion did George Washington have for his enslaved black African property?
2
Thank you very much Mr. Friedman, for providing to your readership another heartening and hopeful example, in these dark times, why George Washington is esteemed as the “Father” of our country. Amongst other noteworthy human qualities, it is Washington’s deep humility which resonates in his letter to the Newport Hebrew Congregation, the starkest of contrasts to the pathologically self-centered utterances and actions of the current White House occupant. We must remain convinced, and remind ourselves, that sound, moral character matters, particularly for a President of these United States, and that in the end it shall prevail.
38
"May the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants.." Well, Mr. Friedman, what a beautiful sentiment from another president at another time, and on a day of mourning for this whole nation as we witness the first of more burials to come.
I, too, am without words, a heart and mind exhausted and weary of not even two years of one tragedy after another with constant, non-stop, vitriolic and hateful words as well as actions from this president, through his Cabinet, his GOP Congress, and to his most rabid supporters. Yes, I will vote for Democrats, canvas for them, raise money for them, drive more than one to vote for them. But in all honesty I am scared of another two years of such rampant amorality and injustice. Yet the real heroes, I suppose, are those who act through their deepest fears to save themselves and others. I think there are many, many heroes ready and willing to save our Home in exactly one week.
173
The mythos of George Washington is great, but why not focus a bit more on the intellect of someone like Benjamin Franklin?
Enough people are already convinced that he was president, and it was probably Franklin that had the best understanding of what energy actually is.
1
Because the point of the article was to talk about unity, not energy. Washington was a known unifier, just as Franklin was not.
2
@PaulN
Tear a $1 bill down Washington’s face and you get two pieces of Pi. We already tried unifying the nation around George Washington once or twice.
Make America great again, indeed; vote against Trump and his Congressional enablers, thereby standing up for the United States.
68
I just had to chuckle for a moment, imagining DJT reading this and trying to comprehend even a sentence of this letter, even a morsel of history. And the spirit of your opinion is correct, Thomas. DJT is the manifestation of the anti-American and those who associate with him are an army of anti-patriots who continue to let democracy be hijacked swiftly.
118
No, Donald.
It was not treasonous for Democrats to decline applauding your State of the Union address.
The press are not the enemy of the American people.
Standing up for this country does not mean picking petty fights with other nations.
And harsh immigration policies will not protect this country.
You, Mr. Trump, are the traitor, the enemy and the danger.
577
Mr. Friedman's column is informative, eloquent, and effective. Please consider removing today's column from behind the pay firewall (If it is behind) so that it can be read, shared and re-tweeted as widely as possible.
108
@Kathleen W And every news publication should reprint it for all to read including every student in our schools.
9
Dig Him UP. It couldn’t be WORSE.
Seriously.
76
@Phyliss Dalmatian
Has Michael Moore still got that ficus plant he ran for Congress?
2
As a wise former president put it so eloquently: "Don't boo. VOTE!" -Barack Obama
166
You don’t need a new idea, Thomas Friedman. George Washington’s famous letter to the Tuoro Synagogue in Newport, RI, is the bedrock of our national ideals. Thank you for reprinting it in its entirety. What a wise and far-seeing leader was our first President. He preached tolerance, civility, respect, and community. He did not proclaim “Lock her up” or “Body slam him.” The contrast between #1 and the “fake” #45 could not be clearer.
521
with such a great and rock solid foundation why us the American house slowly crumbling.
1
The contrast between #45 and ANY other president could not be clearer.
4
@Barbara
"Fake45" ... I like that as a nickname for our current president !
6
I want to pull a dollar out of my wallet and salute it. The legendary President George Washington. He'd be sad to see us sink so low, and might even go as far as to say 'I told you so,' but he'd still believe in us.
154
@Roarke. I salute General/President Washington as well, and don’t recall him taking numerous “bone spurs” exemptions.
But in fact, women and African-Americans were’t entitled to vote during his administration. It took decades to correct that, and the right seems to be unwinding before our eyes now. Sad!
6
@C. Davison You're right, of course. The realities of the late 18th century were vastly different than today. I was more admiring the 'spirit' of Washington's inclusiveness, and his desire for others to be happy in his nation.
It's up to us to expand on it so that more groups can enjoy that right. I'm not suggesting he was a paragon or anything. Just a good man for his time
19
@Roarke
On the eve of the Civil War the 4 million enslaved Africans were worth more than all of the other capital assets in America except for the land.
George Washington owned 300+ human beings.
How many dollars were they worth?
7
Thank you for summarizing a complicated problem briefly and well. While quoting a slaveholder is ... less than awesome, the sentiment is valid and itself shows how fraught a cherished past can be and how important it is to improve both our present and our future.
8
“For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support”-George Washington.
“There are good people on both sides “-Donald Trump, speaking of racists at Charlottesville.
64
@Arthur
I printed this and hung it on my wall.
THANK YUO
4
I agree with Mr. Friedman’s assessment of President Trump in every particular. But, as others have observed, this presidency is a symptom, not a cause.
One of these problems appears near the top of Mr. Friedman’s essay without his ever identifying it so: The idea that the president’s job description is “to be a healer of the country in times of great national hurt and to pull us together to do big hard things that can be done only together.”
No. The president is the chief executive of a $4 trillion organization, the elected head of one-third of a federal government that does not, itself, exercise complete authority over the country (because other levels of government also exercise their share). Are there times when the job calls for emotional leadership? Of course. But those instances are the ornaments of the job, not its essence.
Bit by bit, generation by generation, we have elevated the presidency to the status of national parent, confessor, celebrity, healer. The office shouldn’t be any of those things, and we shouldn’t want it to be. For that the fault is ours.
It may take many administrations for us to get the taste of this one out of our mouths. Another Washington would be great, but what we really need is a Coolidge or a Truman to turn down the volume for a while. In the meantime, beware anyone who tells you a president has to heal our “hurts” and do “big hard things.” That’s one step away from “kiss our boo-boos.” It’s a child’s wish.
26
@Jim D.
The reality is that a president may not shirk the duty of being a "national parent, confessor, celebrity, healer," even if the president and the citizenry wanted it to be so.
We all set examples for one another whether we wish to or not, especially the person elected to the highest office in the land.
4
@Jim D. I don't think you quite appreciate what a good President can do. Re-read Lincoln's Address at Gettysburg and his Second Inaugural Address. Read Roosevelt's Inaugural or some of his Fireside chats. Great President's, great Leaders, can do much more good than be a competent CEO.
34
This is a very helpful distinction. The president is the chief executive, not the Queen. I can see Mr. Freedman is distressed and desperate, but it is a bit confusing to force a distinction between nationalism and patriotism by citing the Founding Father who led the nation to victory in independence war. Nationalism is bad when it becomes aggressive toward other nations, but Mr. Freedom loves war and was publicly excited about the invasion of Iraq. I am all for citizens to become partisans by their own choosing, but not sure what value partisan pundits can add to politics.
Congratulations. Simply and elegantly, you’ve identified our greatest problem, and the easy solution.
VOTE. While we still can. We get the government we ALLOW.
298
Besides, George Washington could not tell a lie; Donald Trump can’t tell the truth.
524
@Steve Griffith
It has been written in this space that Washington could not tell a lie, Nixon could not tell the truth, and Trump could not tell the difference.
110
@Steve Griffith, Spanky said that George Washington was the only president to appoint more Supreme Court justices than him.
6
@Stephen Whiteley Touché
7