gracchusdixit

In 1957, John F. Kennedy, then the Junior Senator from Massachusetts, wrote a best-selling book called Profiles in Courage, in which he told the stories of eight earlier members of the United States Senate, who had defied public opinion and fierce political opposition to uphold principles they staunchly believed in.  Some were rewarded for their courage in their lifetimes; others paid a price; all were eventually recognized by history.

If JFK were writing his book today, it is all but certain that he would add a ninth name to his honor roll of political heroes—the name of the late Senior Senator from Arizona, John Sidney McCain III, who was memorialized 24 hours ago in an extraordinary ceremony in the nation’s Capitol and will be buried today at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, from which he graduated more than 50 years ago.

It is possible to have disagreed with many of John McCain’s political views, because he was, for the most part, a conventional and doctrinaire Republican, who dutifully saluted the ideological flags of trickle-down economics, so-called “free trade,” and “entitlement reform”.  He was also unduly supportive of military spending, no matter how extravagant or unnecessary, and far too ready to advocate the use of military force as a solution to complex diplomatic and political problems. 

It is utterly impossible, however, to deny his personal integrity, physical courage, and principled independence.   Throughout his public life, he was determined to do the right thing as he saw it, and he was ever ready to work with political opponents to accomplish that result.  When he made mistakes, he admitted them.  When he saw something that was manifestly unjust, he opposed it.  When he encountered bullies on the public stage, he unflinchingly called them out and took the side of their powerless victims.  John McCain took the words, “duty, honor, country,” with utmost seriousness.  But he never took himself seriously.  Far more than most of us, he had a clear and unsparing understanding of his own flaws and failings.  

In John McCain’s death and Donald Trump’s reaction to that death, we are witnessing, not only a Profile in Courage, but Profiles in Contrast.  

On the one hand, there is the example of McCain himself—an imperfect man, like all of us, but a man who rose above his imperfections to serve this country with the utmost honor and decency; a true military hero, who endured a level of physical pain and suffering that few of us can imagine; a political leader who, whatever his failings, strove constantly to realize the best instincts of the country he served.

On the other hand, there is the small, petty, and pathetically insecure manikin who now calls himself “President of the United States”—a man so petulant and jealous that he cannot bring himself to utter John McCain’s name, let alone acknowledge him as the hero that he was; a man so mean in spirit and empty in heart that he had to be pressured by public outrage to lower the White House flag in honor of McCain’s death; a man whose self-regard is so immense and yet so fragile that he had to flee Washington for the safe, comforting cocoon of one of his private golf clubs, as the rest of the nation mourned the passing of a true public servant.  

The Profiles in Contrast we are witnessing go beyond invidious comparisons between two men, between John McCain and Donald Trump.  They extend to the nation itself, or rather, to the two, divided nations we have become.   

One of these nations, populated by a majority of Americans, sees in John McCain’s life and death inspiring examples of personal courage and public service, a man to be memorialized and honored, and in that man an ideal to be hoped-for and emulated.  This is the nation we saw on display in the National Cathedral yesterday, when three former Presidents of the United States, three former Vice Presidents, two former Secretaries of State, and countless other public leaders and luminaries came together to honor John McCain.  In so doing, they also rebuked and spurned the toxicity of Donald Trump.

The other nation, populated by a cult of sycophants and bigots who surround and support Trump, spent yesterday sitting mum in a metaphorical corner, smoldering with resentment and pent-up rage, and barely containing their urge to lash out.  Today, they could contain themselves no longer.  

One of Trump’s most slavish supporters carped:  “It was a very nice gesture by Jared and Ivanka to attend (the funeral).  I find it contemptible that the McCain family couldn’t seat them in a better, more respectable section.”

This whinging complaint epitomizes everything that is contemptible, not about the McCain family, but about the Trump phenomenon—not only about the man himself, but also about his family, his entourage, and that part of the nation that still clings to him as their savior.  

For Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump to have wheedled their way into the memorial services for John McCain wasn’t a “nice gesture;” it was a grotesque intrusion, the callous rudeness of which should have been apparent to anyone who isn’t politically tone-deaf or morally dead.

Having done absolutely nothing to express their respect for John McCain during his lifetime, no member of the Trump family, let alone faux “presidential advisers” like Trump’s daughter and son-in-law, had any claim to be seated in a “better, more respectable section.”  On the contrary, by inserting themselves into John McCain’s funeral, like gate-crashers at a wedding, Jared and Ivanka were lucky to have been seated at all. 

This episode, more than any other, casts into sharp relief the contrasting profiles between John McCain’s America and Donald Trump’s.  In McCain’s America, respect must be earned by public service and public scrutiny.  In Trump’s America, respect is taken for granted, demanded by those in power, simply because they are in power.  In Trump’s America, there is no place for decency, dignity, or honor. 

It is now up to us to decide which of these two Americas we wish to inhabit.  To quote the final, eloquent words of Henry Kissinger’s eulogy honoring John McCain:  “Henceforth, the country’s honor is ours to sustain.”  Which vision of America will we choose?  Will we choose John McCain’s Profile in Honor or Donald Trump’s Profile in Dishonor?