THE GEMS THAT MADE US UNIQUE ARE ECLIPSED, BUT THERE AMONG THE LENGTHENING LIST OF FORSAKEN FRIENDS, ALLIES, TRADE AGREEMENTS AND INFLUENCE, THE CORE PRINCIPLES OF HEART, HUMANITY AND AMERICAN IDEALS

Two questions plague many of us whether we come from the world of national security, philosophy, political science, clergy, journalism, commerce or anyone who reflects on the reality of what America is becoming. They are questions that should pose unsettling intrusions into our daily routines, and they will long beset our progeny if not dealt with:

(1) How is it that we have lost so much grit to permit Trump’s vast disassembly of this nation of ours over the thirteen months of his second term; the America we knew as a government of, by and for the people and a beacon for the globally disenfranchised?

(2) Will it be possible to somehow rebuild it, win it all back?

The answers will, assuredly, describe the future of the United States. They could offer us a viewer’s list of two or three different Americas of tomorrow, ranging from a restoration of yesteryear’s pesky and shambolic democracy, to an age of pandemonium and chaos or, heaven forbid, an established autocracy of oligarchs. Any attempted description of what’s to come will perforce be a rough sketch at best, but any one or several would leave to those generations which follow, something wretched and lamentable.

There at least two ways to look at these coming tectonic changes, why they have happened and how the country will cope. There is a giant weakness in the constitution in that, from its signing, it always depended on men and women of good will to adhere to its precious contents. Noting that the constitution is not self-executing, those elected shepherds who tend it have failed us in enormous ways. That failure has bequeathed to the next generation of elected officials the gargantuan task of rebuilding the contents of the republic and to overcome the poisonous legacy Trump is in the process of leaving us.

Yes, we have lost so much status, so many committee positions on world bodies, the worship of science and much admiration, that we are no longer the rock the EU rested on, no longer the centerpiece of the grand alliance of the North Atlantic that kept a mischievous Russia in line and China wary. We have retreated from the welcoming nation that attracted every manner of human from the forlorn and bedraggled to the finest of inquiring minds looking for opportunity or the best graduate education. Everywhere, we now see cartoons that portray the US as a snarling plunderer, or a figure of zany mockery, or a malevolence that abuses its own people. These pictures that other nations paint of our United States of America are not entirely true; they are caricatures of a transforming country that exaggerate the grotesqueness of the transition but do capture the disappearance of what was an idol to many who live in uncharitably governed countries.

EU leadership is coalescing in bold fashion, strengthening and moving to the front position that the US once held. This is a good thing. And that Europe is shouldering more of the hardware and financial load in the wake of US dominance is also a good thing. EU leadership in supporting Ukraine against Russia may well demonstrate that Ukraine can indeed defeat Russia in the long run. Should Ukraine emerge intact, and enter into EU membership, it will not be due to the vision the United States will have shown in the months to come. The US has chosen to sell weaponry than grant it, adopting a tawdry mercantilist posture when Europe will have stood together and suited triumphal actions to Ukraine’s time of need.

But what we risk losing is the most valuable, the most cherished of the virtues the ancients forged in the search for enlightenment, which were seized on by the American founders. These are ideals that are not fully captured in academic terminology of systems such as ‘republic’ or ‘democracy’, but live in the spirit world. I have known the essence of what I wanted to say about America’s inner strength, but finding the words to describe it is a challenge. Our nation has shown throughout periods of economic, social and international turmoil an ability to respond. Jim Crow yielded eventually, although the fight goes on, to society’s better angels. A massive rebirth of industrial might launched the US to unseen levels of military production and victory at the outset of WWII. Medical science fathered Herculean efforts to combat polio, smallpox, measles, diphtheria, pertussis and other diseases that were largely eradicated, although governmental laxity has recently introduced perilous recurrences. Covid and MNRA vaccines were nothing short of miraculous, and now there are official doubters, backsliders tinkering with the health of the American people. An internal American vigor, the quintessence needed to concoct from sheer intellectual energy strategic keys to open new doors and solutions was a quality that was always there in America. It would be found just when it was needed, powerful and determined enough to overcome recalcitrance and inertia. Religion was capable of marshaling potency but dogma and doctrine could also stand in the way; we would strive relentlessly to foster the one and keep the other in safe harbor. There was something metaphysical in the waters of America. Perhaps it derived from the audacious concept of government by, for and of the people, or that a new nation could offer “Americanization” to anyone who came here willing to join in a revolutionary concept that overarched conventionally limiting notions of ethnicity and heritage. That heterogenous mix of new approaches to old problems that saddle the human condition seemed to create a limitless source of American originality. Over the centuries we became a talent known for spontaneity, imagination; a caring for one another that was freshly committed to our fellows’ well being.

We have in this magical swirl of originality and authenticity something uniquely American. It has been and is our footprint on the world. We are a conceptual abstraction, and it is this almost ineffable national attribute that we must not lose, must not allow to wither and thus fail our progeny. Trump must be stopped, held in disrepute and apart from our better America, while the rebuilding of the institutions he has savaged and the confidences he has undermined, begins.

Bill Piekney served 4 years in the US Navy, 30 years with the CIA retiring as a Senior Operations Executive, and 5 years as a Senior Consultant at ODNI, International Consultant in Intelligence and National Security. He is a member of The Steady State.

Founded in 2016, The Steady State is a nonprofit 501(c)(4) organization of more than 390 former senior national security professionals. Our membership includes former officials from the CIA, FBI, Department of State, Department of Defense, and Department of Homeland Security. Drawing on deep expertise across national security disciplines, including intelligence, diplomacy, military affairs, and law, we advocate for constitutional democracy, the rule of law, and the preservation of America’s national security institutions.