Why won’t there be a country?
The call for Americans to come forward and unselfishly mobilize in the interest of the common good was the hallmark of John F. Kennedy’s new presidency in 1961.
“Ask not, what this country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country,” was a simple request for Americans to look beyond themselves in an ever-complicated world.
Thus came the Peace Corps, which was founded just 40 days after Kennedy’s inaugural address.
So far, 240,000 Americans have served in the Peace Corps. They’ve taken their efforts to 142 countries.
Kennedy had inspired young Americans for decades with his call to service.
Not every president could be so inspirational.
I can think of one president, off the top of my head, who apparently thinks about getting placed on a pedestal – before the common good gets done.
“Don’t ask what you might do for your country,” he might say. “Ask what you can do for me.”
Our most recently non-reelected president, Donald J. Trump, would rather cling to the misguided fairy tale of his spectacular non-reelection than inspire anybody to do anything, except bow in his presence.
Most former presidents avoid such unseemliness. Not our most recent one, though.
He runs from rally to rally, telling his audiences, “If we don’t fight like hell, there won’t be an America anymore.”
Those words, by the way, were used at that Jan. 6 rally that served as the prelude to Mr. Trump’s very own insurrection.
He’s used words similar to those ever since.
He likes to imply how, if things don’t go the way he wants them to go, America will go straight to hell in a hand basket.
“Without borders,” he’ll tell his convulsing rally-goers, “We don’t have a country.”
Oh, yes we will.
If this country could survive a Civil War, a Great Depression, a couple of World Wars, and, an attempt to toss out a free and fair presidential election, I’d say this is a pretty durable country.
Countries don’t generally vaporize based on the aspirations of a childish, belligerent, would-be tyrant.
In April of last year, Trump decided he’d endorse Alabama Congressman Mo Brooks, in his run for the U.S. Senate.
Rep. Brooks had been a strong Trump supporter.
In fact, during the prelude to that Jan. 6 insurrection, it was Brooks who famously said, “Today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass.”
All of that “kicking” didn’t seem to help Brooks stay in Mr. Trump’s good graces.
Brooks hadn’t been able to convince enough people that Joe Biden had stolen the 2020 presidential election from Trump.
(I don’t know what scale of allegiance Brooks failed to live up to in this regard. All I know is that it didn’t quite meet Mr. Trump’s expectations.)
In March of this year, Trump claimed, “I am hereby withdrawing my endorsement of Mo Brooks for the Senate.” Then he got more specific. “Election fraud must be captured and stopped, or (and here he goes) we won’t have a country anymore,” said Trump.
I still don’t know why it’s such a great political strategy to claim that if people don’t follow your dictates, the country will disintegrate.
For some reason, Republicans are way better at doomsday rhetoric than Democrats.
With the upcoming mid-term elections ahead, you can expect to see nonstop Republican TV ads warning us: about the rampant socialism, induced by Democrats, that they’re preventing; the unimpeded lawlessness (but only in cities controlled by Democrats); that migrants from all over the southern hemisphere are about to take everybody’s jobs unless Republicans are elected or reelected; that Democrats are preparing to force-feed the supposed scourge of Critical Race Theory to the nation’s preschoolers if Republicans don’t prevail; and, of course, there’s a plan by Democrats to confiscate every single weapon in America – except peashooters.
America is destined to unravel. And the only hope is a Republican-controlled everything, they’ll say.
That’s not true.
Want proof of that?
The United States of America survived Donald Trump!
Edward A. Owens is a multi-Emmy Award winner, former reporter, and anchor for Entertainment Tonight, and 40-year TV news and newspaper veteran. E-mail him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net.