Attention to the Unseen

Jedediah Purdy writes: In his late may commencement address at the Naval Academy, President Trump chose to remind the graduating cadets and their families of a particular aspect of American history. “Our ancestors conquered a continent,” he said. This point is part of a larger attack on “cynics and critics” who “denigrate America’s incredible heritage.” Like many of Trump’s actions as president, the speech was a reminder that his particular brand of nationalism takes a keen interest in the meaning…

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Murtaza Hussain writes: Despite being one of the United States’s founding statesmen and its second president after independence from Britain, John Adams was quite skeptical of democracy. “Democracy never lasts long,” Adams reflected in an 1814 letter. “It soon wastes exhausts and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet, that did not commit suicide.” The United States that existed when Adams wrote the letter was not very worthy of being described as a democracy in any case. Millions of…

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Christian Caryl writes: A few days ago, reporters on Air Force One asked President Trump if he would accept Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. They had good reason to do so. As Trump prepares for his July 16 summit meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, there have been signs that the U.S. president might be considering some sort of grand bargain that might entail recognition of Moscow’s claims. You’d think that the journalists’ question would be an easy one…

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Daniel H Cole and Aurelian Craiutu write: Modern democratic governments are founded on liberal principles meant to create the basis of a fair and just society. Liberalism emerged as a reaction against absolute power, in favour of individual autonomy protected by freedom of conscience and the rule of law. As the political theorist Judith Shklar put it in Political Thought and Political Thinkers (1998): ‘Liberalism’s deepest grounding is … in the conviction of the earliest defenders of toleration, born in…

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Siobhán O’Grady writes: Last year, Andrés Manuel López Obrador published a book that criticized the United States’ influence in Mexico and featured parts of speeches he made on a tour of the United States, where he called for migrant rights. He named it “Oye, Trump,” Spanish for “Listen Up, Trump.” Now he’s going to be Mexico’s next president. The leftist former mayor of Mexico City, who is also known by his initials, AMLO, has repeatedly made clear how he differs…

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Clive Irving writes: Is there a moment when a fanatical leader can be stopped before he takes a nation into the abyss? A moment when those with the moral determination to stop him can act before it is too late? These questions are not academic. Every day Trump stress tests this republic’s defenses against a demagogue. History has such moments. They need to be heeded. In Italy the moment came on Aug. 16, 1924. For more than two months, one…

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Vann R Newkirk II writes: At this rally [in Lafayette Square, Washington DC], the luminaries were there in their full brightness. Lin-Manuel Miranda, America Ferrera, Alicia Keys and other celebrities gave emotional speeches, demanding an end to this administration’s immigration policy, and providing a family-centered view of the ultimate effects of that policy. Of those, the most personal speech came from Orange is The New Black star Diane Guerrero, an American-born daughter of Colombian parents who at 14 was separated…

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