Commentary by Stephen Macaulay
No one who is an American, I think, doesn’t want America to be great. There may be some question about the “Again” part.
But the inspirational, exceptional, excellent — who could quibble? But getting there takes more than just adding the word, “again.”
One of the things that is being great — at a personal or a national level — is doing something extraordinary.
Let’s say that you become a great guitar player. It will be known that you are great because you are adding something to the history of guitar playing such that it is something that stands out in a way that is admirable.
From the point of view of a country, it is doing something that the populus can be proud of. This could be by creating systems that take care of the better part of the citizenry when it comes to health care and education.
Or it could be doing something that people are proud of, as in “We did that.”
Take the Hoover Dam, for example.
I don’t think you can see it and not feel impressed by the feat of engineering that went into it.
The dam was built during the Great Depression. The president at the time was Herbert Hoover.
He didn’t name it after himself like someone we are all familiar with probably would.
Rather, Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated it to Hoover.
Roosevelt was a Democrat. Hoover was a Republican.
Roosevelt didn’t spend time belittling and denigrating Hoover.
Imagine that.
On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy made a speech to Congress that started the efforts to land a man on the Moon.
On September 12, 1962, he made the speech at Rice University and said the words that still ring with greatness:
“We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”
Becoming great isn’t easy. It takes effort, whether it is practicing that guitar or educating and taking care of people or building dams.
Neil Armstrong landed on the Moon July 20, 1969.
When he landed, Richard M. Nixon, a Republican, was president.
When speaking of the achievement Nixon didn’t denigrate Kennedy, a Democrat.
But to bring this to today:
What is the Trump Administration doing to Make America Great Again?
Greatness isn’t achieved by firing thousands of people.
Greatness isn’t achieved by setting the Department of Justice after people you feel slighted you.
Greatness isn’t achieved by creating economic conditions that will put less buying power in people’s pockets.
Greatness isn’t achieved by antagonizing allies and cozying up to enemies.
So where’s the plan?
Where’s the vision?
Where’s something that the American people can be proud of?
This is one of the manifold problems today.
There is no plan.
He doesn’t even talk about building the “big, beautiful Wall” anymore.
Breaking things doesn’t lead to greatness.
Building things does.
Funny thing: when Trump wants to get away from Washington he generally goes to Mar-a-Lago, an estate built by Marjorie Merriweather Post between 1924 and 1927.
You’d think if he was such a great builder he’d be at one of his facilities.
In 2016, when Trump was still running for president, an architect named Doug Staker wrote an opinion piece for the highly respected architecture and design magazine Dezeen.
Staker wrote about what he called “Trumpitecture.”
In part the essay says:
“Trump has built his name on his special combination of blandness and opulence, with complete blindness toward anything that makes architecture with a capital A. Architecture is like a revered founding father. It can rise above its time and leave a lasting legacy. It marks a city for generations, and has the power to affect its environment in positive, memorable ways, to create an identity reflecting the values of those who interact with the environment it shapes.”
In other words, there’s no Greatness there.
If there is a legacy, it is likely to be ruin.
Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings. Read more of his commentaries on our Substack page.