Wrestling with our better angels

Independence Day reflections on leadership, vision, and courage

Whenever Donald Trump practices diplomacy, it’s hard not to recall Will Rogers’s description of a fellow strumming on a ukulele – you can’t tell whether he’s playing it or just monkeying around with it.

One day the president seems intent on pushing the world to the brink of nuclear war; the next day he’s trading love notes with North Korea’s Kim Jung-un.

Is Mr. Trump crazy? Or is he crazy like a fox?

Given his demonstrable accomplishments, perhaps Mr. Trump deserves the benefit of the doubt. But even if we concede that the president is getting the job done, what are we to make of a leader whose style grates against our sensitivities and whose behavior regularly defies rational explanation?

History and tradition offer some perspective.

Click here for my Independence Day column.

Image by David Mark from Pixabay