Drowning in The Irony: The President Squats Below Abraham Lincoln

President Trump held a televised town hall meeting on the Fox network while sitting in front of the Lincoln Memorial, with the iconic statue of the president as a backdrop. The choice of this particular venue, at a time when the critically divided nation is engaged in a massive, the crisis could not have been more fraught with meaning.

“A house divided against itself cannot stand”

Those words, proclaimed by Abraham Lincoln on June 5, 1858 in an address during his unsuccessful run for the U.S. Senate against Stephen A. Douglas, were intentionally reminiscent of a quote from Matthew 12:25 in the King James version of the Bible:

“And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand.”

It was an effort by a thoughtful leader to provide a higher calling, a nod to the oft-referenced better angels. Later, the President who so dearly wanted nothing more than to see his fractured country come together would preside over a tragic war that tore that nation apart, before finally unifying it once again 155 years ago on April 9, 1865. Just prior to the end to that war, in his second inaugural address, Lincoln again looked out and called for the coming together of the United States of America:

“…With malice toward none; with charity for all… let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds…”

There is any number of challenges presented to those few who lead America, some subtle and invisible, some in the glare of the planet’s brightest spotlight. These challenges speak to the nation as a whole, calling out to the collective power of the full nation for the authority to lead the country, even the world. Before this President, most of his predecessors understood that solemn responsibility and strived to live up to it by seeking that precious authority.

Former President George W. Bush, having had his own moment of crisis in the 9/11 attacks, knew the present stakes even as President Trump has not appeared to, offering this commentary last week:

"Let us remember how small our differences are in the face of this shared threat. In the final analysis, we are not partisan combatants. We are human beings, equally vulnerable and equally wonderful in the sight of God. We rise or fall together., and we are determined to rise."

In a tweet, President Trump responded to those shared sentiments by criticizing the former president for failing to support him during his impeachment.

The cameras recording President Trump’s town hall must have been positioned near the inscription noting the spot where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on August 28, 1963, addressed the crowds and presented his “I Have a Dream” speech. In that memorable oration, Dr. King pushed the nation toward a spirit of inclusion, a time and place where all of the country’s citizens would be together in equality and purpose. He, like Lincoln, spoke to a divided America; while the division was racial then, and ideological now, the premise transcends the particulars… the United States must be united in order to ultimately succeed. Dr. King understood that the divisions could not sustain, that they needed resolution as he proclaimed “It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment.”

In a tweet and in public, in his own pronouncements and in the ones that he echoes on social media, President Trump stokes the fires of division and confrontation even now, even in these perilous times, urging on protests and provocations. In the interview, one of the hosts — Bret Baier — broached the subject from under Lincoln’s gaze: “Someone from Capitol Hill sent a letter that it’s not the right place, not the right site. But as far as bringing America together, do you think you’re doing that?”

“I think we’re winning, very big, and then we had a horrible thing happen. We’re winning bigger than we’ve ever won before. Right? I think that winning ultimately is going to bring this country together. I’m shocked that during a crisis, it would be so partisan.”

There is no room for unity, no bridge ever offered to cross the divide. Another note from the interview:

“The Democrats, the radical left, whatever you want to … would rather see people … I’m going to be very nice. I’m not going to say die. I’m going to say, would rather see people not get well, because they think I’m going to get - I’m going to get credit…”

Dwarfed by the staged proximity to giants, the only President that we have made one nod to his predecessor:

“They always said, Lincoln, nobody had got treated worse than Lincoln. I believe I am treated worse.”

The juxtaposition of the great statue of Abraham Lincoln, towering above the President slouched below him, was too on point to ignore. The crises facing the country are constantly revealing President Trump as someone incapable of rising to the occasion, clearly exposed as inadequate to the task at hand. With thousands dying by the day, with millions out of work and scrambling to survive, with a world desperate for American leadership, we have a president who has constantly proclaimed that the solutions lie not with the collective power of a great nation, but with “him alone”, who is guided not by a higher power, but by his “own guts” and his “great and unmatched wisdom”. He has actively shunned the authority that he cannot bring himself to court, that he cannot win for himself.

Sadly, such is the leadership behind which America faces its difficult challenges.