There is something inherently out of place having a president who appeals to isolationism while often speaking in fond terms of anti-democratic strongmen representing the United States at the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of D-Day.
Indeed, the current Commander-in-Chief stands in philosophical contradiction to the planners and heroes of that historic day, despite the words he spoke this morning. Actions speak louder than words.
In the opening scenes of Saving Private Ryan, we are shown the American cemetery at Omaha Beach, Colleville-sur-Mer. As this scene unfolds, we see close-ups of many of the crosses and stars of David of the fallen.
One that has stood out for me was that of Mike M. Martinez of California.
The inscription on his burial marker caused me to learn more about him. What I found out was he was just 19 years old when killed in action exactly one month after D-Day. His picture is above.
Mike Martinez was far too young to die. And yet he gave his life in the battle against fascism and the excesses of nationalism. Like many other young men and women in 1944 he gave up all of his tomorrows so that we could live freely today.
Today is the 75th anniversary of D-Day -- the beginning of the liberation of northwestern Europe from fascist oppression. As such, it is worth taking a few moments to consider the measure of sacrifice made on those five beaches as well the airborne troops who jumped just hours before into the dark Norman night.
Why was it that our fathers, our uncles, our cousins and maybe even our older brothers had to sacrifice so much? Why was it that young men had to put their lives on the line for strangers in France and Belgium, people they'd never seen before? Some will tell you that it was to win the war. Well, that’s one partial answer, but it is not the complete answer. It was also to create a better post-war world; one of cooperation and economic stability.
The Normandy invasion was not merely an American or British operation. Instead, it was an Allied operation in full sense of term. In order for it to work, it required the teamwork of Americans, British, Canadians, French and other members of the Allied Expeditionary Forces. And in his invasion-eve statement to “Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen” of that force, Supreme Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower reminded those under his charge that were fighting for the “United Nations.”
The Allied cause was not a nationalistic war, but a war instead against the concept of nationalism. And the nationalism we sought to defeat was fascism, a long discredited idea that is incredibly again rearing its very ugly head across Europe from Moscow to Budapest to Rome to Paris and even into Washington DC.
I have written before about our historical amnesia of nationalism. The Second World War was a struggle against the consequences of unrestrained nationalism. Fascism has its roots in nationalism. It served as the fertile soil for Hitler and Mussolini’s perverse political philosophies to bloom into genocide and wars of conquest. Too many of us seem to have forgotten this fact. Now instead of having a president who is leading the world against toxicity of this movement we now have a president who embraces and welcomes neo-fascist nationalists to the White House. This is not what either the leadership or many of the soldiers, sailors and airmen who were willing to sacrifice their safety on D-Day thought possible 75 years ago. It is also what we as a free people should deem acceptable.
The French writer Albert Camus wrote “`I love my country too much to be a nationalist.” Patriotism is not nationalism. The former is a vigorous, healthy allegiance to one’s country. Nationalism, on the other hand, is the dark step past patriotism. It is identification with one’s country bathed in superiority and putting its interests forward to the harm of other nations. Beyond that, it often means exclusionary policies towards minorities living within one’s country.
Nationalist policies end badly. It results in self-destructing treaties such as Versailles in 1919; it brings about wars for national expansion such as those waged by the Axis powers in the Second World War; and it often result in toxic genocides such as the Holocaust and the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s.
During World War Two President Franklin Roosevelt defined the Allied cause against fascism as that of the United Nations. FDR’s term would then be applied to that great organization formed in the closing days of that conflict. The concept of an alliance of United Nations fighting fascism had its nexus in August 1941 when FDR and Winston Churchill issued The Atlantic Charter declaring, “...of certain common principles in the national policies of their respective countries on which they based their hopes for a better future for the world.”
Every president from FDR through Barack Obama understood the need for international organizations such as the United Nations, The European Union and NATO. These are all organizations based upon good liberal values. What all these presidents did was help establish an international climate of cooperation that successfully muted the pernicious impulse of nationalism.
And now there are leaders of this former great alliance either in power or rising to power whom openly disdain these multi-lateral organizations. Chief among these is President Trump. In the past he has repeatedly questioned our role in NATO and has done much to undermine the European Union. There is concern in some quarters that the president will use his D-Day visit to further undermine international organizations and commitments that have given the world peace and stability since the end of the Second World War.
This is why President Trump's presence at the D-Day Memorial Observations rings hollow. As much as he loves to present the aura of being a strong leader, his behavior is that of both an isolationist and a weak appeaser. While constantly berating longstanding allies he consistently welcomes the company and approval of a new generation of authoritarian figures. It is not a stretch at all to believe that neither FDR nor Churchill would want anything to do with this man if he had lived in their day. If anything, he betrays the cause of these men, the other Allies and those of the several militaries who stood against the fascist menace.
Trump has joined forces with a new generation of European nationalists who are intent on weakening the European Union. To that end, his recent Brexit comments underscored that point. He is far too tolerant of current and would be authoritarians. His speeches almost never praise the concept of democratic government but instead are often self-centered diatribes about himself – the last observation could never be said of a JFK, a Reagan, an Obama – let alone, a Roosevelt or a Churchill.
I'm a 60-year-old man who grew up fully understanding that the veterans of World War II -- many of who were at Normandy -- were not just fighting for the United States, but for a world that was free of fascism. Somehow, many of the descendants of the victors of the Second World War have forgotten that essential fact. Carelessly and recklessly to many of us tacitly embrace the very philosophy that a generation not so far removed gave their lives to defeat.
This unfortunate result has given us of the age of Salvini and Putin. And it also sadly the age of Trump and Farage. This is an era of ascendant nationalism and neo-fascism, movements fueled with support from Putin in Moscow.
But these movements need not succeed. And they will not if we show the determination and courage of Mike Martinez and his generation. It is time to stand firm against philosophies that should have long ago been permanently consigned to the ash heap of history.
Near the end of Saving Private Ryan, we see Tom Hanks's character, Captain Miller, dying on the bridge. Before he closes his eyes for the last time, he reaches out to Private Ryan and says, "James, earn this; earn it." Those are his last words.
But Captain Miller's last request is not just a line given to the retrieved Private Ryan. Instead, it is a metaphor for us. Have we earned what all those who died on D-Day have done for us? Have we as the beneficiaries of those who made the ultimate sacrifice "earned it"?
Well, if we have not done so yet, now is the time for us to earn what they have done for us.
Those who took part in the D-Day invasion did so to make a better world for us. Their mission was to begin the liberation of Western Europe from the scourge of Nazi fascism. That generation risked life and limb and for many, mental tranquility just so that we can live in a world where there is no knock at the door at night, where we can practice our religion freely and where liberal democracy would survive and flourish.
Now, democracy is again under attack and once again, it is under attack from nationalistic strains of fascism. Will we stand up to this pestilence as an earlier generation did? Will we earn what they gave to us? Will we meet our rendezvous with destiny?
In the final analysis, we have no choice in the matter. It is the very least we can do to pay back the debt to Mike Martinez and all the other young allied soldiers, sailors and airmen who paid the ultimate price to give us our freedom. It is our turn to fight for liberal democracy.