Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address, delivered as the Civil War neared its conclusion, set a tone for President-elect Donald Trump to emulate during his second occupancy of the White House, beginning Jan. 20, 2025. The words still resonate: “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”
For starters, Mr. Trump should invite Ketanji Brown Jackson, the United States Supreme Court justice appointed by President Joe Biden, to administer the oath of office. He should award Biden a Presidential Medal of Freedom. He should underscore that he is president of all the people, the young and the old, the rich and the poor, men and women, Republicans, Democrats, independents, supporters and opponents. If we do not all hang together as a nation, we will all hang separately. We sink or swim together.
The American people are tired of words. Actions that deliver on promises are required.
Income and wealth inequality is shocking. Those struggling need a helping hand: a negative income tax or family assistance plan, the brainchild of conservative economist Milton Friedman. Mr. Trump should exempt from punishing tariffs ordinary consumer goods or parts to avoid spiking the cost of living. Billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Warren Buffett, Michael Bloomberg and George Soros pay taxes on a miniscule portion of their income or wealth that are dwarfed by the taxes paid by ordinary workers living paycheck to paycheck. Billionaires can find $2,500-per-hour lawyers to discover loopholes in the vast, inscrutable volumes of the Internal Revenue Code and Regulations to save hundreds of millions if not billions in taxes. Tax complexity has become a euphemism for tax evasion for a price ordinary taxpayers cannot afford. Mr. Trump should bring down the guillotine on crony capitalism in favor of the Thomas Edisons who build a better mousetrap in a free enterprise landscape.
Merit and character should inform Mr. Trump’s appointments. We cannot afford nepotism, conflicts of interest, tribalism, incompetence, partisanship or on-the-job training amid the multiple existential threats confronting the United States. Mr. Trump is constitutionally barred from another term, which leaves him free to do the right thing irrespective of the political fallout.
Mr. Trump’s announcement that he intends to appoint Congresswoman Elise Stefanik to the post of United States ambassador to the United Nations is an encouraging sign. Ms. Stefanik is an electrifying speaker, indefatigable defender of Israel and opponent of Hamas, and master of international relations. Remember how she outsmarted the presidents of Harvard, MIT and the University of Pennsylvania over their complacency with metastasizing antisemitism on campus and forced two of the three to resign. Stefanik-like toughness is just what is needed at the UN, where the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.
But Mr. Trump stumbled badly in appointing Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz attorney general. Mr. Gaetz resigned from the House days later to elude an Ethics Committee investigation into credible allegations of sexual predation, illicit drug use and other serial criminality. The Gaetz fiasco underscores the folly of Senate Republicans in eagerly agreeing to recess appointments by Mr. Trump to circumvent the customary constitutional requirement of Senate confirmation of principal officers of the United States.
Mr. Trump is not a seasoned politician. He commonly needs to be saved from himself. His supporters in Congress and the media should not be starry-eyed about him. Mr. Trump will need them to spotlight and check his missteps, or else his second term will capsize.
Mr. Trump’s immigration policies should be informed by the soaring inscription on the Statue of Liberty: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore.” Appoint to head the Department of Homeland Security a person who is fair and firm and committed to turning square corners, and guided by common-sense priorities in deporting undocumented immigrants.
Let us remember that the atomic bombs that ended World War II without a bloody land invasion of Japan was the handiwork of immigrants: Albert Einstein, Leo Szilard, Enrico Fermi, Eugene Wigner, George Gamow, Felix Bloch, Hans Bethe, Edward Teller, Victor Weisskopf and Niels Bohr.
Mr. Trump should conduct his second term with an eye on history worthy of Mount Rushmore. Do not stoop to pettiness. Do not stoop to vilification or revenge. Stand above partisanship, setting a standard to which the wise and honest may repair. Leave footprints in the sands of time.
Let the soul of the American people, not partisanship, inform your last hurrah.
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