"An idea unlike any other."

May 28, 2024

On Memorial Day, President Biden hosted a breakfast for military leaders, veterans, and Gold Star family members. The event was closed to the press, so there are no photos or media reports of his remarks. Rather than turn a White House reception honoring fallen soldiers into a public event or campaign opportunity, the President met privately to express gratitude to soldiers and their families.

Later in the day, the President participated in the Wreath-Laying Ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery and then delivered the Memorial Day Address the Memorial Amphitheater.

In his remarks, President Biden said,

America is the only country in the world founded on an idea — an idea that all people are created equal and deserve to be treated equally throughout their lives.

We’ve never fully lived up to that, but we’ve never, ever, ever walked away from it. Every generation, our fallen heroes have brought us closer.

President Biden also issued a statement commemorating Memorial Day, writing (in part):

Since America's founding, our service members have laid down their lives for an idea unlike any other: the idea of the United States.

Today, as generations of heroes lie in eternal peace, we live by the light of liberty they kept burning.

May God bless them, always.

Joe Biden’s presence in the Oval Office elevates us as a nation. We are fortunate to have him as our president during this challenging time in our nation’s history.

Defendant Donald Trump issued his own statement commemorating Memorial Day. Trump posted a statement that began as follows:

Happy Memorial Day to All, including the Human Scum that is working so hard to destroy our Once Great Country, & to the Radical Left, Trump Hating Federal Judge in New York that presided over, get this, TWO separate trials, that awarded a woman, who I never met before (a quick handshake at a celebrity event, 25 years ago, doesn’t count!), 91 MILLION DOLLARS for “DEFAMATION” . . . .

What is notable about Trump's Memorial Day greeting is that it does not mention veterans—living or dead—but is instead devoted entirely to himself. In contrast, President Biden’s message mentions only those veterans who gave their lives for “the idea of America” and does not mention himself.

The same contrast is seen in President Biden’s private meeting with Gold Star families. Trump took a group photo with Gold Star family members at the Coca-Cola 600 while wearing a “MAGA” hat and giving a “thumbs up.” Photo Trump at NASCAR Event.

Trump also used Memorial Day Weekend to announce the creation of “Veterans and Military Families for Trump,” an announcement that included the following statement:

Unlike the weak Joe Biden, President Trump has consistently proven he cares deeply about the unbelievable sacrifices made by our nation’s Veterans and their wonderful families.

In short, Trump's relationship with veterans and Gold Star families is transactional, like everything else in his life: Fallen soldiers and veterans are props for his campaign. They matter only because they are part of a campaign organization supporting Trump.

The saddest part of that transaction is that the veterans’ sacrifices and their families’ grief are being exploited by a man who has called fallen veterans “suckers and losers.”

Rarely has our nation faced such a stark choice. On this Memorial Day, that choice is viewed through the lens of the sacrifice of more than a million Americans who died defending the “idea of America.” As President Biden said in his remarks today, we have “never fully lived up to the promise” of that idea. We cannot allow our past failures and present challenges to discourage us.

The question of whether a million Americans died in vain is for us to answer. They kept their oath; we must finish the story of their sacrifice. In 2024, we must honor America’s fallen veterans by ensuring that their sacrifice was not in vain by defending the democracy for which they gave their lives.

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Opportunities for Reader Engagement

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Founding Member Monthly Zoom

Reminder: There is a Founding Members monthly Zoom call on Wednesday, May 29, at 5:00 pm Pacific / 8:00 pm Eastern. The Zoom link was sent last week. Hope to see you there!

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Join Galvanize Action on Thursday, May 30 at 10:00 am Pacific /1:00 pm Eastern

Galvanize Action focuses on moving moderate white women in battleground states by focusing on issues that are most important to them (based on research): the economy, abortion/culture wars, and democracy/state of our nation. Their tactics are rigorously researched and tested. Galvanize Action has been featured several times by Focus for Democracy, which rigorously evaluates and selects a few groups who they determine are the best investment for democracy. 

Galvanize Action is also a top recommendation of David Callahan's  Blue Tent. This endorsement is another validation of Galvanize Action's importance in the 2024 election.

On Thursday, May 30 at 10 am PDT/1 pm EDT Executive Director Jackie Payne and Chief Strategy Officer Kristin Wheeler will provide a behind-the-scenes look at their analysis of their latest research + how they will use these findings to develop a strategy to maximize impact. Please register for this webinar here.

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Concluding Thoughts

During our visit to Washington, D.C., over Memorial Day weekend, my wife and I toured the National Museum of African American History and Culture. The museum is astonishing in its breadth and depth. It is also equal parts moving, painful, and joyful.

Of the many exhibits we viewed, one stood out to me. In a section titled, The Paradox of Liberty, a display exhibited artifacts recovered from beneath the slave quarters at Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s estate in Virginia. The text on the display stated

Recent excavations in the slave quarters at Monticello reveal aspects of daily life among the enslaved. . . . Though enslaved people were forbidden to read or write, lead pencils and slates were found beneath their homes.

Though forbidden to read or write, the men and women enslaved under Jefferson taught themselves to read and write in secret. (This is my surmise, based on the fact that the pencils and slates were found beneath the slave quarters.)

It is both a poignant and powerful statement about their lives that men and women in bondage craved learning, education, and information. Despite their bleak circumstances, they understood that information is power—and a possible path to freedom and salvation.

This week, Donald Trump's case will be sent to the jury. Trump is accused of denying the American people information about his past. He did so by falsifying information in the records of the Trump Organization.

From enslaved people learning to read and write their way to freedom in their cramped quarters at night to Donald Trump falsifying records to steal his way into the highest office in the land, information is power. Denying access to information, concealing information, and distorting information are tools of oppression and tyranny.

Trump's trial tests the question of whether it is a crime in a democracy for a presidential candidate to conceal the truth from the American people. The question answers itself.

Talk to you tomorrow!