Here’s a blog version that keeps the frustration and the perspective of watching America from abroad, while sharpening the argument around the midterms and election trust.
News From Afar
Being on an extended work trip through Latin America and now Europe has given me a somewhat unique perspective on the American presidency and the state of our country.
Sometimes you see home a little more clearly when you’re standing somewhere else.
And right now, from over here, America looks strange.
Americans are dealing with rising prices. Inflation remains stubbornly above the Federal Reserve’s target, with tariffs and the war with Iran among the pressures being felt in the economy. (AP News)
Families notice it at the grocery store. Businesses notice it when they order supplies. Travelers notice it. Everyone notices it.
Meanwhile, the President of the United States seems laser-focused on…other things.
His ballroom.
Renovating Washington.
Putting his name on things.
Gold trim and presidential seals.
And now, apparently, renaming Lake Ontario “Lake America.”
Yes. Really.
President Trump signed an executive order today directing the federal government to call Lake Ontario “Lake America.” Of course, Canada is under absolutely no obligation to call it that. (Reuters)
And neither, frankly, is anyone else in normal conversation.
No one is going to call it that, Donald.
And while we’re talking about executive orders, can we talk about the way Trump signs them? Every signing ceremony ends the same way. He holds up the document with that enormous black-marker signature and displays it to the cameras like a kindergartener who has just finished his latest masterpiece. “Look what I made!” Very nice, Donald. Beautiful use of the Sharpie. We’ll put it right on the refrigerator next to the finger painting and the macaroni picture. The only difference is that when a five-year-old proudly shows you his artwork, it usually hasn’t just changed federal policy.
There is something almost comical about all of this—until you remember that there are some decidedly unfunny things happening at the same time.
The one I am watching most closely is the attack on mail-in voting.
Don’t be fooled into thinking this is simply about mail-in ballots.
It isn’t.
Trump’s executive order would significantly expand federal involvement in determining who receives mail ballots and how states administer them. The Postal Service has now begun implementing new requirements while states are challenging them in court, just weeks before voting begins in the midterm elections. (Reuters)
And remember: Trump himself has voted by mail.
So I don’t believe the real objective is eliminating mail-in voting.
The objective is distrust.
Create doubt about the system.
Tell people repeatedly that elections are insecure.
Tell them voter rolls cannot be trusted.
Tell them mail ballots cannot be trusted.
Tell them election officials cannot be trusted.
Then, if November doesn’t go your way, the groundwork has already been laid.
“The election was stolen.”
We have seen this movie before.
What concerns me now is that this time Trump is not simply a candidate complaining about an election system from the outside. He is the sitting President of the United States, with the machinery of the federal government at his disposal.
That makes this different.
The Constitution gives states—and, in federal elections, Congress—central roles in setting election rules. That is precisely why Trump’s attempts to impose new national voting requirements through executive power have generated such significant constitutional challenges. (The White House)
My greatest concern isn’t merely that Trump will complain that another election was “stolen.”
We’ve already lived through that.
My concern is what happens after he makes that claim.
What happens if the midterms go badly for Republicans?
What happens if control of Congress changes hands?
What happens if the President declares some results illegitimate?
What happens if federal agencies are pressured to intervene?
What happens if we reach a point where Americans aren’t arguing about who won an election, but whether the government will accept the results of one?
That is the line we cannot cross.
And here’s the uncomfortable perspective you get when you spend significant time outside the United States:
People are watching us.
I talk to people in Mexico, Italy and elsewhere in Europe. They read our news. They follow our elections. They ask questions about what is happening in Washington.
And sometimes I don’t have a very good answer.
For most of my life, Americans grew up hearing that the United States was the envy of the world.
The stable democracy.
The economic powerhouse.
The country with institutions strong enough to survive political disagreements.
The place where presidents come and go but the system endures.
We shouldn’t assume that reputation is permanent.
It isn’t.
From afar, some of what is happening in America doesn’t look powerful.
It looks petty.
A president feuding with Canada while renaming a shared Great Lake after America. A $400 million White House ballroom project caught up in litigation over presidential authority. Political fights over whose name gets carved into buildings. (Reuters)
These are the things occupying our national conversation while Americans worry about the cost of living, housing, healthcare, education, infrastructure and their children’s future.
And while the basic machinery of our democracy is being questioned again.
The United States used to be the unquestioned envy of much of the world.
Today?
I’m sorry.
It isn’t.
That doesn’t mean America is finished.
Far from it.
But patriotism isn’t pretending everything your country does is wonderful. Patriotism is caring enough about your country to recognize when it is falling short of what it claims to be.
America has always been an unfinished project.
Every generation inherits it.
Every generation gets a chance to improve it—or damage it.
Right now, we need to decide which generation we are going to be.
Because the world is watching.
And more importantly, our children are watching.
We can do better.
We have to do better.