Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair

“Man is what he eats,” (“Der Mensch ist was er isst“) is a well-known pun in German on ist (to be) and isst (to eat) from the 19th century German philosopher Ludwig Feuerbach. More than a pun in German, it is an excellent short summary of Feuerbach’s material criticism of Christianity. Today’s front-page radar on President Trump’s on-and-off global tariff impositions is decidedly materialistic. Over 70 leaders from around the world are vying to come to Washington to see how they can get their country’s tariffs lowered. Materialism reigns; the world is playing Trump’s transactional game.

But what about Trump’s disrespect for human rights, the rule of law and separation of powers as well as his gutting foreign assistance? Beyond the kerfuffle about tariffs and trade balances, will any of the state leaders negotiating with Washington speak truth to power and admonish Trump’s autocratic rejection of liberal values? (Negotiating with China’s Xi Jinping is a similar experience. How many leaders mention human rights when negotiating business deals in Beijing?)

As an example: What could Switzerland do when negotiating with Trump? The Swiss are always defending the importance of the rule of law and consider Geneva the world’s center of human rights. But they have said very little when their Sister Republic welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House, Netanyahu who is under an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court.

Furthermore, what about the Swiss defending........

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