To Bear the Weight of War |
““And he alone, in all the world, must say Yes or No to that awesome, ultimate question, ‘Shall we drop the bomb on a living target?’”— Harry S. Truman “if they don’t [take the deal], the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran”— Donald Trump
““And he alone, in all the world, must say Yes or No to that awesome, ultimate question, ‘Shall we drop the bomb on a living target?’”— Harry S. Truman
“if they don’t [take the deal], the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran”— Donald Trump
There are two ways a leader can speak at the edge of war.
One begins with responsibility.
It does not explain itself away. It does not rush to justify. It does not dissolve consequence into strategy. It simply states, in plain terms, that the decision and its burden belong to the one who made it.
Harry Truman bore the burden of his decision while Donald Trump currently avoids it.
Between these two ways of speaking is not just a difference in tone. It is a difference in moral posture.
Truman binds the decision to the person. Trump separates the decision from its weight.
And what is lost in that separation is not abstract.
It is the patient whose ventilator depends on a grid that may go dark.It is the parent navigating water that no longer runs clean.It is the air........