Mornings and Nights in America

On Trump and Trumpism; Tom Hanks, canceled; the ‘Department of War’; and more

A slice of Manhattan in the evening, September 7, 2025 (Jay Nordlinger)

Readers will forgive a little repetition. (Years ago, I was in the Senate gallery, and I saw George Mitchell snap at Arlen Specter: “You already said that!” Specter replied, coolly, “Sometimes there’s a little repetition in this body.”)

In my column on Friday, I reproduced a message from the White House. Here it is:

This can be thought of as a test for America: What do you think of what the president and his aides have done here? Do you like it? Do you think our president and his people should behave this way? Is this who we are, or should be?

Lincoln called America “the last best hope of earth.” For generations, millions around the world have looked at us as a model, and a source of inspiration.

Think of that.

Here is another presidential message:

Again, this can serve as a test for America. Do you like it? Approve it? Chuckle over it? Thrill to it? Is this what our country should be? Roughly half the country says yes—“Hell, yes!”—and the other the opposite.

Divided we are.

***

I found this very hard to swallow: “Dozens of Russian dissidents have been expelled from the US and forcibly returned to Russia with the co-operation of immigration authorities.” That is a subheading from the Times of London, over this article.

A man is quoted as saying, “Part of me hoped that Putin would be arrested when he came to Alaska because he’s a war criminal. And yet Trump welcomed him as if he were a friend.”

Honestly, this makes me ashamed.

***

A theme of many of us in recent months has been, “The United States has opted out of the Free World. Certainly the leadership of it. But how about even recognition of it?”

Another item in the daily crush of news:

***

You’ve heard of a good-news, bad-news joke? Well, I have one. Take a look at this, then I’ll tell my “joke”:

The good news is, this is a Republican senator. The bad news is—he’s not running for reelection, of course (which is probably why he feels free to talk this way).

***

Here is a bulletin from my friends at the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation—a kind of SOS:

Jimmy Lai’s international legal team filed an urgent appeal on behalf of the ailing 77-year-old pro-democracy champion to United Nations experts based on data that indicates a significant number of older and diabetic prisoners have died in Hong Kong prisons over the last decade due to medical neglect.

(For that bulletin in its entirety, go here.)

This political prisoner, Jimmy Lai, is a hero of our time. To become better acquainted with him, try this piece of mine, “The Struggle of Jimmy Lai.”

***

A headline from the Washington Post: “West Point alumni group cancels award ceremony for Tom Hanks.” What’s that all about?

The article says,

Hanks, 69, was to receive the prestigious Sylvanus Thayer Award, which recognizes an “outstanding citizen” who did not attend West Point and has a distinguished record of service that exemplifies the academy’s ideals: “Duty, Honor, Country.” A ceremony and parade were scheduled for Sept. 25.

Why did the West Point alums want to award Hanks in the first place?

The alumni group cited his work acting in several movies portraying U.S. service members, including “Saving Private Ryan,” “Forrest Gump” and “Greyhound.” It also credited his producing of “Band of Brothers” and “The Pacific,” both World War II-themed miniseries, and his extensive advocacy for veterans.

There’s a lot more:

Hanks, the announcement noted, was a leading proponent for creation of the World War II Memorial in D.C.; supported efforts to build a national memorial for President Dwight D. Eisenhower, a celebrated Army general before entering politics; and served as national chairman for a massive fundraising campaign to establish what is now the National WWII Museum in New Orleans.

There is more yet. To read the alumni association’s announcement, published in June, go here.

But the ceremony and the parade have been called off. Why? “Trump-era politics,” says the Post’s report. Hanks is a Democrat. Trump is not.

Therefore ...

Hanks worked extensively with Senator Bob Dole, on matters involving the military and its veterans. Dole was a Republican, you’ll recall: the party’s vice-presidential nominee in 1976 and its presidential nominee 20 years later.

Autres temps, autres mœurs ...

***

Here is a photo of Tom Hanks with our brass taken in Normandy on the 80th anniversary of D-Day, June 6, 2024:

(The photo was snapped by Benjamin Applebaum for the Department of Defense.)

***

Although there is the trifling matter of congressional authority, Trump has decided to call the Department of Defense the “Department of War” (as of old). The DoD is no longer the DoD but the “DoW.” (Reminds me of the stock market.)

Said our president, “We won the First World War. We won the Second World War. We won everything before that and in between. And then we decided to go woke and we changed the name to ‘Department of Defense.’”

I think of Harry Truman—“woke.” Dwight D. Eisenhower, for God’s sake: “woke.” George C. Marshall, Cap Weinberger, Donald Rumsfeld—“woke.”

So help me, our country is cracked.

To my sense, states such as Russia make war. (You can ask the Ukrainians.) States such as ours defend themselves.

***

Something softer: “Young man and the sea: Teen fishing off New England coast catches huge halibut bigger than him.” That is a smile-making story from the Associated Press.

But the last word of the headline is wrong—should be “he.” “Bigger than he.” (Think of “bigger than he is.”)

***

I had a rough weekend in sports—with losses by my football teams (college and pro). I would like to ask the more senior people among us: Does there come a time when sports outcomes cease to affect us? Because I am nowhere near there.

(When I posed this question on social media, most people said, “No. There does not come such a time.” But there was testimony to the contrary, too.)

***

Like you, possibly, I grew up seeing this, in Charles M. Schulz’s Peanuts:

I thought of her—thought of Lucy—when I spotted this fellow, in Washington Square Park (New York):

His price is 25 cents. Higher than Lucy’s, but still a helluva bargain. (Next time I see him, I should try him out.)

Thanks for joining me today, everybody. If you can subscribe (free or paid), that would be lovely. Speaking of lovely, I snapped this yesterday, at about 7 p.m.:

It was a soft night in New York. Do you know the song “A Soft Day,” by Stanford? (Charles Villiers Stanford.) Marvelous song—thoroughly English—setting a poem by Winifred M. Letts (who was English-born but spent most of her life in Ireland): “A soft day, thank God!”

To hear Kathleen Ferrier sing this song, immortally, go here.

See you.