“We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies.”

So spoke Abraham Lincoln, in his first inaugural address, to the seceding South. Even in that late moment of national division, a man who would go on to be perhaps the greatest of all presidents sought to bring healing to a broken country.

It is time for President Trump to do the same.

Seeking Healing After Division

The recent “women’s march” in Washington represents the profound fissures running through our republic. Of course, the “march” was a rally, and represented only some women.  Those believing unborn children possess sufficient dignity to merit the right to life — in other words, about half of the women of the country — were excluded publicly and deliberately.

I am not suggesting that the President extend to Gloria Steinem an invitation to the Oval Office. She is so ideologically rigid that finding common ground with her would be a waste of time. Rather, there are many women in the nation who need to hear President Trump talk thoughtfully about his commitment to providing economic opportunity for disadvantaged women and ensuring that their children get a healthy, hope-filled start in life.

Abraham Lincoln sought to bring healing to a broken country. It is time for President Trump to do the same.

If President Trump shows by his demeanor and his tone that he cares about serving not only his supporters but even his most vociferous critics, he might win some good will from his more reasonable critics. 

Additionally, if he meets with leaders willing to work with him on issues of mutual concern — sentencing reform, support for Israel, fighting human trafficking, and rebuilding our inner cities are a few that come to mind — he could help dissipate the genuine fear of many who did not support him. 

When All You Can Do is Pray

At the same time, there are those who use the pretext of political opposition for mere thuggery. These were the people who destroyed storefronts and set fire to the American flag in the streets of American cities the day of the inauguration.

Seeing a flag that represents liberty, justice, hope, and human dignity burned by people so cowardly that they hide behind facemasks is enraging. It reminds me of Margaret Thatcher’s remark that the veneer of civilization is very thin. They are tearing that veneer, and they deserve whatever legal justice affords them.

It was hard not to take their activities personally, as two of the stores they vandalized — the Atrium Café and the 7th Street NW Starbucks — are places I patronized regularly when I worked for over seven years at the Family Research Council, which is only about a block away from each restaurant in downtown D.C. I had many good lunches and coffees with interns, colleagues, and friends at these places and got to know some of their employees on a first-name basis.

The Atrium Café attacked by rioters is owned by Korean immigrants and staffed largely by Latinos.

The Atrium Café is owned by Korean immigrants and staffed largely by Latinos. These are hard-working people who deserve respect and appreciation, not shattered glass and threat-filled screams. The black-clad phonies who decried President Trump’s “fascism” are the moral descendants of Mussolini’s “blackshirts,” the collation of disaffected brutes that helped him retain power in Italy. 

With such persons, outreach by the new President would be pointless. So it is with such ludicrous, self-parodying “celebrities” as Madonna and the sad proponents of radical sexual autonomy (“Abortion on Demand and Without Apology” is their doxology). Such persons need prayer and personal compassion, not political dialog.

Trump’s Opportunity

Yet there are many well-intended Americans troubled by President Trump’s personal history and often inflammatory pronouncements. They might be won over, or at least disabused of their wariness. 

There are many well-intended Americans troubled by President Trump’s personal history and often inflammatory pronouncements. They are looking to be disabused of their wariness. 

To this end, the President has a tremendous opportunity. He can assure them that he and they must not be enemies, but friends. He can speak to their hopes and dreams, hopes and dreams common to all Americans, as he did eloquently in his inaugural address when he said, “Whether a child is born in the urban sprawl of Detroit or the windswept plains of Nebraska, they look up at the same night sky, they fill their hearts with the same dreams and they are infused with the breath of life by the same almighty creator.”

All decent Americans — and that number vastly exceeds the small number of pathetic criminals who immolated the flag and destroyed property — can identify with these things.  President Trump must seize the opening days of his term in office to identify himself with these ideals and the people who share them.

As Mr. Lincoln said so long ago, “Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”