In the last month or so, both President Biden and President-elect Trump have put forth a group of Americans they believe are America’s finest: people we should honor, admire and emulate.
Biden revealed his choices in two White House ceremonies, awarding one group of Americans the Presidential Citizens Medal and another the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Trump put forth his brand of outstanding Americans as nominees to serve in his Cabinet. The differences between the two groups could not be more striking.
In deciding whom to recognize for top presidential honors, Biden turned to leaders in the fields of politics, philanthropy, entertainment, civil rights, environment and the arts.
Among noteworthy politicians, Biden gave medals to Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) for their leadership of the January 6 Special Committee; to former first lady Hillary Clinton, for her service as first lady, senator and secretary of State; and posthumous medals to Democratic senator and Attorney General Bobby Kennedy and Republican Michigan Gov. George Romney.
From the field of entertainment, Biden singled out actors Michael J. Fox and Denzel Washington, U2 frontman Bono and the legendary George Stephens, Jr., who founded the American Film Institute and created the Kennedy Center Honors program. The best in sports was represented by basketball great Magic Johnson and soccer megastar Lionel Messi.
Rounding out Biden’s list are philanthropist David Rubenstein, who’s donated millions to restore the Library of Congress, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial and other Washington landmarks; famed chef Jose Andres, whose World Central Kitchen provides hot meals to victims of natural disasters worldwide; civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer (posthumous), for her role in passage of the Voting Rights Act; and legendary primatologist Jane Goodall, whose work with primates revolutionized our understanding of human evolution.
No doubt about it, these people Joe Biden chose to honor, Democrat and Republican alike, are outstanding individuals. Like them or not, it’s hard to disagree that each of them has made an outstanding contribution to our country. They’re the kind of people we look up to. They’re people we can all be proud of. They’re the best of America.
What a contrast with the pathetic gaggle of Americans put forth by Trump for his Cabinet.
It started with former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) as attorney general who, fortunately for Trump, quickly dropped out and whose already tawdry reputation was further damaged by a House Ethics Committee report citing evidence that Gaetz had paid women, including a 17-year old, for sex or drugs on at least 20 occasions.
Trump’s bottom-of-the-barrel list continues with Pete Hegseth for Defense secretary, who was pushed out as head of two veterans associations amid allegations of serious alcohol abuse and was accused of sexual assault in 2017; former World Wrestling Entertainment CEO Linda McMahon for Education secretary, also named as a defendant in a sexual abuse lawsuit; chief FBI critic Kash Patel to head the FBI; vaccine-denier Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Health and Human Services secretary; and Tulsi Gabbard, who has no intelligence experience, as director of national intelligence. Nobody with a straight face could portray them as the best America has to offer.
In one sense, Biden and Trump were just doing routine jobs in handing out presidential medals and making Cabinet appointments. But, at the same time, they were sending out a powerful message — not just about who they are, but about who we are and what we believe in. Whom are we proud of as Americans? Whom do we hold up as role models for our kids? Biden’s list meets that test. Trump’s does not.
Bill Press is host of “The Bill Press Pod.” He is the author of “From the Left: A Life in the Crossfire.” Follow him on X @BillPressPod and on BlueSky @BillPress.bsky.social.
