More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
creation of the first UN position to monitor and publicly report on LGBT rights around the world. Human Rights Watch called it “a historic victory for the human rights of anyone at risk of discrimination and violence because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.” I viewed it as a very small step—one that built on the small steps before
Thanks to the streetlamp, I was able to see his expression as he approached my side of First Avenue. He bore a look I had not seen before. It combined relief, delight, and a deep calm. It was the look of someone being fully himself.
would not become law until it was ratified by at least fifty-five countries that accounted for at least 55 percent of total global emissions. With Trump and other Republican candidates threatening to withdraw from the agreement if elected, we spent most of 2016 engaged in a relentless, full-court press to reach this 55/55 threshold before we left office. We faced steep
The greatest superpower in the history of the world was a lame duck in the face of the systematic bombardment of innocents. And we were about to hand the reins to someone who had nothing but kind words for Putin.
“Propaganda, disinformation, and psychological warfare are not new concepts,” he said. “A new phenomenon, exacerbated by what we are seeing in the Syrian conflict, is the spread of . . .”—and then he suddenly broke into English to use a phrase I had not heard before that moment—“fake news.”
Are you truly incapable of shame?”—applied to Aleppo. But for many, I think, it was the question they longed to scream out loud to the President-elect.
“But he has achieved the impossible: he’s taken my mind off Donald Trump.”
John Prendergast and I have begun a gratitude ritual in which we email each other at night the three aspects of the day for which we are most thankful.
If one lesson in my experience stands out above the others, it is that the people we love are the foundation for all else. I have never found the optimal balance
Under the leadership of Chobani founder Hamdi Ulukaya, Tent’s companies have come to see refugees not as victims who need charity, but as resourceful and driven people who strengthen workforces and communities.
“Are we going to be okay?” We have ample grounds for alarm. The sources of America’s strength—our diversity, our embrace of individual rights and dignity, our commitment to the rule of law, and our leadership in the world—are under
His cruel rhetoric and actions have not only unleashed vitriol toward those he has branded “enemies,” but have also fueled violence by extremists within our own
The decline in respect for objective truth and facts means we lack a stable underpinning on which to base our debates—and, ultimately, our decisions.
Gallup polling across 133 countries shows that approval of US leadership has plummeted since 2016, and that Russian president Putin and Chinese president Xi are now viewed as favorably as (or more favorably than) the American president. In the economic sphere, China’s economy will likely surpass that of the United States in the next ten to fifteen years.
America’s greatest assets remain
our democracy and the citizens who comprise it. The best predictor of whether we will ultimately “be okay” is if citizens who stand to benefit or lose from political decisions choose to organize and vote.
President Trump may have destabilized and weakened our institutions, but thus far his actions have not broken them.
We should deepen our investments in an area where the United States has achieved significant successes at minimal cost: diplomacy. Especially as US influence in the world diminishes, diplomacy will become more—not less—vital.
heard our generals repeatedly plead in the Situation Room for the other facets of American power—reconstruction aid, economic development and investment, diplomatic mediation, economic and other pressures—to be brought to bear because military strikes and even battlefield victories could not achieve US strategic aims.
This imbalance creates a self-fulfilling prophecy: the less we engage in diplomacy, the more chaotic the world becomes, and the harder it is to convince Americans that our international engagements are worth continuing.
The United States is the only nation capable of standing up to foreign aggressors like Russia in Ukraine.
If the United States steps back from leading the world—because of exhaustion, disillusionment, or internal division—American ideals, American prosperity, and American security will suffer.
As the theologian Reinhold Niebuhr once said, “We must always seek the truth in our opponent’s error and the error in our own truth.” This is just as important in our domestic politics as in our foreign dealings.
People who care, act, and refuse to give up may not change the world, but they can change many individual worlds.
Special thanks to President Barack Obama for taking the time to read and
comment on the manuscript, but obviously—well beyond that—for entrusting me with the responsibility of being part of his team. Serving in his administration was the most meaningful professional experience of my life. I am grateful for his leadership—and his friendship.
