As much as I respect the capabilities of Rex Tillerson, our Secretary of State, Melania and Ivanka Trump are aces in the deck of Trump diplomacy.

Melania, with her regal poise and glamor, is the ace of diamonds, and Ivanka, with her compassion and warmth, is the ace of hearts. They are power cards in the Trump deck, serving to simultaneously soften and strengthen the President, who, with his brash audacity, is the ace of clubs.

These two women are brand ambassadors for the American dream. A first lady who can hold her own, in any of several languages, over dinner with the president of Russia. A first daughter who can champion the power of women’s rights in a meeting of female leaders from all over the world. One a Catholic, one Jewish, both of strong will, individual accomplishment, and possessed of the maternal instincts of a mother bear. One of modest background, daughter of a car dealer in communist Yugoslavia, the other born into wealth and privilege. An incredibly capable pair, with very different skill sets, and from very different backgrounds, who are perhaps the only spoonfuls of sugar that can help the Trump medicine go down.

Regardless of one’s politics, they are to be admired and respected for their grace under pressure, as they seem to perform effortlessly on a stage where every observer is either an admirer or a harsh critic.

It has been said that behind every successful man is a powerful woman. That old saying may need to be changed, as now the powerful women no longer stand behind, but beside.

It changed the world forever

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

“When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation……..”

Our Revolutionary War ended in 1785, and of the total 2.5 million people who lived in the thirteen colonies when the war started, approximately 33,000 had been killed, wounded or imprisoned by the British. (At that same ratio, it would represent over 4 million Americans out of our current population!)

In 1787, upon exiting the Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin was approached by a group of citizens asking what sort of government the delegates had created. His answer was: “A republic, if you can keep it.”

It has been 241 years since we threw off the mantle of political oppression.

May God bless these United States of America.