At face value, the White House released an impressive list this morning of those who’ll receive the nation’s highest civilian honor. But stepping back, the list has an even larger significance.
NBC News reported on today’s announcement:
President Joe Biden will award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to 17 people, including former Rep. Gabby Giffords, Olympic gymnast Simone Biles and U.S. soccer player Megan Rapinoe, the White House announced Friday.... Biden will also awards medals to actor Denzel Washington; Khizr Khan, the father of a fallen Muslim U.S. Army captain; and Sandra Lindsay, a New York nurse who was among the first in the country to receive the Covid vaccine.
The full list is available on the White House’s site, and it’s a diverse group. There are Democrats (Giffords) and Republicans (the late Sen. John McCain). There are civil rights pioneers (Fred Gray, Diane Nash, and Raúl Yzaguirre) and tech pioneers (Apple’s Steve Jobs). There are educators (Dr. Julieta García), faith leaders (Sister Simone Campbell and Father Alexander Karloutsos), and military leaders (Brigadier General Wilma Vaughtis). There are even athletes (Biles and Rapinoe) and entertainers (Denzel Washington).
It is a group of American trailblazers who’ve made great contributions.
It’s also a welcome break with the recent past.
I always found it deeply annoying that Donald Trump tarnished the honor. In 2018, after the Republican awarded the Medal of Freedom to the wife of an allied megadonor, a Washington Post analysis highlighted “a growing pattern: one of Trump awarding a large majority of such medals ... to supporters, to Republicans, and to recipients who fit his political agenda.”
As regular readers may recall, that pattern became even more painfully obvious as the then-president’s term neared its end. Trump’s list ended up including:
- Antonin Scalia, the late conservative Supreme Court justice
- Miriam Adelson, the wife a Republican megadonor
- Orrin Hatch, the late Republican senator
- Roger Staubach, an athlete and longtime conservative Republican
- Arthur Laffer, a derided Republican economist
- Edwin Meese, a highly controversial former Republican attorney general
- Mariano Rivera, an athlete and Trump supporter
- Roger Penske, a businessman and Republican donor
- Rush Limbaugh, the late far-right media personality
- Jim Ryun, a former Republican congressman
- Lou Holtz, a former coach and longtime Republican who was chosen for the honor after attacking Biden’s faith at the Republican National Convention
- Dan Gable, an Olympic gold medalist who campaigned with Trump in Iowa
- Jim Jordan, a Republican congressman who did Trump’s bidding
- Devin Nunes, another Republican congressman who did Trump’s bidding
Before Trump, the honor traditionally wasn’t especially politicized, and presidents didn’t treat the medal as a reward for political allies.
But for Trump, the medal became a party favor for those who advanced his interests. The more Biden can make the Medal of Freedom great again, the better.
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