Dean Lerner served Iowa as an Assistant Attorney General for sixteen years, Chief Deputy Secretary of State for four years, and about ten years as Deputy Director, then Director of the Department of Inspections & Appeals. He then worked for the CMS Director of the Division of Nursing Homes, and the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Iowa. He is a graduate of Grinnell College and Drake University Law School.

The U.S. must convey a new message to the world: “We’re so very sorry!”

Not a single second passes where unrelenting human suffering shouldn’t evoke Americans’ heartfelt sympathies, accompanied by committed, truthful, responsive action. That, however, appears to no longer be the case in President Donald Trump’s America. Truth, humility, and humanity are in short supply in a dictator’s world.

Whether we’re witnessing Trump’s incoherent blaming of Ukraine for war criminal Putin’s terrorizing murderous assaults and kidnappings, or Trump’s racially based warrantless detentions and deportations, or the deadly devastating consequence of his cuts to USAID, or his endorsement of Gaza starvations, or any of the voluminous other grotesque Trump administration practices and policies, the intentional abandonment of America’s principles is the root cause of our decline. 

For this, and much more, most of the world deserves an apology. Allies have been abandoned, while enemies are being embraced.

Ever since taking office his second term, our convicted felon, twice impeached, sexual predator, habitual liar, gerrymanderer in chief has only reinforced his disregard for the rule of law and the Constitution upon which our country was founded. There are far too many irrefutable examples of Trump’s anti-American conduct to list—but the real crisis, truth be told, lies elsewhere.  

The real crisis is the Republican party sycophants, who are so cowardly and intimidated by Trump’s vengeance that they have sold their souls to their would-be king. Their “One Big Beautiful Bill” stands as a testament to their allegiance to Trump over country. Their wholesale confirmations of unqualified, incompetent cabinet officials demonstrates the same. 

The Office of President of the United States has been co-opted for personal enrichment, vengeance, and ego. The Office of President of the United States granted treasonous January 6 criminals wholesale pardons. These honorable elected officials continue to sit idly by while presidential lawlessness reaches new heights.

Former first lady Barbara Bush sat on the Board of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. One of President Bush’s speeches is quoted in a Mayo exhibit. Regarding our nation, it reads, in part: “America is never wholly herself unless she is engaged in high moral principle.”

It is past time for the U.S. to apologize to the citizens of the world for all of the harms they are now suffering. We are truly sorry, and we will work diligently to Make America Principled Again.