Three years ago in June, I drove into Midtown Manhattan, scaled a skyscraper, and was whisked into a corner office to conduct an interview with the highest-profile subject of my career.
There before me, sitting at a desk in the eponymous tower where his unlikely and uniquely American rise from real-estate mogul to TV star to world-historical figure would begin, was former President Donald Trump.
The topic of discussion that day was Trump’s China policy. But I walked away from the interview struck by a deeper and more transcendent insight — an insight that may not be first and foremost in the minds of voters in the 2024 presidential election but perhaps ought to be.
It’s that we live in a dangerous world comprised of myriad enemies who wish to do us grave harm — regimes led by and commanding armies of liars, murderers, thieves, and thugs. Ultimately, one man, our commander-in-chief, stands above all others between America and these malign forces. There is no greater singular deterrent to catastrophe — or invitation to it.
Make the right choice in a commander-in-chief, and he will keep our enemies at bay. Make the wrong choice, and war, chaos, and misery will be our lot.
As critical as are the other matters likely to predominate in the minds of voters — from the economy and immigration to free speech — a president’s greatest responsibility, and the area over which he can exert by far the greatest influence, comes in defending American life and limb from
