Hot Type: Order of the Day
Heidi Siegmund Cuda looks to General Eisenhower's 1944 'Order of the Day' message to inspire a victory for democratic forces in the most important US election since 1860
“The eyes of the world are upon you.”— General Dwight D Eisenhower, June 5 1944
Last week, as I reached out to Americans of faith, asking them to take the lead in returning our country to decency by rebuking an amoral man, I reminded them of the words of Abraham Lincoln.
As he spoke of Emancipation 162 years ago, in his annual message to Congress, he said: “We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth.”
“The way is plain,” he said. “Peaceful, generous, just... a way which, if followed, the world will forever applaud.”
Today, I turn to another wartime leader for words of wisdom and inspiration —General Dwight D Eisenhower, who encouraged Allied soldiers in World War II taking part in the D-day Invasion with a short message he had written: ‘Order of the Day’. The message was printed and provided to each soldier to take with him.
Originally from Abilene, Kansas, General Eisenhower had been appointed by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to lead the D-Day mission.
By May 1944, Allied troops — American, British, and Canadian — were amassed in southern England. Although the weather was uncertain — a summer storm caused a 24-hour delay — Eisenhower decided before dawn of June 5 to proceed with what was known as Operation Overlord, the codename for the Battle of Normandy launched June 6 1944. His decision to launch the D-Day invasion would help turn the tide of the war, leading to victory in less than a year.
Here is his printed D-Day message to those troops:
Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force!
You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hope and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.
Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely.
But this is the year 1944! Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle, man-to-man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our Home Fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to Victory!
I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full Victory!
Good luck! And let us beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.
Through watery stuff in my eyes, I read those words from Eisenhower, who would become the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961, and I replace German with Russian.
Russians are at war with the West, and many prominent Americans are working with the Russians to defeat democratic governance.
The battlefield has changed, social media is the new weapons delivery system, and politicians such as Hillary Clinton were among the first to be ‘virtually assassinated’ in this new theater of war.
Today, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency released the following statement:
“The IC assesses that Russian influence actors manufactured a recent video that falsely depicted individuals claiming to be from Haiti and voting illegally in multiple counties in Georgia. This judgment is based on information available to the IC and prior activities of other Russian influence actors, including videos and other disinformation activities. The Georgia Secretary of State has already refuted the video’s claims as false.
“Russian influence actors also manufactured a video falsely accusing an individual associated with the Democratic presidential ticket of taking a bribe from a U.S. entertainer.
“This Russian activity is part of Moscow’s broader effort to raise unfounded questions about the integrity of the U.S. election and stoke divisions among Americans, as detailed in prior ODNI election updates. In the lead up to election day and in the weeks and months after, the Intelligence Community expects Russia to create and release additional media content that seeks to undermine trust in the integrity of the election and divide Americans.”
This statement from the US intelligence community comes after a September of one bombshell after another, revealing in granular detail the lengths Russia is going to in order to interfere with our elections and how the Kremlin is using citizens within Western nations to do their propaganda.
Judging by the long lines to vote in the southern states, and encouraging exit polls for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, it appears Americans are waking up to the fact that this could be our last free and fair election if we do not crush Donald Trump electorally, thoroughly, resoundingly.
Our amnesia about the fact that Trump worked for Russia in his first term, and then led a violent insurrection, appears to be wearing off in the final hours before Tuesday’s election.
Holding Nazi-style rallies, denigrating immigrants, and fire-bombing mail boxes is not the work of winners. That’s what losers and fascists do.
As DeCoding Trolls’ Stephen Douglas wrote today in his post, Donald’s Mass Illusion:
We’re focussed on the shadow play not the actual reality: he’s a washed-up actor propped up by stagehands and oligarchs who want our souls (and to enslave our children).
Outside the illusion (created by and communicated through State of the Art Disinfolklore available through every sensory channel on the Interweb and even through the words of people who, until quite recently, were sensible and resistant) Kamala is truly popular.
Voting does matter.
Donald is overly made-up. A sad, scared, demented out of work actor, propped up by similar people afraid of what will happen when they’re in jail.
As I wrote in the recent Hot Type: Musk Unmasked column, Elon Musk is truly scared about going to prison. Clearly, he, like Trump, has been working for foreign interests at the risk of United States’ national security. They expose themselves daily.
Voting does matter.
It is our gift and our blessing.
Men like Eisenhower, and the Allied troops he led, did not risk everything on the beaches of Normandy on that day so that 80 years later we would just hand over our democracy to the next generation of fascists, both foreign and domestic.
His words are prophetic:
“Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely.”
But he reminds us:
“The hope and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you.”
Our first task is to defeat the convicted felon and vote in President Kamala Harris, a skilled prosecutor.
Women voters in a post-Roe world must lead that charge.
As How Fascism Works author Jason Stanley told me:
“We need to reclaim the working class and get women out in front,” he said. “A politically powerful message is the super harsh train that's coming down the tracks towards women's rights.”
Women appear to have received the message.
Like Eisenhower, the decision we make on Tuesday can help turn the tide in this current war. Let’s not forget that 1,043 high-ranking national security officers — including 15 four-star generals, 10 former Cabinet secretaries and 11 service secretaries, as well as leaders who served in Republican administrations — endorsed Kamala Harris for US President.
Our next task will be to identify and prosecute the traitors among us, who are working with the Russian Federation and US oligarchs to try to overthrow democracy from within — that includes members of SCOTUS.
That will make our final task easier — we must defeat the shadow play we have been enduring, returning to a shared reality, so together we can join our European allies to defeat Vladimir Putin — the head of this new fascist hydra.
Whatever that takes.
“I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full Victory!” — Dwight D Eisenhower
Maybe, just maybe, if the Putin allies in the US are flushed out, those in Britain will also be dealt with.