"We are American's......our forefathers have been kicked out of every decent country in the world......We are the wretched refuse." Few historic statements have been more accurate than this movie quote from comedian Bill Murray.

The US is an immigrant nation, made up of those thrown out or who ran away from inhospitable home countries for a chance at a better life. It is a well traveled path that has seen every level and condition of arrival on American shores followed by crash and burns in the chase for that prized future that are heartbreaking. Yet by far the vast majority of immigrant tales are stories of success and happiness.

Part of the successful immigrant experience has been not to forget where we came from. Dissident Protestants fleeing Europe in the 18th century, Jews fleeing Hitler, and later Cubans, Poles, and Vietnamese fleeing communism, brought with them an understanding of the atrocities of dictatorships and a willingness to return as a nation, as Americans, to support those still abroad who seek freedom.

The United States is not perfect by any means, and we have our history of mistakes, but since our founding, with few exceptions, we as a people have intuitively understood that when we can, even at the cost of American blood and treasure, it is our calling, our destiny as a nation, to protect the weak, afflict the evil, and promote freedom abroad.

Before I am accused of some colonialist or neo-conservative rant let me make clear in afflicting the evil I am not calling for bombing those we simply hold in contempt and who pose no direct threat to the US.

Yet, if by "afflict" we are a plague on tyrants and oppressive governments, well, then that is perfectly consistent with what I think both our forefathers were comfortable with as well as what most Americans today accept as a given in our foreign affairs. I have no doubt American's by a large majority believe the United States should be a moral force for freedom and democracy in the world.

I can think of no greater sin in American history, whether a President Clinton who did not move to stop genocide in Africa or a sheriff's deputy who did not enter a school to stop a gunman than a failure to act in defense of the defenseless.

Last week President Trump, in good faith, met with the murderer and tyrant Kim. I do not have the ego to find reason to object to the summit nor predict what will come of it. But I do know President Trump with far too much ease and little thought emboldened tyrants and disheartened the weak that live under tyranny in blowing by Kim's atrocities not just for the sake of diplomatic maneuvering, but in a serious effort to downplay Kim's evils. Trump has sidelined, if not outright dismissed human rights concerns with Putin on Crimea and Ukraine, Xi in all of China, and even with a tin pot dictator like Duterte in the Philippines. I know not his motivation, but it is obvious that President Trump does not understand or give currency to value of Human Rights.

I think Trump is a marvelous economic President. He has appointed judges and rolled away regulations to warm my conservative heart. Yet, it is troubling to keep seeing his failure to grasp what American's understand as the greatest truth of all about Human Rights. Nations that respect Human Rights don't kill Americans, don't kill our friends, and tend to be good and decent partners in the world.

Trump, a good politician by any fair accounting and has shown an ability to pivot when in his interest. Hopefully Trump will see that while Americans aren't all in with Seal Team Six missions to knock off repressive leaders, our President covering for a tyrant like Kim is neither appreciated nor required.