On Jan. 20, in his second inaugural address, President Donald Trump reiterated his determination to “make America great again.” America’s founding affirmation of and the nation’s enduring dedication to unalienable rights – the rights inherent in all human beings – form an inseparable part of America’s greatness. To keep the president’s signature promise, therefore, the Trump administration must give unalienable rights or, as we say today, human rights, their due.
The work of the Commission on Unalienable Rights, which then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo created in 2019, provides the Trump administration and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in particular an excellent opportunity to reaffirm the traditional American understanding of universal rights. Moreover, the commission’s 2020 breakthrough with Indonesia’s Nahdlatul Ulama, the world’s largest independent Muslim organization with a membership of some 100 million, offers a model for orienting U.S. partnerships and friendships around a shared commitment to the basic rights and fundamental freedoms that give expression to the dignity of the individual. Too little known in the West, NU promotes a form of Islam that embraces toleration and abjures the use of religion as a pretext for violence. The organization remains eager to work with the United States in defense of the rights shared by all human beings.
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