Bob Schwartz

Three weeks ago I published the image above and the post below. It was not meant as a joke.

Joke’s on us. Trump is asking the Treasury to issue a $250 bill with his portrait on it, to celebrate America 250. The law does not allow the portrait of a living person to appear on currency, so Congress is being asked to change the law. (Or alternatively, the Treasury will simply break the law, since the president controls federal law enforcement, so who is going to arrest them?)

The lesson here, one we should have learned, is that Trump is totally predictable. Trump supporters praise Trump’s leadership style, saying it works because he is unpredictable. No. Maybe I got the denomination wrong, but the idea was right. As I said recently about Trump’s war strategies, he is not playing three-dimensional chess, he is playing zero-dimensional chess. You can see his craziness coming from a mile away. The American dilemma is what to do about it.

The U.S. $10,000 bill was discontinued in 1969 and was last printed in 1945.

This may be the year it is printed again. Will Trump order the Treasury to resume printing the $10,000 bill, this time with his portrait instead of Salmon P. Chase? Chase was Abraham Lincoln’s Secretary of the Treasury.

Stranger things have happened and are still happening.

If we have only one lesson about authoritarian government, it’s this: You may believe that you are protected because you are supportive of those in power. Only “wrong thinking” citizens will be subject to exclusion and punishment, which they deserve.

Historically, that is nonsense. A hallmark of authoritarians is that everyone and everything is either useful for their ambition or an obstacle. There is no such thing as loyalty. You may think it is impossible for an authoritarian to turn on you—you, a true believer—but you are deluded. Besides being ambitious and self-interested, authoritarians are whimsical, often to the point of seeming craziness. If they wake up and decide there is something or someone they don’t like, it won’t matter what or who has been on their side before.

This is the heart and soul of democracy. Ideally, though it isn’t always achieved, those in power act without fear or favor. If you think this can be selective, you may not understand. If you think that you are the chosen, while the others who are punished are the justified victims, you are wrong. In an authoritarian regime, the next victim is you.

© 2026 Bob Schwartz

Do we want smarter people or better people? This is in some ways a trick question, because an instant answer is that we want both. But if we can’t have both, at least not at the same time, which do we want first?

Here, smarter people means those who can think things through reasonably. They are knowledgeable and are curious and can find ways to learn what they don’t know and need to know. They are discerning.

Here, better people means those who maintain a balanced view of what is good for themselves and good for others, and are guided by a commitment that however they reach what is good for themselves, out of necessity or desire, the effect on others is at least as important or more important.

When we see people who are not so smart, in positions of power and authority or among our neighbors, we are sure we want smarter people.

When we see people who are not so good, in positions of power and authority or among our neighbors, we are sure we want better people.

Nevertheless, at least until I reach the end of this writing, I am going for better people. We have problems that smart people solve. We have problems that smart people create. But smart, whether from other people or within ourselves, cannot wholly solve the problems of soul, theirs and ours. Good people, better people, can.