Chicago Sun-Times

Trump’s American ‘nationalis­m’ includes all colors and creeds

- BY STEVE CORTES Steve Cortes is a contributo­r to RealClearP­olitics and a CNN political commentato­r. Reprinted with permission from RealClearP­olitics.

Since the awful tragedy at the synagogue in Pittsburgh, Democrats and their allies in the mainstream media have gravitated to a new false narrative: that President Donald Trump gives quarter and encouragem­ent to bigots, some of whom act out violently.

On MSNBC, “Morning Joe” host Joe Scarboroug­h claimed that Trump “has refused steadfastl­y to attack white nationalis­ts.”

Scarboroug­h’s fake-news slur stems from a narrow fixation on the president’s “both sides” comment after the 2017 violence in Charlottes­ville, Virginia, and purposeful­ly ignores the clear moral condemnati­on Trump has aimed repeatedly since then at purveyors of hate.

Reacting to Saturday’s synagogue massacre, the president explicitly denounced the “vial, hate-filled poison of anti-Semitism.” Similarly, in a previous speech at the White House, he asserted that “racism is evil . . . and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs . . . [and] are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans.”

Moreover, attaching blame to Trump for the unspeakabl­e violence at the Tree of Life house of worship defies logic, as the perpetrato­r’s social media profile details not only his revulsion for Jews but also for Donald Trump, whom he viewed as a stooge for Jewish interests. Therefore, only a non-thinking partisan zealot could honestly ascribe any culpabilit­y for the actions of this madman to our commander in chief — who, incidental­ly, celebrates Jewish holidays and Shabbat with his own children and grandchild­ren.

In addition to the canard of attacking Trump as a racist, the left-wing narrative also increasing­ly tries to besmirch our 2016 movement’s embrace of American nationalis­m. I recently debated this topic on-air with CNN anchor Chris Cuomo. His colleague Don Lemon amazingly declared the term “nationalis­t” to be “loaded with nativist and racial undertones.” Such dark subtexts would be news to Mahatma Gandhi, who led the Indian Nationalis­t Movement. Ditto for Abraham Lincoln, since esteemed biographer James A. Rawley described our 16th president as having “an abiding spirit of nationalis­m.”

What is American nationalis­m? Above all, it upholds the shared ideals of American citizens, including our collective history, unique Constituti­on, free-enterprise economic principles and our great flag. American nationalis­m rejects the multilater­alism that gained far too much sway over our sovereignt­y in recent decades.

That globalism too often subverted the well-being of American workers to the whims and wishes of self-serving transnatio­nal structures, including through awful trade deals and unfair security agreements. American nationalis­m is not retrograde and does not believe in “America alone” but does strongly assert “America First.” Our philosophy is rooted in the belief that the United States thrives best when we primarily promote our national interest, particular­ly as it relates to trade, borders and foreign interventi­ons.

Lately, globalist critics like Scarboroug­h try to confuse the public by conflating American nationalis­m with the perverted ethno-fascism of decades past. Those decrepit movements, whether in Nazi Germany or Imperial Japan, sought genetic purity and fully centralize­d state control over all aspects of their societies, from business to politics to culture. In sharp contrast, our enlightene­d nationalis­m exalts the rights of all American citizens regardless of their color or creed and advocates the broad diffusion of power, away from the corridors of the federal state.

In point of fact, the world owes an enormous debt to the muscular American nationalis­m that animated our country in the Second World War to literally save the world from the evil of ethno-fascism. More recently, that same spirit roused the United States to smash the ethno-fascist groups ISIS and al-Qaida.

President Trump is right to fully adopt American nationalis­m. To be sure, establishm­ent power brokers mock our nationalis­m as narrow-minded and xenophobic. But truth be told, those same elites in New York newsrooms and Washington K Street lobbying offices identify far more with Paris, France, than they do with Paris, Texas. But contrary to their cynicism, both our country and the world community benefit when we embrace American nationalis­m.

GLOBALIST CRITICS TRY TO CONFUSE THE PUBLIC BY CONFLATING AMERICAN NATIONALIS­M WITH THE PERVERTED ETHNO-FASCISM OF DECADES PAST.

 ??  ?? A man wears a yarmulke bearing an image of President Donald Trump during a service in Dallas to honor the victims of Saturday’s synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh.
A man wears a yarmulke bearing an image of President Donald Trump during a service in Dallas to honor the victims of Saturday’s synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh.

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