Excitable Robert Kagan thinks he’s on to something
We are all ‘the Squad’ now
President Trump has forced us all to take a position on what kind of America this is going to be — in essence, to define again what American “nationalism†means. Is it a white Christian nationalism (or if you’re Jewish and think you can wriggle yourself inside the Trumpian nationalist tent, you can call it Judeo-Christian), in which immigrants of color or other religions are not really Americans and can be told by the president to “go back†to their ancestral lands? Or is it the universalist nationalism of the Declaration of Independence, based on the liberal Enlightenment principles of equality before the law, the inviolable rights of the individual against the state and the conviction that all citizens — regardless of religion, ethnicity or ancestral roots and the timing of their arrival — are equally American?
This is hardly the first time that Americans have been presented with this question, needless to say, and they have often answered equivocally. The popular willingness to denounce and even persecute the “hyphenated†Americans of German and Irish descent during and after World War I, a frenzy spurred by leaders of both political parties; the imprisonment of U.S. citizens of Japanese descent during World War II, upheld by the Supreme Court; and of course the unending horrific treatment of African Americans — these are more than sad episodes in our history. They are as much a part of who we are as the civil rights movement and other triumphs of individual liberties. White nationalism was never just a fringe phenomenon, and it isn’t today. The South was a bastion of the white-nationalist idea for almost two centuries and with support in the last half of the 20th century from conservative thinkers such as Russell Kirk and William F. Buckley Jr. Today, the American conservative movement proudly nurtures a new nationalism, whose intellectual authors openly call on Americans to reject the universal liberal principles of the Declaration of Independence in favor of a nationhood grounded in religion and culture. It is a growth industry.
Amazing gymnastics, eh? See, this is why Trump is correct. No matter what the subject is, Democrats turn it to raaaaacism.
Yet the fight to define our nationalism has continued ever since. And that is what’s at stake in the current confrontation between the president and “the Squad.â€
As always in such fights, the battle is not being fought on the clear and solid ground we’d all prefer. Trump himself deliberately picked this murky ground. He knows that a great number of Americans in both parties have little sympathy for the Squad, and for all kinds of reasons, ranging from simple racism, Islamophobia and misogyny, to genuine policy disagreements, to unhappiness with the bigotry and insensitivity that members of the Squad have themselves sometimes displayed. Almost everyone has a reason to temper their support. Professional Republicans are silent because they fear their voters; professional Democrats are still angry at the Squad for challenging House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Many are inclined to declare a pox on both their houses — they deserve each other.
Yet, somehow, he says we’re all part of The Squad now.
Unfortunately, we don’t have the luxury of equivocation. Trump has given us a binary choice: Either stand with American principles, which in this case means standing in defense of the Squad, or equivocate, which means standing with Trump and white nationalism. It doesn’t matter how you feel about Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.). The truth is, they have done nothing and said nothing about the United States or about an ally (in this case, Israel) that has not been done or said thousands of times. When politicians were denouncing “hyphenated†Americans during World War I, German and Irish Americans were not only denouncing their government. Some were actively working for the German government, engaging in sabotage and espionage, often supported by funds paid through the German Embassy in Washington. Yet even that did not justify a national assault on “hyphenated†Americans.
See, it’s cool to slur America and Israel because lots of Leftists have done it before! Except, now, these are four elected members of the United States Congress (along with some other comrades) who are blatantly doing it.
Our nation won’t be undermined by anything the Squad has said or done. It will be undermined if we don’t fight back against this assault on our universal principles. Disagree with the Squad, refute them, argue with them, vote against them. But also defend them, as the founders intended. The essence of our nation is at stake.
At stake! Well, yes, from the very Squad in question, with their ultra hardcore beliefs to radically change America
I Went to a Socialism Conference. Here Are 6 Shocking Things I Learned.
What’s clear from my observations at Socialism 2019 is that traditional Marxists have successfully melded their ideology with the identity politics and culture war issues that animate modern liberalism—despite still being quite far from the beliefs of the average citizen.
Jarret Stepman attended the conference in Chicago over the 4th of July weekend, and, wowzer, what he learned. Such as
Most of the conference attendees appeared to be white, but identity politics were a major theme throughout—especially in regard to gender.
I’ll let you read the majority, worth the 5-10 minutes, but, here are the 6 things he learned (below the fold)
- Serious About Socialism – It’s clear, however, that while many socialists insist that their ideas don’t align with or condone authoritarian societies, their actual ideology—certainly that of those speaking at the conference—is in no sense distinct.
- Gender and Identity Politics Are Ascendant – She insisted that the answer to such problems is to “abolish the family.†The way to get to that point, she said, is by “getting rid of capitalism†and reorganizing society around what she called “queer social reproduction.â€
- Open Borders Is Becoming a Litmus Test – no quote needs to be added
- ‘Clickbait’ Communism Is Being Used to Propagandize Young Americans – This is magazines, especially for youth such as Teen Vogue, breezily push things like communism and sex work.
- The Green Movement Is Red – It’s perhaps no surprise that an openly socialist member of Congress is pushing for the Green New Deal—which would essentially turn the U.S. into a command-and-control economy reminiscent of the Soviet Union.
- Socialism Can’t Be Ignored as a Rising Ethos on the Left – What’s clear from my observations at Socialism 2019 is that traditional Marxists have successfully melded their ideology with the identity politics and culture war issues that animate modern liberalism—despite still being quite far from the beliefs of the average citizen.
For the squishy Republicans attacking Trump for attacking these Leftist loons, perhaps they should look in the mirror and wonder why they are still in the “get along go along” mode, which helps them absolutely zero? Mitt Romney is one, and how’d that turn out in 2012? Democrats won’t be nice, and politics is a dirty business. So does Trump.
It’s no accident that the GOP is the party of conservative, Christian Caucasians. You can blame dishonest liberals, “lazy” blacks, “conniving” Jews, “sissy” gays, “ruthless” Muslims and “illegal” Hispanics all you want, but your movement has nurtured its image as a safe harbor for white people.
The Congresswomen in trump’s crosshairs have been no more critical of America than trump. He picked his targets for a reason, and it has little to do with policy differences (which he could have pointed out if that were the case).
Then explain WalkAway (homosexuals), Blexit (blacks), Jexit (Jews), and the fact Hispanics support what Trump is doing.
The Congresswomen in trump’s crosshairs have been no more critical of America than trump.
Lie. Trump hasn’t criticized America. He loves America. Hell’s Harem wants America to be rid of Jews and go Moslem.
You always lie.
That’s what liars do.
Explanation: It’s all made up nonsense.
No, even the Fake News is talking about it as far as the Exits go.
And it’s nice to see the bunny suit trying to whistle past the graveyard that will be the democrat party next year.
It’s still all made up by the right. Your evidence didn’t load on your comment.
It’s no accident that the Democratic Socialist Party is the party of communists and atheists and Mohammadans. You can blame “racist” whites, capitalist businessmen, radical anti Americanism, hate for God and anti Christian hate all you want but your movement nurtured its image as a safe harbor for anti white racists.
The Congresswomen in Trump’s crosshairs have not only been critical of America but if you read what they have been saying have been racist and anti American in every respect. At least one of them is an immigration fraud, tax cheat and bigamist while the rest are just race-baiting thugs of little character and less intellect. They fit snugly in the now obvious camp of the Anti white, anti Christian and anti Americanism spouted by so many DemComs for quite some time.
Trump has busted open the liars on the left for what they are. They used to try and at leat ACT American but now that shill game is off. They are showing the people exactly who they are and destroying their party whilst doing it. I say bully for you. Keep up the good work. We’ll watch you cry Nov. 2020. It will be a joy.
Trump 2020 The anti American liars in DemCom need to go!
The writer is trying to scare the Left into, something. Probably he doesn’t even know. Maybe another attempt to rekindle the good old days of ‘Nam and Watergate.
President Trump has forced us all to take a position on what kind of America this is going to be — in essence, to define again what American “nationalism†means.
Well, the Left has worked diligently to American nationalism. Note his use of scare quotes.
What really scares him, and the bunny suit, is it’s looking more and more like next year will be a rerun of ’72, if not ’84, and there’s a lot of fatalism among the troops.
Well, Donald Trump pushes American nationalism while the Left pushes their One World Socialism all the while hoping that, once the Moslem crazies have done the dirty work, they can be brushed aside.
Remember Iran 40 years ago?
But whether he consciously intended it or not, Trump has now made ‘the Squad’ the face of the Democratic Party. He has held them up for all of America to see for what they are: deranged, America-hating, anti-Semitic, terrorist-coddling, far-left lunatics. They’re polling close to the single digits now, almost as low as CNN’s ratings.
— Oregon Muse
Lolgf.
Francis W. Porretto at Liberty’s Torch wrote something today that we as patriotic Americans need to be aware of.
“Nations that try to commit suicide usually succeed. It’s a testament to the resilience of America that we keep trying and fail.
I could go into great and boring detail about the previous occasions:
Southern secession, the Civil War, and the de facto rewriting of the Constitution;
Woodrow Wilson’s proto-fascist autocracy;
The corruption of the federal government under Warren Harding;
FDR’s “New Deal;â€
The whole of the Carter Administration;
The whole of the Obama Administration;
…but anyone capable of reading a textbook either already knows about those things or doesn’t care enough to be adequately educated. The remarkable thing about those episodes is how little we learned from them.
To be coherent and enduring, a nation-state must possess certain characteristics:
Its government must be generally deemed legitimate (a.k.a. “consent of the governedâ€).
Its borders must be adequately maintained.
It must not permit the formation of exclaves. (like areas adopting Sharia law)
Those requirements ought to “go without saying.†But there’s a factor that’s seldom been mentioned in this connection that’s so shriekingly obvious that it embarrasses me to have to mention it:
It must not tolerate traitors.
It’s been said, and truly, that one traitor inside the gates can and will do more damage than a thousand outside them. The ability of a traitor inside the power structure to wreak havoc is limited only by the latitude others afford him: i.e., the degree to which they tolerate his presence in their ranks.
Today we don’t have a mere lone traitor embedded in the power structure. We have an entire political party whose aim is the destruction of these United States. Regard the Democrat Party’s demonstrated attitude toward the legitimacy of the current federal government, the security of America’s borders, and the tolerance of Islamic and Hispanic exclaves, and tell me how you could reach any other conclusion.
Yet a hefty fraction of the electorate continues to vote for these villains.
Yes, I said it and I meant it: Any officeholder or candidate who affiliates with the Democrat Party is a villain.(That logic applies to quite a lot of Republicans as well, but that’s a tirade for another time.) Regardless of their personal representations, they vote in lockstep. They never deviate from the Democrat position as dictated by the party’s leadership. And the party’s leadership is utterly determined to delegitimize the Trump Administration, to eliminate the nation’s borders, and to tolerate the emergence of zones in which American law is contemptuously ignored.
That a number of Democrats recently “came out of the closet†as America-haters shouldn’t have surprised anyone. Their party has given them a tacit nod for their behavior. This can only have one of two meanings:
Democrat Party leadership has decided that the time has come to vie for permanent and absolute power;
That leadership has become so weak that the party’s lunatics are comfortable in rebellion against it.
Yet at least forty percent of the electorate will vote for Democrats in 2020.”
The Democrat Party ceased being the “loyal opposition” when it promoted Hussein Obama as president. At that point they became the enemy of traditional America and all their anti white propaganda and ranting has only proved that they hate us and America. For some reason they find the fact that America was founded as a white, Christian nation some sort of abomination whereas Japan being Asian is okay and Yemen being Mohammadan is okay and Peru being Hispanic is okay and Somalia being African is okay. It’s only white America that needs “diversity” which translated into English means “making the white people minorities in their own countries”.
Trump 2020 If we don’t stop them now we’ll be in boxcars in a decade!
Socialism??? You mean like public schools and social security ?
Porter are you against those examples of socialism?
Food stamps for poor kids and the elderly ?
That IS socialism
There was free public education in the colonies. Bunny suit in the john still doesn’t know any history.
You mean like public schools and social security ?
Of course, he uses the same tired examples. Idiot, you could privatize Social Security and get twice as much
Food stamps for poor kids and the elderly ?
No, food stamps is to support agribiz. Corporate welfare. Which you’re supposed to hate.
Everybody knows that one. Got anything new?
The “victim card” says deficit
You Porter used to complain nightly about Obama’s deficits
Now not so much
Just like we also had Obama golfing expense reports
But now that we have a white potus with 3x higher golfing expenses, nothing
But definitely like Trump
NOT RACIST
OK, you’re so wound up against the deficit, let’s get rid of all services not in the Constitution.
You casn’t, can you? That’s all that keeps the lefties going. Isn’t it.
But now that we have a white potus with 3x higher golfing expenses, nothing
Prove it, sludge.
It’s still all made up by the right. Your evidence didn’t load on your comment.
Your evidence never loads.
Funny that.