thebulwark--2020-07-03--The GOP Is Abandoning the American Idea

The GOP Is Abandoning the American Idea

The Republican party was founded in 1854 as an anti-slavery party dedicated to the principles put forward in the Declaration of Independence—particularly the “ self-evident ” truth that “ all men are created equal.
” Donald Trump ’ s Republican party is today abandoning this idea—what we often call the idea of America—for the idea of the Confederacy .
This may appear absurd at first glance .
It ’ s not like the “ stars and bars ” have been flying over 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue .
And it ’ s hard to believe that this president , who seems driven @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , has even the vaguest sense of the history of the Confederacy .
I ’ m not suggesting he does .
Yet if we ’ ve learned anything about his mind over the last four years , it ’ s his penchant for racial and ethnic division .
He seeks to exclude those he doesn ’ t think belong , for racial and ethnic reasons , from the promise of America .
He ’ s even told American citizens of color to go back to their own country—to “ the totally broken and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” It happens they came from America .
When I say that the Republican party is embracing the idea of the Confederacy , I mean that it is embracing what the Confederacy stood for .
If the idea of America was , as the first Republican president Abraham Lincoln put it in his Gettysburg Address , that this is a nation “ dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal , ” the Confederacy was an explicit rejection of that proposition .
Alexander Hamilton Stephens , the vice president of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ clear about this : This has been the central quarrel in American history .
A nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to human equality gave sanction to human bondage in its Constitution and laws .
This tension was played out in Fredrick Douglass ’ s brilliant and searing “ What to the Slave is the Fourth of July ?
” delivered on July 5 , 1852 .
Speaking to a largely white audience , Douglass insisted , “ The Declaration of Independence is the ring-bolt to the chain of your nation ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ contained in that instrument are saving principles .
Stand by those principles , be true to them on all occasions , in all places , against all foes , and at whatever cost.
” But Douglass continued to his fellow citizens : “ The rich inheritance of justice , liberty , prosperity and independence , bequeathed by your fathers , is shared by you , not by me.
” To those enslaved and denied citizenship because they were black , the Fourth of July was “ a day that reveals to him , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ year , the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim.
” Douglass , speaking nine years before the Civil War , was following black Americans forgotten by history , who drew sustenance from the Declaration ’ s principles .
Acting as citizens , a status they were all too often denied by law , they claimed the Declaration ’ s promise of equality , and asked their fellow Americans to recall the language of its creed : “ all men are created equal.
” The 13th , 14th , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sanctified the principles of the Declaration .
Taken together , these “ Civil War amendments ” abolished slavery , made all persons born in the United States citizens regardless of race , commanded the equal protection of the laws , and secured the vote for citizens regardless of race .
The amendments promised a new birth of freedom .
And for a fleeting moment , America experienced this rebirth with black Americans elected to the Senate and House of Representatives .
But this promise was short-lived ; it gave way to racial apartheid @ @ @ @ @ @ @ law .
Black Americans would have to wait another century to be genuinely included within the terms of American democracy , with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 .
Just at the Civil War amendments were in part inspired by the way in which Douglass and Lincoln drew on the principles of the Declaration , the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act were inspired by the civil rights movement as exemplified by Martin Luther King Jr. ’ s continued appeal to the principles of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ live up to its creed .
Those laws were passed over a half-century ago .
The brilliance of the American idea animates Lin-Manuel Miranda ’ s musical Hamilton , which first came to Broadway in 2015 and has premiered as a movie this weekend .
The musical not only teaches Americans about their history , it properly claims that history for immigrants and citizens of color .
Even more brilliantly , it embodies the idea of America by casting George Washington and company with actors of color .
Miranda has Angelica Schuyler , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a line from the Declaration— “ We hold these truths to be self-evident / That all men are created equal.
” She later riffs about getting Thomas Jefferson to “ include women in the sequel.
” It is an imagined America , but one made real by this son of immigrants .
The show became an enduring success , with more than a million sales of its soundtrack and hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren taken to see it for free .
Yet alongside a few such cultural highs , there is the persistent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and brutal murder of George Floyd by officers of the state .
Countless other black Americans brutalized by those who represent the law .
This is the sense in which President Trump has embraced the idea of the Confederacy .
He defends monuments to Confederate “ heroes ” who took up arms against the United States in order to preserve a political order that continued the enslavement of blacks .
Perhaps Robert E. Lee was , as his defenders say , just acting out of loyalty to Virginia .
But in doing so @ @ @ @ @ @ @ defenders of slavery and took up arms against his country .
If it hadn ’ t been for President ’ s Lincoln ’ s leniency in order to “ bind the nations wounds , ” Lee would have been tried for treason .
He was certainly treasonous to the idea of America .
From today ’ s vantage , it is astounding that America in the 1920s—which is when many of these Confederate monuments were erected—wanted to honor these individuals and their acts as part of a vast project of “ redeeming the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ promise of Reconstruction and the idea of equal citizenship for black Americans .
It ’ s appalling that any American would want to honor these acts in 2020 .
At the infamous “ Unite the Right ” rally in Charlottesville in 2017—the original purpose of which , overshadowed by the mayhem and death , was preserving a monument to Lee there—many of those marching chanted “ blood and soil ” and “ you will not replace us.
” Such language is unmistakable .
It is an ethnic nationalist vision of America as a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump has made clear his sympathy for this understanding , presiding over a Republican party that is becoming increasingly—almost exclusively—white and Christian .
Ethnic nationalism is resurgent in swaths of the Republican party and in conservative intellectual circles .
Indeed , as Anne Applebaum has shown in the Atlantic , leading U.S. “ national conservatives ” have expressed admiration for Hungary ’ s prime minister , Viktor Orbán—a man famous for advocating “ illiberal democracy , ” with citizenship defined in ethnic and religious terms .
Taking Orbán as a model sends an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of ethnic nationalism is to betray the American idea .
We can take pride in the idea of America : a racially , religiously , and ethnically diverse republic bound by a set of common ideas is an extraordinary historical achievement .
Yet more than two centuries into the American experiment , we must be humble in recognizing how far we have to go .
The struggle before us , a struggle inextricable from the whole of our history , is to make that idea real—especially when it comes to race .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ most sublime expression of this struggle in “ Let America Be America Again.
” He evokes some of what is best about America : pioneer dreams and liberty “ where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme ” and where “ Equality is in the air we breathe.
” But from the margins , those denied the promise mumble in the dark : “ America never was America to me.
” It is the hard truth of the unrealized idea .
Yet driven by hard truths , the poem ends with a resounding commitment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ yet make our own :

The Republican party was founded in 1854 as an anti-slavery party dedicated to the principles put forward in the Declaration of Independence—particularly the “self-evident” truth that “all men are created equal.” Donald Trump’s Republican party is today abandoning this idea—what we often call the idea of America—for the idea of the Confederacy.
This may appear absurd at first glance. It’s not like the “stars and bars” have been flying over 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. And it’s hard to believe that this president, who seems driven by vanity and impulse rather than ideas, has even the vaguest sense of the history of the Confederacy. I’m not suggesting he does. Yet if we’ve learned anything about his mind over the last four years, it’s his penchant for racial and ethnic division. He seeks to exclude those he doesn’t think belong, for racial and ethnic reasons, from the promise of America. He’s even told American citizens of color to go back to their own country—to “the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.” It happens they came from America.
When I say that the Republican party is embracing the idea of the Confederacy, I mean that it is embracing what the Confederacy stood for. If the idea of America was, as the first Republican president Abraham Lincoln put it in his Gettysburg Address, that this is a nation “dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal,” the Confederacy was an explicit rejection of that proposition. Alexander Hamilton Stephens, the vice president of the Confederate States of America, was exquisitely clear about this:
Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its corner-stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery—subordination to the superior race—is his natural and normal condition.
This has been the central quarrel in American history. A nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to human equality gave sanction to human bondage in its Constitution and laws.
This tension was played out in Fredrick Douglass’s brilliant and searing “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” delivered on July 5, 1852. Speaking to a largely white audience, Douglass insisted, “The Declaration of Independence is the ring-bolt to the chain of your nation’s destiny . . . . The principles contained in that instrument are saving principles. Stand by those principles, be true to them on all occasions, in all places, against all foes, and at whatever cost.”
But Douglass continued to his fellow citizens: “The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me.” To those enslaved and denied citizenship because they were black, the Fourth of July was “a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim.” Douglass, speaking nine years before the Civil War, was following black Americans forgotten by history, who drew sustenance from the Declaration’s principles. Acting as citizens, a status they were all too often denied by law, they claimed the Declaration’s promise of equality, and asked their fellow Americans to recall the language of its creed: “all men are created equal.”
Podcast · August 15 2023 A.B. Stoddard: All the Ex-President’s Conspirators Donald Trump has been a low-rent mobster for his entire career, and now he’s getting…
The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution formally sanctified the principles of the Declaration. Taken together, these “Civil War amendments” abolished slavery, made all persons born in the United States citizens regardless of race, commanded the equal protection of the laws, and secured the vote for citizens regardless of race. The amendments promised a new birth of freedom. And for a fleeting moment, America experienced this rebirth with black Americans elected to the Senate and House of Representatives. But this promise was short-lived; it gave way to racial apartheid wherein white supremacy was written into American law.
Black Americans would have to wait another century to be genuinely included within the terms of American democracy, with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Just at the Civil War amendments were in part inspired by the way in which Douglass and Lincoln drew on the principles of the Declaration, the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act were inspired by the civil rights movement as exemplified by Martin Luther King Jr.’s continued appeal to the principles of the Declaration to spur a nation to live up to its creed.
Those laws were passed over a half-century ago.
The struggle for America persists.
The brilliance of the American idea animates Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical Hamilton, which first came to Broadway in 2015 and has premiered as a movie this weekend. The musical not only teaches Americans about their history, it properly claims that history for immigrants and citizens of color. Even more brilliantly, it embodies the idea of America by casting George Washington and company with actors of color. Miranda has Angelica Schuyler, Alexander Hamilton’s sister-in-law, sing a line from the Declaration—“We hold these truths to be self-evident / That all men are created equal.” She later riffs about getting Thomas Jefferson to “include women in the sequel.” It is an imagined America, but one made real by this son of immigrants. The show became an enduring success, with more than a million sales of its soundtrack and hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren taken to see it for free.
Yet alongside a few such cultural highs, there is the persistent reality of racial inequality. The ugly and brutal murder of George Floyd by officers of the state. Countless other black Americans brutalized by those who represent the law.
This is the sense in which President Trump has embraced the idea of the Confederacy. He defends monuments to Confederate “heroes” who took up arms against the United States in order to preserve a political order that continued the enslavement of blacks. Perhaps Robert E. Lee was, as his defenders say, just acting out of loyalty to Virginia. But in doing so, he cast his lot with the defenders of slavery and took up arms against his country. If it hadn’t been for President’s Lincoln’s leniency in order to “bind the nations wounds,” Lee would have been tried for treason. He was certainly treasonous to the idea of America.
From today’s vantage, it is astounding that America in the 1920s—which is when many of these Confederate monuments were erected—wanted to honor these individuals and their acts as part of a vast project of “redeeming the South.” The effort included smearing the promise of Reconstruction and the idea of equal citizenship for black Americans. It’s appalling that any American would want to honor these acts in 2020.
At the infamous “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville in 2017—the original purpose of which, overshadowed by the mayhem and death, was preserving a monument to Lee there—many of those marching chanted “blood and soil” and “you will not replace us.” Such language is unmistakable. It is an ethnic nationalist vision of America as a white man’s republic.
Yet Trump has made clear his sympathy for this understanding, presiding over a Republican party that is becoming increasingly—almost exclusively—white and Christian. Ethnic nationalism is resurgent in swaths of the Republican party and in conservative intellectual circles. Indeed, as Anne Applebaum has shown in the Atlantic, leading U.S. “national conservatives” have expressed admiration for Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán—a man famous for advocating “illiberal democracy,” with citizenship defined in ethnic and religious terms. Taking Orbán as a model sends an unmistakable message. To endorse this vision of ethnic nationalism is to betray the American idea.
We can take pride in the idea of America: a racially, religiously, and ethnically diverse republic bound by a set of common ideas is an extraordinary historical achievement. Yet more than two centuries into the American experiment, we must be humble in recognizing how far we have to go. The struggle before us, a struggle inextricable from the whole of our history, is to make that idea real—especially when it comes to race.
The poet Langston Hughes has given us the most sublime expression of this struggle in “Let America Be America Again.” He evokes some of what is best about America: pioneer dreams and liberty “where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme” and where “Equality is in the air we breathe.” But from the margins, those denied the promise mumble in the dark: “America never was America to me.” It is the hard truth of the unrealized idea. Yet driven by hard truths, the poem ends with a resounding commitment to the American idea that we can yet make our own:


thebulwark--2020-07-03--Let’s Make July Fourth a True Independence Day

On July 5 , 1852 , the great African-American statesman Frederick Douglass asked a provocative question at a Rochester Independence Day event : “ What , to the slave , is the Fourth of July ?
” His question still resonates and demands that we come to grips with the fact that America ’ s first promise—equality—has not been fully realized .
This is not to say that the Declaration isn ’ t worth celebrating .
It very much is .
“ The signers of the Declaration of Independence were brave men , ” Douglas said .
“ They were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to give frame to a great age .
.
.
.
For the good they did , and the principles they contended for , I will unite with you to honor their memory.
” And Douglass was right .
Until the Declaration , all governments had been structured to discriminate amongst people .
There was no aspiration to do otherwise ; it was just the way the systems were built .
In the Declaration , for the first time in human history , the governing principle declared that we are all equal .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ were largely excluded from the promises of the Declaration .
Slaves and Native Americans ( and no doubt others ) were entirely excluded .
The Declaration was the greatest governing aspiration ever articulated , but it overlooked harsh and barbarous unequal realities .
For example , we all know that Thomas Jefferson , the acclaimed author of the Declaration text , was a slave owner who had a longtime sexual relationship with one of his slaves , Sally Hemings .
Jefferson himself recognized the cruel irony .
“ Indeed , I tremble for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is just , ” he wrote in 1781 , “ that his justice can not sleep forever.
” After Douglass paid the Founding Fathers their respect , though , he turned back to the question of how the slave should consider the Fourth of July : Eleven years later , President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation .
Two years after that , on June 19 , 1865 , Union Army Major General Gordon Granger told a group of enslaved African-Americans in Galveston , Texas , that the Civil War was over .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ slaves hadn ’ t been aware .
Some plantation masters didn ’ t tell their slaves about their liberty until after the harvest work had been done .
Galveston ’ s mayor forced freed people back to work .
Some former slaves , trying to move toward their freedom , were shot .
We honor that moment on Juneteenth as a symbol of Black independence in America .
There are other contenders .
For example , on September 22 , 1862 Lincoln issued his preliminary Emancipation Proclamation Order ; it took effect on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 31 , 1865 , Congress passed the 13th Amendment .
But Juneteenth is unique and confusing and poignant—because the slaves had been freed , yet were still living as captives .
This complexity is what makes the date more meaningful , as the formerly enslaved people transformed June 19 from a day of ignored military orders and bitter malice into a defiant , yet hopeful , rite .
One hundred and fifty-five years after that moment in Galveston , we ’ re still living in confusion and rage amidst ongoing racial injustice .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Color , the great Judge A. Leon Higginbotham Jr. ( with whom I had the privilege of studying and for whom I clerked ) offered profound insight on this most incongruous state of affairs in America .
Was the Declaration of Independence a lie , a failure , a joke ?
Not at all .
Higginbotham believed that principle “ all are created equal ” in the Declaration represented the largest possible promise in our first statement as a nation , the standard to which Americans of all colors could appeal as America @ @ @ @ @ @ @ could hear the Declaration ’ s echo in the Emancipation Proclamation , in the Fourteenth Amendment guaranteeing the equal protection of the laws ( for the newly freed slaves and otherwise ) , in the Twentieth Amendment ’ s guarantee of women ’ s right to vote , and in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 .
And I would suggest that you can hear it in the streets today , as protesters grieve George Floyd and demand accountability once and for all .
Because the Declaration ’ s promise demands us to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ celebrate the Fourth of July this year , the festivities won ’ t look like they have in the past .
Our outdoor grilling will have appropriate spacing between guests , and instead of community gatherings , we might wave at each other from our front porches .
But one thing that hasn ’ t changed is that Douglass ’ s lament will still hang in the air , even after the fireworks have faded .
“ This Fourth of July is yours , not mine , ” Douglass said in Rochester .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ mourn.
” Today we should still ask : “ What , to Black Americans , is the Fourth of July.
” Or , even better , “ What , to all Americans , should the Fourth of July be ?
” This year , let ’ s not gloss over the disconnect between the lived experience of white and black Americans .
Let ’ s acknowledge the path Black Americans have traveled—through Emancipation , Juneteenth , Reconstruction , Jim Crow , the civil rights era , and on to today—to even get where @ @ @ @ @ @ @ okay for our holidays to be complicated .
Memorial Day and Veterans Day , to take just two examples , commingle our celebration of what has been achieved , with our mourning of the sacrifice that work entailed , and the aspiration to earn the freedoms which were secured for us at great cost .
That ’ s a lot of freight .
But the truth is , the holidays mean more when we appreciate their complexity .
Not less .
Similarly , let ’ s change how we take July Fourth to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has been achieved .
But together we should also mourn the costs with Douglass and our Black American brothers and sisters .
And so together we can pledge to work to fulfill the Declaration ’ s promise .

[This article was originally published on July 3, 2020.]
On July 5, 1852, the great African-American statesman Frederick Douglass asked a provocative question at a Rochester Independence Day event: “What, to the slave, is the Fourth of July?”
His question still resonates and demands that we come to grips with the fact that America’s first promise—equality—has not been fully realized.
This is not to say that the Declaration isn’t worth celebrating. It very much is.
“The signers of the Declaration of Independence were brave men,” Douglas said. “They were great men, too, great enough to give frame to a great age. . . . For the good they did, and the principles they contended for, I will unite with you to honor their memory.”
And Douglass was right. Until the Declaration, all governments had been structured to discriminate amongst people. There was no aspiration to do otherwise; it was just the way the systems were built. In the Declaration, for the first time in human history, the governing principle declared that we are all equal.
An amazing development!
In theory.
But in our American reality, women were largely excluded from the promises of the Declaration. Slaves and Native Americans (and no doubt others) were entirely excluded. The Declaration was the greatest governing aspiration ever articulated, but it overlooked harsh and barbarous unequal realities.
Podcast · August 15 2023 A.B. Stoddard: All the Ex-President’s Conspirators Donald Trump has been a low-rent mobster for his entire career, and now he’s getting…
For example, we all know that Thomas Jefferson, the acclaimed author of the Declaration text, was a slave owner who had a longtime sexual relationship with one of his slaves, Sally Hemings. Jefferson himself recognized the cruel irony. “Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just,” he wrote in 1781, “that his justice cannot sleep forever.”
After Douglass paid the Founding Fathers their respect, though, he turned back to the question of how the slave should consider the Fourth of July:
I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity.
Eleven years later, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. Two years after that, on June 19, 1865, Union Army Major General Gordon Granger told a group of enslaved African-Americans in Galveston, Texas, that the Civil War was over. The North had won, but the slaves hadn’t been aware. Some plantation masters didn’t tell their slaves about their liberty until after the harvest work had been done. Galveston’s mayor forced freed people back to work. Some former slaves, trying to move toward their freedom, were shot.
We honor that moment on Juneteenth as a symbol of Black independence in America. There are other contenders. For example, on September 22, 1862 Lincoln issued his preliminary Emancipation Proclamation Order; it took effect on January 1, 1863. On January 31, 1865, Congress passed the 13th Amendment.
But Juneteenth is unique and confusing and poignant—because the slaves had been freed, yet were still living as captives. This complexity is what makes the date more meaningful, as the formerly enslaved people transformed June 19 from a day of ignored military orders and bitter malice into a defiant, yet hopeful, rite.
One hundred and fifty-five years after that moment in Galveston, we’re still living in confusion and rage amidst ongoing racial injustice.
In his book In the Matter of Color, the great Judge A. Leon Higginbotham Jr. (with whom I had the privilege of studying and for whom I clerked) offered profound insight on this most incongruous state of affairs in America. Was the Declaration of Independence a lie, a failure, a joke?
Not at all.
Higginbotham believed that principle “all are created equal” in the Declaration represented the largest possible promise in our first statement as a nation, the standard to which Americans of all colors could appeal as America edged closer to its fulfillment.
You could hear the Declaration’s echo in the Emancipation Proclamation, in the Fourteenth Amendment guaranteeing the equal protection of the laws (for the newly freed slaves and otherwise), in the Twentieth Amendment’s guarantee of women’s right to vote, and in the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
And I would suggest that you can hear it in the streets today, as protesters grieve George Floyd and demand accountability once and for all.
Because the Declaration’s promise demands us to strive to fulfill it.
As Americans celebrate the Fourth of July this year, the festivities won’t look like they have in the past. Our outdoor grilling will have appropriate spacing between guests, and instead of community gatherings, we might wave at each other from our front porches. But one thing that hasn’t changed is that Douglass’s lament will still hang in the air, even after the fireworks have faded.
“This Fourth of July is yours, not mine,” Douglass said in Rochester. “You may rejoice, I must mourn.”
Today we should still ask: “What, to Black Americans, is the Fourth of July.” Or, even better, “What, to all Americans, should the Fourth of July be?”
This year, let’s not gloss over the disconnect between the lived experience of white and black Americans. Let’s acknowledge the path Black Americans have traveled—through Emancipation, Juneteenth, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, the civil rights era, and on to today—to even get where we all are.
It’s okay for our holidays to be complicated. Memorial Day and Veterans Day, to take just two examples, commingle our celebration of what has been achieved, with our mourning of the sacrifice that work entailed, and the aspiration to earn the freedoms which were secured for us at great cost.
That’s a lot of freight. But the truth is, the holidays mean more when we appreciate their complexity. Not less.
Similarly, let’s change how we take July Fourth to heart. Together we can celebrate what has been achieved.
But together we should also mourn the costs with Douglass and our Black American brothers and sisters. And so together we can pledge to work to fulfill the Declaration’s promise.


thebulwark--2020-07-03--Trump’s Mt. Rushmore Patriotpalooza

Trump’s Mt. Rushmore Patriotpalooza

Donald Trump is heading for an Independence Day rally at Mount Rushmore on Friday .
Which is , in a way , fitting .
Because it gives us an occasion to reflect on the nature of patriotism and Trump ’ s relationship to it .
Political scientist Walter Berns said : “ Patriotism means love of country and implies a readiness to sacrifice for it , to fight for it , perhaps even to give one ’ s life for it.
” Trump ’ s infamous shirking in the 1960s needs no elaboration here , except for a question : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s thought to what happened to the young man who took his place in Vietnam ?
Love of country has other aspects , too .
The Pew Research Center asked people to rate the actions that one a good citizen .
The top answer was “ vote in elections.
” During the pandemic , mail ballots provide the safest way to carry out this patriotic duty .
Through threats against state governments , legal action by the Republican National Committee , and bogus claims about ballot security , Trump has been trying to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s motive here is openly political .
On Fox & Friends he admitted why he opposed stimulus funding for mail-in voting : “ They have things , levels of voting , that if you ever agreed to it , you ’ d never have a Republican elected in this country again.
” He errs about the partisan impact of mail ballots , but for this president , falsehood trumps truth , and perceived self-interest trumps patriotism .
After voting , the action that got the second-highest “ very important ” score in Pew @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the taxes you owe.
” Nobody enjoys writing checks to the IRS and people disagree about tax rates .
Nevertheless , Americans generally acknowledge that patriots should contribute their fair share .
Not Trump .
Although he has sought to hide his tax returns , we know of years in which he paid no federal income tax .
When this fact came up at a 2016 debate , he said with a smirk , “ That makes me smart.
” And Trump wasn ’ t just taking legitimate deductions .
He and his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had the side effect of forcing tenants to pay higher rents .
The third-ranking patriotic action on Pew ’ s list is “ always follow the law.
” In this , Pew ’ s respondents were echoing Lincoln , who said that reverence for the law should be ” the political religion of the nation.
” By that standard , Trump is a political atheist .
Disregard for the rule of has been one of the few constants of his adult life .
As a businessman , he discriminated against African-American renters .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , he had to pay more than $ 2 million in damages for misusing funds .
As president , he committed impeachable offenses .
As “ Individual-1 , ” he ordered the illegal hush-money payments that landed his personal lawyer Michael Cohen in prison .
The Pew survey on citizenship lists several other patriotic duties , but one is especially telling : “ respect the opinions of those who disagree.
” Obviously , Trump has no truck with this : “ dumb , ” “ dopey , ” “ failed , ” “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ dying , ” “ weak.
” Indeed , one aspect of patriotism is so obvious that pollsters don ’ t ask about it : In times of danger , patriots look out for their fellow Americans .
Trump kept telling the troops that “ I will have your back , ” and then was oblivious as his good friend Vladimir Putin offered bounties for their murder .
Back on February 24 , Donald Trump tweeted , “ The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA.
” More than 125,000 deaths @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Rushmore event that will not require masks or social distancing .
I ’ m not quite sure what you call a man who does not care if his fellow citizens live or die .
But he isn ’ t a patriot .

Donald Trump is heading for an Independence Day rally at Mount Rushmore on Friday. Which is, in a way, fitting. Because it gives us an occasion to reflect on the nature of patriotism and Trump’s relationship to it.
Political scientist Walter Berns said: “Patriotism means love of country and implies a readiness to sacrifice for it, to fight for it, perhaps even to give one’s life for it.” Trump’s infamous shirking in the 1960s needs no elaboration here, except for a question: Has he ever given a moment’s thought to what happened to the young man who took his place in Vietnam?
Love of country has other aspects, too. The Pew Research Center asked people to rate the actions that one a good citizen. The top answer was “vote in elections.” During the pandemic, mail ballots provide the safest way to carry out this patriotic duty. Through threats against state governments, legal action by the Republican National Committee, and bogus claims about ballot security, Trump has been trying to hobble voting by mail.
Trump’s motive here is openly political. On Fox & Friends he admitted why he opposed stimulus funding for mail-in voting: “They have things, levels of voting, that if you ever agreed to it, you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again.” He errs about the partisan impact of mail ballots, but for this president, falsehood trumps truth, and perceived self-interest trumps patriotism.
After voting, the action that got the second-highest “very important” score in Pew’s poll was “pay all the taxes you owe.”
Nobody enjoys writing checks to the IRS and people disagree about tax rates. Nevertheless, Americans generally acknowledge that patriots should contribute their fair share. Not Trump. Although he has sought to hide his tax returns, we know of years in which he paid no federal income tax. When this fact came up at a 2016 debate, he said with a smirk, “That makes me smart.”
And Trump wasn’t just taking legitimate deductions. He and his family reportedly took dubious tax dodges that had the side effect of forcing tenants to pay higher rents.
The third-ranking patriotic action on Pew’s list is “always follow the law.” In this, Pew’s respondents were echoing Lincoln, who said that reverence for the law should be ”the political religion of the nation.”
By that standard, Trump is a political atheist. Disregard for the rule of has been one of the few constants of his adult life. As a businessman, he discriminated against African-American renters. As the founder of a fake charity, he had to pay more than $2 million in damages for misusing funds. As president, he committed impeachable offenses. As “Individual-1,” he ordered the illegal hush-money payments that landed his personal lawyer Michael Cohen in prison.
The Pew survey on citizenship lists several other patriotic duties, but one is especially telling: “respect the opinions of those who disagree.” Obviously, Trump has no truck with this:“dumb,” “dopey,” “failed,” “fake,” “sad,” “dying,” “weak.”
Indeed, one aspect of patriotism is so obvious that pollsters don’t ask about it: In times of danger, patriots look out for their fellow Americans. Trump kept telling the troops that “I will have your back,” and then was oblivious as his good friend Vladimir Putin offered bounties for their murder.
Back on February 24, Donald Trump tweeted, “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA.” More than 125,000 deaths later, he is headlining a Mount Rushmore event that will not require masks or social distancing.
I’m not quite sure what you call a man who does not care if his fellow citizens live or die. But he isn’t a patriot.


thebulwark--2020-07-03--It’s Time for a Declaration of Independence from Trump

About the “ We hold these truths ” sentence of the Declaration of Independence , the political philosopher Leo Strauss wrote : “ The passage has frequently been quoted , but , by its weight and its elevation , it is made immune to the degrading effects of the excessive familiarity which breeds contempt and of misuse which breeds disgust.
” One could say something similar about the Declaration as a whole .
One could even say something similar about the holiday that commemorates it .
July Fourth retains , somehow , a kind of weight and elevation , a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by the document and subsequent deeds it memorializes .
And so , this July Fourth , perhaps one can be permitted a moment of earnest exhortation to some of one ’ s fellow Americans to act for the common good .
My appeal is simple .
It ’ s directed to those who have not been opponents of Donald Trump .
It ’ s directed to those who , for whatever mixtures of reasons and motives , have until now reluctantly supported or tolerated him .
My appeal to those Trump supporters is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump supporters .
Because this has surely become perfectly clear in recent months to patriotic and thoughtful men and women who have been Trump supporters : Donald Trump is not up to the job of president ; he is particularly unsuited to lead the nation in a context of twin public health and economic crises ; he can ’ t be trusted not to throw the country into a crisis of democracy and legitimacy during the forthcoming election campaign ; and he shouldn ’ t be entrusted with the powers of the presidency @ @ @ @ @ @ @ administration officials know this .
Many Republican elected officials and donors know this .
Many conservative leaders know this .
They may not want Joe Biden as president .
Fine .
They may not want the Democrats in power .
Fine .
But they have , after all , an alternative .
His name is Mike Pence .
I am no fan of Mike Pence .
Not at all .
But it is self-evident that it would be much better for the country if Donald Trump were out of office for the next @ @ @ @ @ @ @ no chance to be president for the next four years .
A President Pence for the next several months—even with the possibility of a President Pence for the next four years—would be a good outcome for all Americans .
So what is to be done ?
Serious and patriotic men and women who have been Trump supporters could go to Donald Trump privately and tell him that he ’ s done whatever good he can do .
They could tell him that it ’ s time to resign and to turn over both @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Republican nomination to his vice president .
If Donald Trump ignores them , serious and patriotic men and women who have been Trump supporters could urge delegates to the Republican convention to withhold their votes in this emergency from Donald Trump , and could provide legal and political help when the Trump campaign claims those delegates are bound .
If that doesn ’ t seem feasible , serious and patriotic men and women who have been Trump supporters could simply announce their support for Joe Biden now .
If a sizable number of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ make Trump something like a lame duck and might force him from the race .
Even if he refused to withdraw , it would weaken his hold on Republicans on the Hill and on his own administration , and make it harder for him to do substantial damage over the next several months .
And since Trump could do substantial damage in using the executive power of the federal government to affect the November election , either beforehand ( as in his attempt last year to use Ukraine to damage his opponent ) @ @ @ @ @ @ @ question , creating chaos and a crisis of legitimacy , and the like ) , weakening Trump even if stays in office would be no small thing .
So the best option would be a Trump who has resigned from office .
Second best would be a Trump denied re-nomination .
Third best would be a weakened and then defeated Trump .
Those who have previously been Trump supporters could help produce one of these outcomes .
They should .
For Donald Trump has surely proven himself , even to those who wished @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , to be , to quote the Declaration , “ unfit to be a ruler of a free people.
” There is no reason for patriotic Trump supporters to continue enabling him .
There would be a portion of honor in helping us get beyond him .

About the “We hold these truths” sentence of the Declaration of Independence, the political philosopher Leo Strauss wrote: “The passage has frequently been quoted, but, by its weight and its elevation, it is made immune to the degrading effects of the excessive familiarity which breeds contempt and of misuse which breeds disgust.”
One could say something similar about the Declaration as a whole.
One could even say something similar about the holiday that commemorates it. July Fourth retains, somehow, a kind of weight and elevation, a kind of dignity and luster, conferred by the document and subsequent deeds it memorializes.
And so, this July Fourth, perhaps one can be permitted a moment of earnest exhortation to some of one’s fellow Americans to act for the common good.
My appeal is simple. It’s directed to those who have not been opponents of Donald Trump. It’s directed to those who, for whatever mixtures of reasons and motives, have until now reluctantly supported or tolerated him.
My appeal to those Trump supporters is simple. It is to become former Trump supporters.
Because this has surely become perfectly clear in recent months to patriotic and thoughtful men and women who have been Trump supporters: Donald Trump is not up to the job of president; he is particularly unsuited to lead the nation in a context of twin public health and economic crises; he can’t be trusted not to throw the country into a crisis of democracy and legitimacy during the forthcoming election campaign; and he shouldn’t be entrusted with the powers of the presidency for another four years.
Many Trump administration officials know this. Many Republican elected officials and donors know this. Many conservative leaders know this.
They may not want Joe Biden as president. Fine. They may not want the Democrats in power. Fine. But they have, after all, an alternative.
His name is Mike Pence.
I am no fan of Mike Pence. Not at all. But it is self-evident that it would be much better for the country if Donald Trump were out of office for the next six months, and if he had no chance to be president for the next four years. A President Pence for the next several months—even with the possibility of a President Pence for the next four years—would be a good outcome for all Americans.
Podcast · August 15 2023 A.B. Stoddard: All the Ex-President’s Conspirators Donald Trump has been a low-rent mobster for his entire career, and now he’s getting…
So what is to be done?
Serious and patriotic men and women who have been Trump supporters could go to Donald Trump privately and tell him that he’s done whatever good he can do. They could tell him that it’s time to resign and to turn over both the reins of government and the 2020 Republican nomination to his vice president.
If Donald Trump ignores them, serious and patriotic men and women who have been Trump supporters could urge delegates to the Republican convention to withhold their votes in this emergency from Donald Trump, and could provide legal and political help when the Trump campaign claims those delegates are bound.
If that doesn’t seem feasible, serious and patriotic men and women who have been Trump supporters could simply announce their support for Joe Biden now. If a sizable number of major figures did so, it would make Trump something like a lame duck and might force him from the race. Even if he refused to withdraw, it would weaken his hold on Republicans on the Hill and on his own administration, and make it harder for him to do substantial damage over the next several months. And since Trump could do substantial damage in using the executive power of the federal government to affect the November election, either beforehand (as in his attempt last year to use Ukraine to damage his opponent) or after (by calling results into question, creating chaos and a crisis of legitimacy, and the like), weakening Trump even if he stays in office would be no small thing.
So the best option would be a Trump who has resigned from office. Second best would be a Trump denied re-nomination. Third best would be a weakened and then defeated Trump.
Those who have previously been Trump supporters could help produce one of these outcomes. They should. For Donald Trump has surely proven himself, even to those who wished him well and hoped for the best, to be, to quote the Declaration, “unfit to be a ruler of a free people.”
There is no reason for patriotic Trump supporters to continue enabling him. There would be a portion of honor in helping us get beyond him.


thebulwark--2020-07-04--Becoming an American in 2020

Becoming an American in 2020

Just about every presidential election cycle , a handful of celebrities swear that they will quit the United States if their preferred candidate doesn ’ t win .
Most seem to say they ’ ll move to Canada .
Of course , the promises—or threats ?
—almost always turn out to have been hyperbolic .
This election year , I ’ m doing the reverse : I am a young Canadian who , after having spent much of my youth and early adulthood in the United States , has this year become an American citizen .
I have no intention @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and poutine , but in mid-May , I pledged to “ support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies , foreign and domestic , ” and collected my certificate of naturalization .
It ’ s quite an interesting year to become an American .
Needless to say , I knew before the moment I raised my right hand that the United States , like all countries , had many problems .
America ’ s flaws were hardly secrets , but many of them—a dysfunctional government , enduring injustice , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been on full display in recent years , and quite intensely in 2020 .
So why not go back to Canada ?
Why become an American ?
Why make America ’ s problems my problems ?
I did not have a good answer for a long time .
As a Canadian , it ’ s not like I was seeking asylum or fleeing oppression .
When my family first moved from Saskatchewan to Texas in the early 2000s for my father ’ s work , I did not understand why we left one @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that seemed plagued by serious social problems .
I went to American schools , read American books , and watched American movies , but in the end , only other Americans in a pandemic and a period of national protest could teach me about American exceptionalism .
In high school , I enjoyed the required government course so much that I decided to study government and international relations in college .
Since starting college , though , it has been outside the classroom , from my fellow college students , where I have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ exceptional .
While American undergraduates are not known for their patriotism and many of my peers claim they despise America , they clearly demonstrate that they love other Americans .
The political philosophers , historians , and sociologists who argue that a kind of rugged individualism is at the heart of the American character aren ’ t entirely wrong , but the familiar caricature of the individualistic American—someone ruthless doing whatever it takes to get ahead—does not match the reality we can see all around us .
When the administration of my university @ @ @ @ @ @ @ COVID-19 pandemic , many of my friends and classmates returned to frightened siblings , laid-off parents , and ailing grandparents .
If there was ever a time where narrow self-interest would be socially and morally acceptable , it would have been this spring .
But the isolation-induced breakdown of social bonds that some commentators anticipated did not occur .
Instead , friendships deepened , and new ones formed .
Social media—typically a bastion of self-aggrandizement—transformed into a hub for offering free meals , empty couches , and FaceTime calls to talk about life @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , people my age put their communities first in a time of crisis .
Which is to say that , as Tocqueville pointed out long ago , American individualism is not about a simplistic autonomy but is fundamentally rooted in community .
In 2018 , while still in college , I applied to teach a civics class at an underprivileged Austin high school .
My idealism led me to believe I could teach kids to love democracy .
In the first class , I encountered some of the most cynical teenagers I have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the only thing that felt longer than this class period was the list of problems with American society .
These students had a perspective on America very different from that of the suburban kids with whom I had taken civics lessons in high school .
They did not accept America as it is .
Instead , they dreamed of and believed in a brighter future .
Sure , as young people , they leaned left .
But even as they spoke about injustice and dysfunction , they judged their visions of a better @ @ @ @ @ @ @ realize America ’ s ideals .
These high schoolers from South Austin taught me about patriotism : not wave-a-flag and grill-a-hot-dog patriotism but a true , sincere desire to forge a more perfect union .
As I waited months for my citizenship application to process , I told friends , professors , and even strangers about the upcoming milestone .
I looked forward to a naturalization ceremony surrounded by my Canadian family and American friends .
When I received a notice to attend an expedited ceremony with no guests allowed because of physical-distancing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to celebrate with the people who had taught me the most about being American : other young people .
When I , along with just nine other Americans-to-be , raised my right hand in a large room that would normally have held dozens of oath-takers , I thought about these friends .
I thought about what they have done for me and what I may be lucky enough to do for them .
The immigration officers were eager to get to the next ten soon-to-be-Americans , so they hustled us out of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ could take the classic first photo in front of the stars and stripes .
I regret missing the chance to participate in this tradition of Americans-by-choice , but I do not regret taking the oath of allegiance even in the most politically turbulent year of my lifetime .
Yet after my paperwork was finalized and I officially became part of this messy experiment in liberty , I still sometimes found myself asking “ Why America ?
” The tragic death of George Floyd just a few days later , and the widespread unrest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with this question once again .
The bad news is that I have much more to learn .
The good news is there are more Americans to learn from .
Putting aside the other controversies about the 1619 Project , Nikole Hannah-Jones is right when she writes that “ Black Americans have also been , and continue to be , foundational to the idea of American freedom .
.
.
.
It is we who have been the perfecters of this democracy.
” I grew up as a white immigrant who often easily @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in customs lines and immigration offices , I observed that I was treated better than most foreigners and many birthright citizens .
I lived the American Dream as an American for hardly a week before I was reminded that the American Dream—the dream that anyone can come from anywhere and do anything—is for too many Americans just an illusion .
Yet illusion or not , it has drawn people from every corner of the world .
This possibility , or at least hope of a possibility , is immensely powerful .
Each generation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ contributed immensely to make such moments of opportunity possible , and these very moments are part of what makes America exceptional and exciting .
As John McCain wrote in his farewell letter , “ Nothing is inevitable here .
Americans never quit .
We never surrender .
We never hide from history .
We make history.
” The past and present Americans who create these pivotal moments make me proud to be an American , too—and even more proud to be a young American .
I hope one day to make my fellow @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all its imperfections and its hopes—with an idealistic kid from Saskatchewan .

Just about every presidential election cycle, a handful of celebrities swear that they will quit the United States if their preferred candidate doesn’t win. Most seem to say they’ll move to Canada. Of course, the promises—or threats?—almost always turn out to have been hyperbolic.
This election year, I’m doing the reverse: I am a young Canadian who, after having spent much of my youth and early adulthood in the United States, has this year become an American citizen. I have no intention of giving up my love of hockey and poutine, but in mid-May, I pledged to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic,” and collected my certificate of naturalization.
It’s quite an interesting year to become an American. Needless to say, I knew before the moment I raised my right hand that the United States, like all countries, had many problems. America’s flaws were hardly secrets, but many of them—a dysfunctional government, enduring injustice, and declining legitimacy at home and abroad—have been on full display in recent years, and quite intensely in 2020.
So why not go back to Canada? Why become an American? Why make America’s problems my problems?
I did not have a good answer for a long time. As a Canadian, it’s not like I was seeking asylum or fleeing oppression. When my family first moved from Saskatchewan to Texas in the early 2000s for my father’s work, I did not understand why we left one wealthy country to live in another one that seemed plagued by serious social problems. I went to American schools, read American books, and watched American movies, but in the end, only other Americans in a pandemic and a period of national protest could teach me about American exceptionalism.
In high school, I enjoyed the required government course so much that I decided to study government and international relations in college. Since starting college, though, it has been outside the classroom, from my fellow college students, where I have learned the most about what makes America exceptional. While American undergraduates are not known for their patriotism and many of my peers claim they despise America, they clearly demonstrate that they love other Americans.
The political philosophers, historians, and sociologists who argue that a kind of rugged individualism is at the heart of the American character aren’t entirely wrong, but the familiar caricature of the individualistic American—someone ruthless doing whatever it takes to get ahead—does not match the reality we can see all around us. When the administration of my university sent students home in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many of my friends and classmates returned to frightened siblings, laid-off parents, and ailing grandparents. If there was ever a time where narrow self-interest would be socially and morally acceptable, it would have been this spring. But the isolation-induced breakdown of social bonds that some commentators anticipated did not occur. Instead, friendships deepened, and new ones formed. Social media—typically a bastion of self-aggrandizement—transformed into a hub for offering free meals, empty couches, and FaceTime calls to talk about life. As generations of Americans before them, people my age put their communities first in a time of crisis. Which is to say that, as Tocqueville pointed out long ago, American individualism is not about a simplistic autonomy but is fundamentally rooted in community.
In 2018, while still in college, I applied to teach a civics class at an underprivileged Austin high school. My idealism led me to believe I could teach kids to love democracy. In the first class, I encountered some of the most cynical teenagers I have ever met. For these kids, the only thing that felt longer than this class period was the list of problems with American society.
These students had a perspective on America very different from that of the suburban kids with whom I had taken civics lessons in high school. They did not accept America as it is. Instead, they dreamed of and believed in a brighter future. Sure, as young people, they leaned left. But even as they spoke about injustice and dysfunction, they judged their visions of a better society by how it would strive to realize America’s ideals. These high schoolers from South Austin taught me about patriotism: not wave-a-flag and grill-a-hot-dog patriotism but a true, sincere desire to forge a more perfect union.
As I waited months for my citizenship application to process, I told friends, professors, and even strangers about the upcoming milestone. I looked forward to a naturalization ceremony surrounded by my Canadian family and American friends. When I received a notice to attend an expedited ceremony with no guests allowed because of physical-distancing guidelines, I mourned the missed opportunity to celebrate with the people who had taught me the most about being American: other young people.
When I, along with just nine other Americans-to-be, raised my right hand in a large room that would normally have held dozens of oath-takers, I thought about these friends. I thought about what they have done for me and what I may be lucky enough to do for them. The immigration officers were eager to get to the next ten soon-to-be-Americans, so they hustled us out of the building before any of the new citizens could take the classic first photo in front of the stars and stripes. I regret missing the chance to participate in this tradition of Americans-by-choice, but I do not regret taking the oath of allegiance even in the most politically turbulent year of my lifetime.
Yet after my paperwork was finalized and I officially became part of this messy experiment in liberty, I still sometimes found myself asking “Why America?” The tragic death of George Floyd just a few days later, and the widespread unrest that followed, forced me to wrestle with this question once again. The bad news is that I have much more to learn. The good news is there are more Americans to learn from. Putting aside the other controversies about the 1619 Project, Nikole Hannah-Jones is right when she writes that “Black Americans have also been, and continue to be, foundational to the idea of American freedom. . . . It is we who have been the perfecters of this democracy.”
I grew up as a white immigrant who often easily passed as American. As a kid in customs lines and immigration offices, I observed that I was treated better than most foreigners and many birthright citizens. I lived the American Dream as an American for hardly a week before I was reminded that the American Dream—the dream that anyone can come from anywhere and do anything—is for too many Americans just an illusion. Yet illusion or not, it has drawn people from every corner of the world. This possibility, or at least hope of a possibility, is immensely powerful.
Each generation of Americans before us has sacrificed and contributed immensely to make such moments of opportunity possible, and these very moments are part of what makes America exceptional and exciting. As John McCain wrote in his farewell letter, “Nothing is inevitable here. Americans never quit. We never surrender. We never hide from history. We make history.”
The past and present Americans who create these pivotal moments make me proud to be an American, too—and even more proud to be a young American. I hope one day to make my fellow Americans proud of having shared this country—and all its imperfections and its hopes—with an idealistic kid from Saskatchewan.


thebulwark--2020-07-06--Old, White, and Right: The Politics of The Villages

By now , you have either seen or heard about the video shot in The Villages , Florida , in which a Trump supporter shouted “ white power ” twice and was rewarded with a retweet from President Trump and enough replays on national TV to make the man ’ s grandchildren seek entry to the witness protection program .
I wasn ’ t there at the rally , but I have lived in The Villages ( six months of the year ) for the past three years .
What makes me different from the vast majority of the approximately @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t support Donald Trump .
I grew up in Ohio with parents who were both staunch Republicans .
I leaned that way as well ( as much as a child can truly identify with a political party ) until I entered college in 1969 .
Initially , I still supported President Nixon , although not vociferously , until May 4 , 1970 .
On that day , only about 20 miles away from my campus , Ohio National Guardsmen shot and killed four students at Kent State and wounded several others , including @ @ @ @ @ @ @ few miles from me .
My politics changed .
Since then , I have been what a pollster might call a “ centrist Democrat.
” I do not place party over country ; I have voted for select Republicans over the years , but my priorities remain essentially liberal .
I support background checks on gun purchases and bans on assault rifles ( I personally own handguns ) , voting rights for all , public education , and universal health coverage for all ( I am a physician ) .
And I am @ @ @ @ @ @ @ what the hell am I doing in The Villages ?
To understand the politics of The Villages , one must know something about its background .
It started as a stereotypical Florida retirement community built of “ premanufactured homes ” in the 1970s .
But few people wanted to live in a mobile home on an old cow pasture in Central Florida , away from the beaches and ocean breezes .
The developers switched gears , added a host of community activities and amenities , and started building affordable single-family homes in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stopped since .
According to Census Bureau estimates , it has been the fastest growing metropolitan area in the country over the last decade .
The population today is estimated to be over 120,000 people , 80 percent of whom are over the age of 65 .
In 2016 , the Census Bureau labeled Sumter County , where The Villages is located , the “ oldest ” county in the United States .
The politics of The Villages initially mirrored patterns typical across the country .
Older voters tend to lean Republican with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
In the 2000 presidential election , the Republican/Democratic split in Sumter County was about 54/43 .
That differential has widened with every presidential election since then .
In 2016 , the split was 69/30 for Donald Trump .
In addition , The Villages is perhaps the “ whitest ” large community in the United States : The most recent Census Bureau estimates show 96.8 percent of Villagers identifying as non-Latino white , with 0.3 percent identifying as African-American .
In recent years , those demographics have coalesced with a president who makes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ divisiveness .
It is now more acceptable in much of America to publicly display your prejudices and one can now see instances of such behavior out in the open in The Villages .
I first encountered The Villages when my sister moved there in 2005 .
It had only about 35,000 residents then and nothing remotely near the politicization of today .
Other family members also moved to The Villages and I saw more and more of the wide range of retirement activities offered .
It is truly remarkable how much there is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , softball , swimming , pickleball , over 3,000 clubs , a senior education program , concerts , plays , and really cheap “ happy hours ” every night of the year .
It has rightfully been called “ Disneyland for seniors ” .
But when the time came for my own retirement in 2018 , I had significant misgivings about the changing political climate of the community .
Trump was president and every time I visited , there were more and more pro-Trump signs and flags , and Trump-festooned golf carts .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ flying a Trump flag .
I wanted to shout : “ Hey guys , the election was two years ago ; why are the signs still everywhere ?
” I came to realize that this was no longer just about an election , it was about the “ cult of personality.
” Many of these people seem almost to worship Donald Trump .
For folks like myself with a liberal bent , one had to listen carefully when you met a new neighbor to look for signs of their political persuasion .
Initially @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the old adage of “ never discuss politics or religion.
” For example , I lived close to one of my neighbors for two years , before he finally let slip a comment about the botched government response to COVID-19 .
To my surprise he was a liberal , like me .
For two years , both of us had been politely declining to voice our political views for fear of offending or angering each other .
Now , however , with the combination of deepening cultural divides , the increased national @ @ @ @ @ @ @ responses and appeals to his base , the gloves are coming off in The Villages .
Add in the frustration and fear of the pandemic ( all of those wonderful activities and outlets for stress/frustration were shut down ) , and the social filters of politeness and respect for one another in The Villages are in serious danger of disintegrating .
I am saddened and frustrated by all of this .
I respect the right of my fellow Villagers to a different opinion and to vote as they see fit , even as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ most assuredly do not respect their choices to become hostile , angry , abusive , and disrespectful to those of us who disagree .
( And that goes just as much for the anti-Trumper in the video yelling obscenities and slurs at Trump supporters . )
I worry about the long-term effects of this divide .
Even as I pray that we dismiss Trump this November , I am not confident that The Villages can return to a civil discourse .
Yet one more “ legacy ” of The Donald .

By now, you have either seen or heard about the video shot in The Villages, Florida, in which a Trump supporter shouted “white power” twice and was rewarded with a retweet from President Trump and enough replays on national TV to make the man’s grandchildren seek entry to the witness protection program. I wasn’t there at the rally, but I have lived in The Villages (six months of the year) for the past three years. What makes me different from the vast majority of the approximately 130,000 other Villagers? I don’t support Donald Trump.
I grew up in Ohio with parents who were both staunch Republicans. I leaned that way as well (as much as a child can truly identify with a political party) until I entered college in 1969. Initially, I still supported President Nixon, although not vociferously, until May 4, 1970. On that day, only about 20 miles away from my campus, Ohio National Guardsmen shot and killed four students at Kent State and wounded several others, including a young man who grew up a few miles from me.
My politics changed. Since then, I have been what a pollster might call a “centrist Democrat.” I do not place party over country; I have voted for select Republicans over the years, but my priorities remain essentially liberal. I support background checks on gun purchases and bans on assault rifles (I personally own handguns), voting rights for all, public education, and universal health coverage for all (I am a physician). And I am adamantly opposed to Donald Trump. So what the hell am I doing in The Villages?
To understand the politics of The Villages, one must know something about its background. It started as a stereotypical Florida retirement community built of “premanufactured homes” in the 1970s. But few people wanted to live in a mobile home on an old cow pasture in Central Florida, away from the beaches and ocean breezes. The developers switched gears, added a host of community activities and amenities, and started building affordable single-family homes in the 1990s and the growth hasn’t stopped since. According to Census Bureau estimates, it has been the fastest growing metropolitan area in the country over the last decade. The population today is estimated to be over 120,000 people, 80 percent of whom are over the age of 65. In 2016, the Census Bureau labeled Sumter County, where The Villages is located, the “oldest” county in the United States.
Podcast · August 15 2023 A.B. Stoddard: All the Ex-President’s Conspirators Donald Trump has been a low-rent mobster for his entire career, and now he’s getting…
The politics of The Villages initially mirrored patterns typical across the country. Older voters tend to lean Republican with an eye toward “conservative” values. In the 2000 presidential election, the Republican/Democratic split in Sumter County was about 54/43. That differential has widened with every presidential election since then. In 2016, the split was 69/30 for Donald Trump. In addition, The Villages is perhaps the “whitest” large community in the United States: The most recent Census Bureau estimates show 96.8 percent of Villagers identifying as non-Latino white, with 0.3 percent identifying as African-American. In recent years, those demographics have coalesced with a president who makes a point of highlighting racial and cultural divisiveness. It is now more acceptable in much of America to publicly display your prejudices and one can now see instances of such behavior out in the open in The Villages.
I first encountered The Villages when my sister moved there in 2005. It had only about 35,000 residents then and nothing remotely near the politicization of today. Other family members also moved to The Villages and I saw more and more of the wide range of retirement activities offered. It is truly remarkable how much there is to do in The Villages: golf, softball, swimming, pickleball, over 3,000 clubs, a senior education program, concerts, plays, and really cheap “happy hours” every night of the year. It has rightfully been called “Disneyland for seniors”.
But when the time came for my own retirement in 2018, I had significant misgivings about the changing political climate of the community. Trump was president and every time I visited, there were more and more pro-Trump signs and flags, and Trump-festooned golf carts. Every block had at least one home flying a Trump flag. I wanted to shout: “Hey guys, the election was two years ago; why are the signs still everywhere?” I came to realize that this was no longer just about an election, it was about the “cult of personality.” Many of these people seem almost to worship Donald Trump.
For folks like myself with a liberal bent, one had to listen carefully when you met a new neighbor to look for signs of their political persuasion. Initially, the majority of folks still held to the old adage of “never discuss politics or religion.” For example, I lived close to one of my neighbors for two years, before he finally let slip a comment about the botched government response to COVID-19. To my surprise he was a liberal, like me. For two years, both of us had been politely declining to voice our political views for fear of offending or angering each other.
Now, however, with the combination of deepening cultural divides, the increased national criticism of Trump and his heightened defensive responses and appeals to his base, the gloves are coming off in The Villages. Add in the frustration and fear of the pandemic (all of those wonderful activities and outlets for stress/frustration were shut down), and the social filters of politeness and respect for one another in The Villages are in serious danger of disintegrating.
I am saddened and frustrated by all of this. I respect the right of my fellow Villagers to a different opinion and to vote as they see fit, even as I disagree with those choices. I most assuredly do not respect their choices to become hostile, angry, abusive, and disrespectful to those of us who disagree. (And that goes just as much for the anti-Trumper in the video yelling obscenities and slurs at Trump supporters.) I worry about the long-term effects of this divide. Even as I pray that we dismiss Trump this November, I am not confident that The Villages can return to a civil discourse. Yet one more “legacy” of The Donald.


thebulwark--2020-07-06--Trump’s “National Garden of American Heroes” Is Vaporware

In his speech at Mount Rushmore , President Trump came out against the current mania of mindless iconoclasm .
Politically , it ’ s an obvious play .
Sinking in the polls and going into what ought to be the middle of his reelection campaign down by nearly ten points , Trump is grasping for anything he can use to prop himself up , and the rioters of the far left have given him a gift .
When they were protesting against monuments to the Confederacy , Trump couldn ’ t oppose them without looking like he was endorsing the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on a senseless rampage , attacking statues of Union generals , abolitionists , random dead white dudes , an elk , and even the Emancipation Monument , for crying out loud .
So this is a gim me , an easy layup for Trump to present himself as a defender of our nation ’ s history—or even as a defender of art and culture , no matter how implausible that may seem .
But Trump is the wrong man for this message and the way he ’ s going about it is only @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the problem is that Donald Trump can not deliver a unifying message because he is not a unifying person .
He can mouth a line like this : “ 1776 represented the culmination of thousands of years of Western civilization and the triumph of not only spirit , but of wisdom , philosophy , and reason.
” But he can not convince anyone who does not watch Fox News that he knows what this line actually means .
Trump has just enough self-discipline to be able to look at a camera and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ opportunity , equal justice , and equal treatment for citizens of every race , background , religion , and creed.
” But he does not have enough self-discipline to avoid turning around the next day or week and calling Nazis very fine people .
Or cheering on the Mother of Groypers .
Or tweeting a video of a guy shouting “ White Power !
” So his high-minded message about preserving history for all Americans is going to fall flat .
The American people have already rendered their judgment on Trump .
They @ @ @ @ @ @ @ couldn ’ t pivot to a new style or message even if he sincerely wanted to .
Which—spoiler—he does not .
For those who care about preserving a regard for America ’ s history and its legitimate heroes , the last person you should want as your standard-bearer is a figure who has already been rejected by the American people—a man whose approval rating is sinking below the 40 percent line and who looks likely to be swept out of office in November .
Worse , in associating this cause with his losing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ politicization of American history .
The big proposal in Trump ’ s Mount Rushmore speech was an executive order to create a “ National Garden of American Heroes , a vast outdoor park that will feature the statues of the greatest Americans to ever live.
” But think about it : If the problem we face right now is that people are trying to bend the nation ’ s historical memory to their narrow political ends , how does it solve that problem to transform public monuments into a talking point for Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ chants of “ Four More Years ” ?
How do we solve the problem by making our cultural heritage even more fully into an instrument of partisan electioneering ?
This is exactly how Trump wants to create his national sculpture garden .
It ’ s important to note that he isn ’ t trying to pass legislation in Congress and bring together a bipartisan majority .
He ’ s issuing a presidential edict , making the “ National Garden ” a unilateral and partisan enterprise to be carried out entirely by officials he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he can wring out of existing agency budgets without going to Congress .
In short , Trump ’ s plan is to turn public art into another piece of political spoils for the party that manages to capture the presidency .
Which makes you wonder what will happen when the other party captures it .
It would be far better—far more of a unifying gesture—to do the hard work of forging a bipartisan consensus among reasonable people about what to do with existing monuments and which new ones to build .
But again @ @ @ @ @ @ @ alternative , even if he wanted to .
But it ’ s not clear he can plausibly offer this one , either .
Trump ’ s executive order notes that it is “ subject to the availability of appropriations.
” Which is a way of saying that , like the border wall that Mexico isn ’ t paying for , it involves spending money the president doesn ’ t actually have at his disposal .
Anyone remember Trump ’ s draft executive order to mandate supposed “ neoclassical architecture ” ?
That has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ American Heroes is just another piece of Culture War vaporware—a loud and splashy announcement meant to create an impression among the base that he doing something .
It is made with the full confidence that—just like with the wall—his base won ’ t follow up to see if it actually happens .
There is a good chance that in roughly six months Donald Trump will be a private citizen again .
If he feels so strongly about the ways that 1776 represented the culmination of thousands of years of Western civilization and the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of wisdom , philosophy , and reason—a phrase that is surely ingrained in his heart—then he can put up the money to create a National Garden of American Heroes as a private philanthropic effort .
This sort of thing has certainly been done before .
But that assumes that he cares about any of this beyond his election campaign or the latest political rally .
Given his history on this , I wouldn ’ t bet on it .

In his speech at Mount Rushmore, President Trump came out against the current mania of mindless iconoclasm.
Politically, it’s an obvious play. Sinking in the polls and going into what ought to be the middle of his reelection campaign down by nearly ten points, Trump is grasping for anything he can use to prop himself up, and the rioters of the far left have given him a gift. When they were protesting against monuments to the Confederacy, Trump couldn’t oppose them without looking like he was endorsing the Lost Cause. But then they went on a senseless rampage, attacking statues of Union generals, abolitionists, random dead white dudes, an elk, and even the Emancipation Monument, for crying out loud.
So this is a gimme, an easy layup for Trump to present himself as a defender of our nation’s history—or even as a defender of art and culture, no matter how implausible that may seem.
But Trump is the wrong man for this message and the way he’s going about it is only going to make things worse.
Podcast · August 15 2023 A.B. Stoddard: All the Ex-President’s Conspirators Donald Trump has been a low-rent mobster for his entire career, and now he’s getting…
Part of the problem is that Donald Trump cannot deliver a unifying message because he is not a unifying person.
He can mouth a line like this: “1776 represented the culmination of thousands of years of Western civilization and the triumph of not only spirit, but of wisdom, philosophy, and reason.”
But he cannot convince anyone who does not watch Fox News that he knows what this line actually means.
Trump has just enough self-discipline to be able to look at a camera and say, “We believe in equal opportunity, equal justice, and equal treatment for citizens of every race, background, religion, and creed.”
But he does not have enough self-discipline to avoid turning around the next day or week and calling Nazis very fine people. Or cheering on the Mother of Groypers. Or tweeting a video of a guy shouting “White Power!”
So his high-minded message about preserving history for all Americans is going to fall flat.
The American people have already rendered their judgment on Trump. They know who he his, and he couldn’t pivot to a new style or message even if he sincerely wanted to. Which—spoiler—he does not.
For those who care about preserving a regard for America’s history and its legitimate heroes, the last person you should want as your standard-bearer is a figure who has already been rejected by the American people—a man whose approval rating is sinking below the 40 percent line and who looks likely to be swept out of office in November.
Worse, in associating this cause with his losing campaign, Trump is increasing the partisan politicization of American history. The big proposal in Trump’s Mount Rushmore speech was an executive order to create a “National Garden of American Heroes, a vast outdoor park that will feature the statues of the greatest Americans to ever live.”
But think about it: If the problem we face right now is that people are trying to bend the nation’s historical memory to their narrow political ends, how does it solve that problem to transform public monuments into a talking point for Trump’s reelection campaign, delivered to chants of “Four More Years”? How do we solve the problem by making our cultural heritage even more fully into an instrument of partisan electioneering?
This is exactly how Trump wants to create his national sculpture garden. It’s important to note that he isn’t trying to pass legislation in Congress and bring together a bipartisan majority. He’s issuing a presidential edict, making the “National Garden” a unilateral and partisan enterprise to be carried out entirely by officials he appoints and drawing on money he thinks he can wring out of existing agency budgets without going to Congress.
In short, Trump’s plan is to turn public art into another piece of political spoils for the party that manages to capture the presidency.
Which makes you wonder what will happen when the other party captures it. It would be far better—far more of a unifying gesture—to do the hard work of forging a bipartisan consensus among reasonable people about what to do with existing monuments and which new ones to build.
But again: Trump could not plausibly offer that alternative, even if he wanted to.
But it’s not clear he can plausibly offer this one, either.
Trump’s executive order notes that it is “subject to the availability of appropriations.” Which is a way of saying that, like the border wall that Mexico isn’t paying for, it involves spending money the president doesn’t actually have at his disposal.
Anyone remember Trump’s draft executive order to mandate supposed “neoclassical architecture”? That has quietly disappeared. The National Garden of American Heroes is just another piece of Culture War vaporware—a loud and splashy announcement meant to create an impression among the base that he doing something. It is made with the full confidence that—just like with the wall—his base won’t follow up to see if it actually happens.
Here’s a betteer idea.
There is a good chance that in roughly six months Donald Trump will be a private citizen again. If he feels so strongly about the ways that 1776 represented the culmination of thousands of years of Western civilization and the triumph of not only spirit, but of wisdom, philosophy, and reason—a phrase that is surely ingrained in his heart—then he can put up the money to create a National Garden of American Heroes as a private philanthropic effort.
This sort of thing has certainly been done before. But that assumes that he cares about any of this beyond his election campaign or the latest political rally.
Given his history on this, I wouldn’t bet on it.