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August 15, 2024 - 9:00pm
Republicans have long been considered the patriotic party, but the Kamala Harris campaign is attempting to reclaim that title for the Democrats.
At her rallies, staff have handed out synchronised red, white and blue blinking lights, and crowds have broken out into chants of “U-S-A”. Harris, sometimes flanked by massive American flags, has emphasised patriotism and freedom in her speeches, themes that have been central to her campaign thus far.
This vocal patriotism marks a pivot from the attitudes of the American Left in recent years, with the US being cast as structurally racist and the national flag as Right-wing. Indeed, Harris herself pushed back on Republican Sen. Tim Scott’s argument that America was not a racist country, stating, “No, I don’t think America is a racist country, but we also do have to speak truth about the history of racism in our country and its existence today.”
Back in 2021, NBC News ran an essay titled “Some Trump supporters are co-opting the American flag. Nazis once did that, too.” Meanwhile, a chapter of Black Lives Matter claimed flying the American flag was racist in 2021. Before he was president, Barack Obama even briefly stopped wearing the American flag lapel pin as a statement about the war in Iraq. In 2019, Democratic presidential candidates drew anger when the majority of them skipped the traditional flag lapel during a primary debate.
Republicans are far more likely than Democrats to report feeling “extreme pride” at being American, at 59 vs. 34%, according to Gallup. The gap has persisted for decades, though it grew considerably around 2016. But Donald Trump’s negative rhetoric about the US, including his recent comments that the country is “in decline” and the Make America Great Again slogan’s implication of a no-longer great nation, have created an opening for the Left to embrace a more patriotic image.
Last month, the Vice President condemned anti-Israel protesters’ burning of the American flag near the US Capitol. “That flag is a symbol of our highest ideals as a nation and represents the promise of America,” said Harris. “It should never be desecrated in that way.” Last week, she told a crowd at a Detroit rally: “One of the things that I know brings us all out today and always is we love our country. We love our country. We love our country. And I do believe it is the highest form of patriotism to fight for the ideals of our country. That is how we preserve the promise of America”.
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Subscribemaybe they can reclaim fascism from republicans
Isn’t it strange how generations pre-1945 in America and the UK grew up believing that their respective countries were great, especially after a gruelling war? But subsequent generations believed that we should have felt guilt at winning the war and that it would have been better to lose?
For 70 years, more and more young people actually hate their own country – that same country which has nurtured and schooled them and made them relatively safe and rich. “The flag is a symbol of our highest ideals as a nation and represents the promise of America,” said Harris. But that is apparently only true with old people or very successful people. The conclusion must be that we would all feel better today if we had lost the war. In that event there definitely wouldn’t have been any pro-Palestine marches.
The article only says that old people favour Trump.
I remember when there was a rally to support the first Gulf war, and my husband and I stopped to watch. Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” was blasting out of the speakers, and a man next to us was singing along. When the music stopped, he turned around and told us that the song was the most patriotic song ever written. My husband told him to listen to it closely, because it was an anti-war song. He huffed at us and left. There’s a difference between patriotism and jingoism. (I’m a very patriotic military brat.)
I see it not as an anti-war song, but as a song about how a veteran of a particular war feels let down after his return home. That’s not unpatriotic, unless patriotism means that you’re never allowed to criticise your country or its government. And after all, the whole point of the MAGA people is that they feel let down.
“we believe in who we are.”
Which is what exactly?
Not everyone in the Dem party hates America, but everyone who hates America supports the Dem party.
“This vocal patriotism marks a pivot from the attitudes of the American Left in recent years, with the US being cast as structurally racist and the national flag as Right-wing.”
Such a perfect example of the rhetorical/political jiu-jitsu the Left is so good at. Trump describes damage the Left has done to the US and the Democrats respond with, “So, you hate America!!”
Then they add, “We love America so much we have to completely change it because it’s evil.”
No one is buying it.