Trump’s nationalism isn’t patriotic or conservative, it’s racist/xenophobic
Speaking at last month’s meeting of the National Conservatism Conference, Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO) openly embraced the racist and xenophobic belief that the only patriotic way to save America was through adopting white nationalism as the official policy of the Republican Party.
Schmitt took issue with the “old conservative establishment” for embracing legal immigration and suggested that there is a select group of true Americans to whom the country belongs (via NewRepublic.com):
“That’s what set Donald Trump apart from the old conservatism and the old liberalism alike: He knows that America is not just an abstract ‘proposition,’ but a nation and a people, with its own distinct history and heritage and interests,” Schmitt said. The Continental Army soldiers at Valley Forge, Pilgrims at Plymouth, pioneers in Missouri, and “Kentucky settlers repelling wave after wave of Indian war band attacks,” Schmitt said, “believed they were forging a nation—a homeland for themselves and their descendants.”
“America, in all its glory, is their gift to us, handed down across the generations. It belongs to us. It’s our birthright, our heritage, our destiny,” the senator continued. “If America is everything and everyone, then it is nothing and no one at all. But we know that’s not true.”
He went on: “When they tear down our statues and monuments, mock our history, and insult our traditions, they’re attacking our future as well as our past. By changing the stories we tell about ourselves, they believe they can build a new America—with the new myths of a new people. But America does not belong to them. It belongs to us. It’s our home. It’s a heritage entrusted to us by our ancestors. It is a way of life that is ours, and only ours, and if we disappear, then America, too, will cease to exist.”
Schmitt failed to include any nonwhite people in the true-American pile. He did, however, include his German ancestors, who came to America in the 1840s: a time when, he omitted to mention, arriving European immigrants were met with no shortage of nativist challenges to their American-ness. (Emphasis mine)
The destruction of conservatism has been a work-in-progress by the Mitch McConnells and John Boehners of the Republican Party ever since Ronald Reagan handed over the reins to George H.W. Bush, but the stark reality of its demise has come sharply into focus in the Age of Trump. One of the ways Trump is accomplishing this takeover comes courtesy of his successful rebrand of conservatism as “America First” nationalism. He’s been doing this from the beginning of his first term . . . and his cult loves it more than ever.
One of the unfortunate consequences of Trump’s America First nationalism is the resurgence and growing acceptance of racism and xenophobia. One early example of this fact came when Trump told four Democrat women-of-color in Congress to “go back” to the “broken and crime-infested places from which they came.” As sort of “shithole countries” déjà vu, if you will.
After initially taking some heat for his obviously racist and xenophobic taunts, along with an official condemnation by the House (Democrat-controlled at the time), Trump doubled down on his racist/xenophobic America First nationalism by committing himself to stay the course in his fight against the group of Democrat women that he began referring to as “the squad” because, in his mind, it provided proof that he was “winning” the battle.
Speaking at a North Carolina Republican Party rally a few days later to the army of followers Trump often brags would support him even if he murdered someone on Fifth Avenue, embraced his racist/xenophobic taunts with shouts of “send her back” when he mentioned the so-called “vicious” anti-America behavior of Rep. Ilhan Omar.
Following a second round of criticism for not rejecting the crowd’s behavior, Trump was prompted to initially disavow the chant. However, he would later disavow his disavowal; calling his loyal followers “patriotic” lovers of America and sharing a tweet posted by British columnist Katie Hopkins where she praised his nationalism/racism.
The fact that Schmitt made his racist/xenophobic comments at the National Conservatism Conference comes as no surprise; racism and xenophobia have been a part of Trump’s America First nationalism ideology, as we witnessed at the inaugural meeting of the National Conservatism Conference held in Washington, DC in 2019. While the definition of “national conservatism” was never clearly defined, the overarching theme of the get-together was that conservatism as traditionally understood has outlived its usefulness economically and culturally.
In a panel discussion on immigration, University of Pennsylvania professor Amy Wax advocated that America would be better off with fewer “non-whites” from “less-advanced countries.” Her comments were defended by Yoram Hazony, author of The Virtue of Nationalism and the organizer of the conference, and he claimed that she was simply taken out of context. However, a broader look at her comments made her racist/xenophobic message crystal clear.
“Embracing cultural-distance nationalism means, in effect, taking the position that our country will be better off with more whites and fewer nonwhites.”
Before concluding her speech, Wax also said that Trump’s comments about accepting migrants from “shithole countries” should be taken seriously.
Donald Trump, his merry band of sycophants, and the army of followers that make up the cult want you to believe that America First nationalism is patriotic, but it’s not. It’s racist and xenophobic, and there’s nothing conservative about it.
David Leach is the owner of the Strident Conservative and the author of The New Axis of Evil: Exposing the Bipartisan War on Liberty. He holds people of every political stripe accountable for their failure to uphold conservative values, and he promotes those values instead of political parties.
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