The essential anti-Americanism of Trump-Musk-Vance
They operate with utter contempt for American people, history, institutions and creed.
What America stands FOR
"The American's Creed" is a statement of principle that seeks to encapsulate the common belief system of the American people. Written by William Tyler Page as the winning entry to a patriotic contest, it was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on April 3, 1918. Sourced from the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Federalist Papers, the Gettysburg Address, the national anthem and the Oath of Office, it reads:
I believe in the United States of America, as a government of the people, by the people, for the people; whose just powers are derived from the consent of the governed; a democracy in a republic; a sovereign Nation of many sovereign States; a perfect union, one and inseparable; established upon those principles of freedom, equality, justice, and humanity for which American patriots sacrificed their lives and fortunes. I therefore believe it is my duty to my country to love it, to support its Constitution, to obey its laws, to respect its flag, and to defend it against all enemies.
What America stands AGAINST
“Two of probably the most foundational, defining things about American history is that we beat the Confederates and we beat the Nazis,” said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in January. To that, I would add: Soviet KGB agents.
What Trump-Musk-Vance stand AGAINST
Go back and read The American’s Creed with the Trump-Musk-Vance’s game plan in mind. It has been anything but a “government by/of/for the people.” Rather, governing consists of edicts from Trump’s desk and the personal whims of Elon Musk, done in complete disregard whether such actions are allowable by law – laws that are the manifestation of the by/of/for the people. “Consent of the people” is ignored, as Trump and Musk believe they can do whatever they want, unconstrained by law and norms. “Freedom, equality, justice and humanity” are disregarded if not mocked -- removing existence from transgender people, stripping citizenship from American citizens, dismantling institutions and polices established to promote equality and justice across society and to disadvantaged groups, and treating Americans they consider part of out-groups with cruelty and disdain. And fundamentally, rather than support the Constitution, Trump has sought to redefine key pieces (14th Amendment) and erase its core check-and-balances, with willing complicity of a bootlicking Congressional majority.
What Trump-Musk-Vance stand FOR
Looking only at their actions, you would think that the country that Trump-Musk-Vance claim to represent is on the side of Nazis, Confederates and KGB agents:
Musk’s Nazi salute. Trump’s praise of Hitler’s generals and saying Hitler did “some good things”. Vance’s meeting with, and Musk’s championing of, AfD, Germany’s neo-Nazi party. Trump characterizing neo-Nazi marchers as “very fine people.”
Trump’s praise of Robert E. Lee, the general commanding forces in rebellion against the United States, his defense of statues of Confederate generals, and support for the Confederate flag. Vance saying the Civil War never really ended and identifying with the South. Trump’ move to dismantle the key Constitutional Amendment enacted following the Civil War, the 14th, which provides equal protection under the law, as part of a program to undo civil rights protections and institutions.
Trump’s 180 degree turn of U.S. policy to be favorable to former Soviet KGB agent Vladimir Putin, about whom he has never said a negative word, their abandonment of Ukraine and long-standing European allies, and their desire to end NATO.
Their essential anti-Americanism
America is an amalgam of all that Americans have built over the decades and centuries – our history, our communal experience, our successes and failures, our setbacks and comebacks, our crimes and restitutions, our common values, our institutions, our culture in all its diversity, our national symbols. By nature of our founding democratic principles, we are a nation by/of/for the people.
But that is not how Trump-Musk-Vance see America. They view America as a commodity to be shaped, disrupted, deconstructed, beaten and plundered to serve their personal and political whims. They don’t see the amalgam that is America as something to be respected but rather a thing they can exploit.
This is why I say without reservation that Trump-Musk-Vance are anti-American. Through their disrespect of things Americans have built, they hold Americans in contempt.
Case in point: think of all the sacrifice in lives, blood, toil and prosperity that Americans made to win World War II. Defeating Hitler was a national imperative. And a source of national pride. For 80 years, it has been among our highest and proudest accomplishments. We salute the Greatest Generation. But today Trump-Musk-Vance are taking a shit on the Greatest Generation by valorizing the symbols (Nazi salute), thought (antisemitism) and successors (AfD) that they fought against in defense of freedom.
Trump-Musk-Vance claim they’re pro-American. But take a closer look at the slogan “Make America Great Again.” Ruminate over Make America. It can be read with a tone of external or top-down imposition, of coercion, of conversion. Keep that in mind as you watch their behavior.
Of course, U.S. history is full of refutations of the creed -- “Lost Cause” defenders of the Confederacy like the Klu Klux Klan, Nazi sympathizers like Charles Lindbergh and the first “America First” movement. And Dwight Schrute:
Consider the phrase “this is not who we are!” uttered with frequency in response to the various cruelties and vulgarities of Trump 1.0, designed to appeal to a national moral core. It was met with swift retort by cynics and historians (a not insignificant overlap) who pointed to the historical record to show that indeed, this is who we are: slavery, Dred Scott, Chinese Exclusion Act, Japanese internment, McCarthy-ism, etc.
This is true and those are facts. But through it all, Americans keep re-affirming the ideals and principles outlined in the creed. We inscribe them on monuments and memorials. We learn them in civics class. We recite them in patriotic essay contests. We see celebrate then each July 4. We carry them in in our pockets,[1] with the national motto “E pluribus unum” on each coin.
America can credibly claim to be the only country founded on an idea. And yet our history is the recurring story of ways we fail to live up the ideals contained in the Declaration of Independence and Constitution. But that is also human nature, experienced collectively. The fact that we have these ideals engraved in our national culture gives us the tools and resilience to identify and correct for the times that factions and movements pull us astray.
In this we see that what Trump-Musk-Vance are doing is anti-American. In character and intent, their policies have far more in common with the tides that pulled us astray, manifested in Jim Crow, the Chinese Exclusion Act, Japanese internment, the Alien and Sedition Acts, the Espionage Act. As we absorb American history, directly in class or indirectly through political culture, we have been taught that these events are Bad Things, times where American departed from core principles.
The ideals outlined in the creed tell us that history will judge what Trump-Musk-Vance are doing as a Bad Thing. The big question, however, is whether such history will be told by underground writers and exiles that challenge the Official History approved by a one-party authoritarian American state, or in classrooms in free and open American society that our resilience has safeguarded.
[1] Not for long, though. My kids operate complete cash- and coinless.
The likes of Thiel and Yarvin helped drive these anti-American ideas into the wider world.
https://thucydidesii.substack.com/p/network-cities-enter-the-chat