Patriots Turned Terrorists

 Let's start by defining some terms here;

Patriotism. You see and hear that word being thrown around a lot by Trump and his followers. It means “devoted love, support, and defense of one’s country; national loyalty.” Examples of people commonly labeled as patriotic include our military service members as well as state and local government representatives. But folks such as diplomats, teachers, first responders, and everyday citizens who do extraordinary acts all exemplify patriotism in the many forms of good they do in service of their communities and the country.

There are millions of government employees, as well as millions who volunteer their time in the interest of their country. Individual acts of pride, such as displaying an American flag at one’s home, are also examples of patriotism.

Now let's talk about Nationalism. This is really what Trump is constantly mislabeling as patriotism. And I'm quite sure the vast majority of his followers really do not grasp the difference. That is completely clear to me after the events that unfolded at the U.S. Capitol Building this past Wednesday.

In most contexts today, nationalism is “the policy or doctrine of asserting the interests of one’s own nation viewed as separate from the interests of other nations or the common interests of all nations.” In short, nationalism is a kind of excessive, aggressive patriotism. Nationalism isn't necessarily 'bad' - it's rooted, in part, in French and American revolutions that fought for the sovereignty of their people over monarchies. This historic nationalism is generally viewed favorably, a cornerstone of Western liberalism and democracy.

However, fascist regimes have merged the fervor of nationalism with the notions of superiority, especially when it comes to ethnicity and religion. In such contexts,  patriots can become those who happened to agree with you or look like you, and traitors those who do not. And here's where Trump makes his grand entrance. The only true patriots in Trump's universe are those that agree with him. Period. If you disagree, you are (pick one or all):

• Fake News
• Un-American
• Antifa
• Communists
• Socialist
• Anti-American
• Deep State

And here's where millions of misled, misinformed, disenfranchised, and politically-ignorant Americans have fallen prey to Trump's rhetoric, lies, and outlandish conspiracy theories. Most of these people have always felt like they were short-changed or robbed of their version or vision of "the American Dream."  Many aren't well-educated or are unwilling or unable to grasp or embrace progressive ideals. Many exist in a sort of rural America type of quasi-isolation. Others are just straight-up intolerant of other races, religions, cultures, or political views. They know what they know and that's fine and dandy and enough for them. After all, it's human nature to fear and avoid what you do not or can not understand. So when someone like Trump comes along and taps into these people's insecurities, ignorance, frustration, distrust of government, and intolerance of others who are different in any number of ways, you've got yourself the perfect storm. History has a way of repeating itself over and over again so we only need to go back as far as Adolf Hitler to see the striking similarities with how he and Donald Trump rose to power and duped a nation into going along with or acquiescing to their racist, fascist doctrines thinly veiled under a false flag of patriotism.

So, honestly, I felt bad for -even pitied- some of those Trump supporters taking part in the protests in Washington D.C. on Tuesday night and Wednesday. I guess it's in my nature to try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. I'd like to believe that most of us are just trying to do the right thing and sometimes we're just not properly educated or informed about what 'the right thing' is. I use as an example the countless young patriotic American young men and women who enlisted in the United States Armed Forces and ended up fighting in conflicts around the world (Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan) only to end up questioning why they were actually there killing people who had, in reality, done nothing that directly and imminently threatened the United States. Soldiers returning from Vietnam were spat on and called baby killers by their fellow citizens. Many veterans of Iraq or Afghanistan returned home traumatized, disillusioned, and unsure of what they really accomplished during their combat tours aside from killing a bunch of strangers that their government classified as enemies. Many of these soldiers end up as scapegoats of the government and prosecuted for basically doing what they were trained or ordered to do. Are they all evil? Are they all idiots? No. They were just trying to do 'the right thing' according to what they understood 'the right thing' to be. Some, definitely not all, of the Trump supporters that descended upon the Capitol fall into this same category.

It's embarrassing to unwittingly put your trust in and lend your allegiance to what ends up being an unjust cause or corrupt individual, but is it unlawful? I don't know the answer to that. I think it's debatable on a case-by-case basis. What there should be zero debate about here is the fact that Trump encouraged and incited this behavior from his followers. Whether you believe Trump is just lying or actually believes that this election was fraudulently stolen from him, the fact remains that he is the primary person responsible for the assault on the Capitol yesterday. And right there with him are all his Republican enablers to include his White House Cabinet and Staff. All of those individuals are either willing to support Trump's lies or to ignore and enable Trump's lunacy in order to preserve their paychecks and their political party's aspirations and goals. Period. There's no other explanation. So Trump and all of his government enablers must be held responsible for Wednesday's assault on the Capitol. They must if we, as a nation, are to move past and above this abhorrent moment in America's history. This isn't the kind of thing we simply sweep under the rug and 'agree to disagree' about. That won't work.

Wednesday was a horrific and sad day in American history on so many levels. Let's call it exactly what it was; a domestic terror attack on the U.S. Capitol. After spending trillions of dollars since 9/11 on protecting our nation from a terrorist attack by foreign extremists, we watched thousands of our own citizens being co-opted into the service of a wanna-be dictator. God help us as a nation. Aside from swiftly and severely calling out and punishing the ringleaders, where do we go from here? I seriously do not know. I have so many more questions than answers. The biggest question for me at the moment is how in the hell do we undo all the lies and misinformation that Trump and his minions have promulgated throughout the last four years? Any and all conflicting or dissenting views were quickly, forcefully, and continually dismissed as 'fake news' by Trump and his staff and spokespeople. He stopped doing press conferences and, instead, took to Twitter for all his official communications. No one could question what he was claiming. He existed in the safe Twitter universe with all his followers who hung on his every tweet. He continually tried to punish and bully any journalist or politician who dared to question his claims and he very successfully convinced the majority of his followers that there was some sort of deep state conspiracy led by the Democrats and the major news media to unseat and discredit him. Sadly, it's now at the point that none of this can be effectively challenged or debated. Trump and all his followers somehow live in this alternate version of reality. They have their own news sources, their own social media hangouts, and consider anything 'mainstream' as fake news. How do we get past those obstacles and attempt to get some meaningful dialogue going with the millions of people who still support Trump? How do we bring all these brainwashed, reprogrammed people back into the real world? Again, I don't know. I'm asking you. I'm asking our new president. I'm certain that continuing to scream at each other and ridicule one another won't accomplish anything but more division and more mistrust. 

The fact that we will have a new President in twelve days is a start. A President that we expect will act like a real commander in chief and one we hope will honor his pledge to do his best to be a president to everyone in America; not just the citizens who voted for him, but to all Americans. That's going to be an extremely difficult task given the level of misinformation and deceit that Trump has been able to spoon-feed his supporters over the years. I wish Joe Biden and Kamala Harris all the best. I hope they can find some answers to the questions I asked earlier in this post. I hope we all can. It definitely starts with listening more and arguing less. God Save the United States of America.