To look for America

On the fourth of July, some wrestle with what it means to be a citizen

“I really do. I hate them.”

So said President and convicted felon Donald Trump at a “Salute to America” event Thursday night, once again downgrading the office of POTUS to more closely resemble a ring for a World Wide Wresting Federation match.

He was talking about the Democratic legislators who voted against increasing the deficit, empowering tycoons to buy sixth and seventh yachts and hoped to somehow retain minimal health care coverage for their constituents.

This was proceeded with: “They wouldn’t vote [for the big, awful bill] only because they hate Trump, but I hate them, too, you know that?”

And continued with: “I cannot stand them, because I really believe they hate our country, if you want to know the truth.”

Yet it’s not the Democrats who betrayed their constituents’ trust — as some Republicans confessed they were doing, even as they held their noses for their stinky votes. They were willing to boot millions of Americans off health care and increase the federal deficit to never-before-seen levels in exchange for Made-in-China presidential merch.

Earlier in the speech, Trump introduced Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, former governor of North Dakota, as the Secretary of Energy “plus a lot of land,” whatever that means, and a former governor of North Carolina. I guess even a very stable genius who’s been anointed by God can make a mistake.

But his claims about the Democrats who don’t want to see more money transferred from the poor to the rich — from where else do rich people get their money? — reminded me of an incident in 2019 when he had a beef with another group of Democrats. At the time, I wrote:

Another is that President Trump told some Democratic representatives, American women of color ― “the Squad” ― that they didn’t belong here and should go back to their own countries. Pressed to explain, he accused them of hating America.

“They have to love our country,” Trump said. …

But the real reason for Trump’s complaint was pretty transparent, as it usually is. It was Trump they didn’t love.

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But considering his confusion between self and country, a thought occurs to me: For the record — and this will be increasingly important this year, I believe — you don’t have to love our country. You certainly don’t have to love the corrupt and inept president, the self-congratulatory braggart and sexual offender who currently, unfortunately, represents the American people to the rest of the world. (Don’t worry, they know that something’s off.)

You don’t even have to love our Constitution, our laws, our culture, our holidays. You can be a religious fanatic or a communist or a doomsday prepper or an anarchist or a tech bro or a moody teenager and it doesn’t matter. If you’re an American citizen, you still have the same rights and privileges as any poorly-educated, star-spangled MAGA maniac. In the land of the free, you have the freedom to hate freedom, if you so choose. There’s nothing illegal or disenfranchising about being a socialist or a Muslim or a Democrat or a Universalist Unitarian or a New York mayoral candidate. You have the right to disagree — even with disagreement. That’s how citizenship works. That’s how freedom, guaranteed by our Constitution, works. It’s one reason so many of Trump’s lawsuits, based on his personal displeasure, fail.

It’s also a reflection of our nation’s strength. A weak nation is afraid of criticism and stifles dissent.

So does a weak president.

A strong nation is not afraid to let everyone speak.

Given the matters of the last few days — the bill that represents the destruction of our social safety net, a long-term project of the Christian nationalists — the floundering and farcical military parade — the ICE agents doing their best Gestapo imitation — it’s important to remember that Trump, once again, is wrong, and we can say so, loudly, fully-chested, in the middle of a pedestrian bridge or a supermarket. You don’t have to love the country to be “a real American.”

Yet I do. I’ll bet you do, too.

I love our country. I love its big cities and small towns, its farms, its park land; its forests, mountains, beaches and deserts. I love its freedom and its culture — or, I should say, “cultures.” Because I especially love its diversity. I love that millions of people can enjoy cuisine, music, art, religious practices that will never appeal to me. It doesn’t have to be all about me.

I love what we’ve accomplished in the fields of science and medicine. I love the creativity and ingenuity that flows here from the rest of the world, then back out again.

I love its people, their generosity and compassion. I love their hopefulness. Their grit.

I love their tears, like mine, in the face of suffering. I love their hearts.

I love our country’s aspirational founding and Constitution — a beacon through the darkness of human greed and oppression.

When all is said and done, Trump et al is trying to create a false America: a white male Christian homeland in which they will be privileged above everyone else — and free to disenfranchise everyone else. Trump’s attack on the 14^th Amendment is an attack on citizenship itself. (If it’s not a birthright, what is it? Who gets to be American? Do you have to swear fealty to the king, like they do?) The unlawful and overreaching attack on immigrants is an attack on our humanity. Despite the increasing claims, supported by this administration, that immigrants, transgender individuals, and other scapegoats are trying to “replace” “real Americans,” they are the ones who are trying to replace our true greatness with a simulacrum, a false, plastic veneer of homogenous stagnation in which everyone must bow, in North Korean fashion, before Dear Leader. They are the ones who hate America.

I don’t hate them for that, though. I pity them.

And I love this country enough to fight against them, to the best of my ability.

It’s hard to celebrate our nation’s founding today, when we see it under attack from within, when we see what makes it great sacrificed to unholy greed and fascist oppression.

I can’t celebrate their false America.

I can celebrate ours.

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Overflow:

Another excerpt from that same essay, one of many gathered in my book, “Stardust and Scar Tissue”:

There are things about this nation that shame me, that anger me, many of them related to a pervasive cultural insistence on monetizing everything. From clean air and water to health care to education, someone is always asking, how much is it going to cost me to do the right thing? And we accept that as not just legitimate, but admirable. We allow some people to storehouse their wealth while helpless people go hungry. One doesn’t have to be a socialist to say that something is wrong with that system.

I get to say those things. And so do you.

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Here’s Trump from yesterday, making racism great again:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-accused-using-blatant-vile-075353465.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall

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From noon to 6 pm Saturday and Sunday I’ll be at Bookmarks bookstore in downtown Winston-Salem, selling fox art to benefit Save A Fox Rescue in Lakeville, Minnesota, in honor of its founder, Mikayla Raines, who recently passed away far too soon. I’ll also be showing video footage from Fox-a-Lago; very sweet stuff. Stop by and say hi!

From 4:30 to 6 pm every Monday, a group gathers on the Green Street pedestrian bridge to express our desire for a better world. In addition, another group gathers from 7:30 to 9 am every Tuesday. Come join us! While you still can!

If you need something to read, my first book, “Stardust and Scar Tissue,” is available from Bookmarks, Book Ferret, The Eclectible Shop and from the publisher, Press 53.

My newer book, “Tiny Sliver of a Moon” is available from Bookmarks, Book Ferret, The Eclectible Shop and the trunk of my car.

This seems like a good song for today:

Thanks for being here today. If you know anyone who should be with us, please send them this way.