President Joe Biden has shared plenty of wisdom in recent years, but a couple of years ago, the Democratic incumbent delivered remarks on democracy, in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, that included comments that still linger.
“Democracy cannot survive when one side believes there are only two outcomes to an election: either they win or they were cheated. And that’s where MAGA Republicans are today,” Biden argued. “They don’t understand what every patriotic American knows: You can’t love your country only when you win.”
It’s a sentiment his predecessor and would-be successor fundamentally rejects. Mediaite reported:
Comedian Andrew Schulz had former President Donald Trump as a guest on his podcast for a friendly hour-and-a-half conversation. At one point, as the ex-president trashed the country he wants to lead again, Schulz stopped him to disagree with his assessment.
The Republican nominee, reflecting on his “MAGA” vision, insisted that the United States is “not a great country right now,” prompting the host to push back. “It’s always a great country,” Schulz said.
“See, that’s where I disagree,” Trump replied.
Trump: America is not a great country right now
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) October 9, 2024
Podcaster: It’s always a great country
Trump: See, that’s where I disagree pic.twitter.com/5DFhztPQuM
The back-and-forth continued for a while, and the former president continued to try to make his case. “I think when you have people that can’t walk down Fifth Avenue, when you have people that can’t walk down a street, it ceases to be [great],” Trump argued.
Let’s pause to note that plenty of people walk unharmed down American streets every day, and the nation’s crime rates are lower now than when Trump was in the White House.
But while those details are relevant, it’s the bigger picture that should probably carry greater weight: Trump is the first major-party presidential nominee in modern times to argue — repeatedly and publicly — that he just does not see the United States as a great country.
Indeed, his comments this week follow rhetoric from earlier this year in which the GOP nominee argued — in writing — that the U.S. is filled with “crooked” politicians, a corrupt judicial system and “rigged” elections. The Republican concluded that Americans live in a “failing nation” and a “nation in decline.”
Two years earlier, Trump published an item to his social media platform that referred to the country as “evil.”
As we discussed soon after, the rhetoric didn’t generate a lot of headlines, probably because much of the political world has grown accustomed to the former president’s conditional patriotism: Trump’s love of country is dependent on whether or not Americans have given him power.
He loves the United States — but only when he’s running it.
Indeed, it’s been a hallmark of the Republican’s perspective for nearly a decade.
In December 2015, for example, the then-candidate was asked about Vladimir Putin’s habit of invading countries and killing critics. “He’s running his country, and at least he’s a leader,” Trump replied, “unlike what we have in this country.” Reminded that Putin has been accused of ordering the murder of critics and journalists, Trump added, “Well, I think our country does plenty of killing also.”
It was an early reminder that he doesn’t always hold his home country in the highest regard. In a July 2016 interview with The New York Times, the Republican went on to argue that the U.S. lacks the moral authority to lead, because, as far as he was concerned, we simply weren’t a good enough country to command respect abroad. “When the world looks at how bad the United States is, and then we go and talk about civil liberties, I don’t think we’re a very good messenger,” he said. It was around this time when The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg noted that Barack Obama, whose patriotism was routinely questioned by his GOP detractors, “has never spoken as negatively about America as Donald Trump has.” After his successful campaign, Trump’s position eventually evolved. In the summer of 2019, for example, the then-president condemned those who “speak so badly” about the U.S. In the same tweet, he expressed disgust for those who say “many terrible things … about the United States.” That, of course, was before his 2020 defeat — after which he started describing his own country as “evil,” “crooked,” “failing” and “in decline.” There’s no great mystery here. When Trump is in a position of power, he thinks the U.S. is the greatest country in the history of the world. When he’s not, his admiration craters. When the Republican wins, he claims the moral high ground on patriotism. When he loses, he denigrates his own country in ways no former president has ever done. The result is a patriotism gap that probably deserves more attention as Election Day 2024 nears. This post updates our related earlier coverage.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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