“America is the greatest fighting force for peace, justice and freedom in the history of the world,” the president has said. “We are not going to apologize for America. We are going to stand up for America. No more apologies.”
No more apologies. No more groveling. No more self-flagellating ourselves on the world stage, as a certain, previous administration had done.
Trump is different. He goes over to Europe and he says, “Hey, we value our alliance. We love you guys, but it’s time for NATO members to stop free-riding on the American taxpayers.” Imagine that. An American president in Europe standing up for you, looking out for your hard-earned money.
Of course, the foreign policy elites back home shuddered, and they fumed and sputtered upon hearing all of this, preferring, of course, Obama’s approach. Seizing a better future is exactly what President Trump has begun to do for America, but not by marinating in guilt over past wrongs in public, but by growing the economy — real hope.
The Obama crew said he couldn’t do it. But with a crack team of dedicated pros, Trump renegotiated old trade deals to make them more pro-American worker, and he’s holding trade cheaters like China accountable. It’s about time. Now, can you ever imagine Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg speaking as triumphantly, as unapologetically, about American dominance in manufacturing, as Trump?
Trump is also unapologetic about the government’s duty to enforce our borders, and also to tailor immigration to America’s needs and values. But by contrast, the Democrats, they recoil from such terms as “American sovereignty,” and they push instead for abolishing of ICE and even abolishing the classification of illegals as “illegal.” They feel angry about America’s past and present. And America acting in America’s interest? Oh no, he can’t do that.
Now the president was particularly incensed last week when footage circulated of freshman Congresswoman Ilhan Omar referring to 9/11 as an occasion where “some people did something.” So he retweeted Omar’s video, and then he included clips of the planes going into the World Trade Center towers.
Well, the left, of course, wasn’t upset about Omar’s original comments. They were mad at Trump, claiming he’s the problem by endangering Omar’s life.
In a local interview in Minnesota on Monday, Trump was characteristically unapologetic. When asked if he had second thoughts about criticizing Omar, he replied, “No, not at all. Look, she’s been very disrespectful to this country. She’s been very disrespectful, frankly, to Israel. She’s someone that doesn’t really understand, I think, life. Real life, what it’s all about. It’s unfortunate. She’s got a way about her that’s very, very bad, I think, for our country. I think she’s extremely unpatriotic and extremely disrespectful to our country.”
Disrespectful to our country — well, I think a lot of Americans agree with him. Like Obama before her, Omar reflexively apologizes for even in tone, ridiculing America for being worried about Al Qaeda. Yes, because we actually recoil at evil. America and Britain, we don’t believe in evil, congresswoman. So, we bristle at it.
Yes, we have to be clear here that Omar’s not alone. The Democratic Party is becoming infected with this self-loathing quality. More of its members today feel guilty about America’s past, and they want to turn that guilt into the ultimate expiation for our sins — the sins of colonialism, racism, misogyny, et cetera, et cetera. And they feel justified in tearing down history, in attacking religious symbols with deep historical roots and even refusing to participate in patriotic displays.
2020 is shaping up to be a showdown between more traditional America and this new kind of twisted vision of America. And no matter who the Democratic nominee is, this is the ideological struggle before us. And it’s hard right now at least to imagine that the American people would not again embrace the true audacity that unapologetic nature of Trump — his unwillingness to bow down to the media and political correctness at the moment, and his determination to protect the honor and the people of this country. His habit of standing up to the political elite and refusing to back down.
Now, there are words for this approach. We used to call it American leadership. Maybe we still do.
