Across the country last week, liberal activists marched in opposition to President Donald Trump. These so-called "No Kings" marches claimed Trump was a tyrant and that Americans had a duty to resist him, just as the Founders resisted the British centuries ago.
Indeed, Democrats tried to cloak the marches in patriotic fervor, posting, “Opposing kings since 1776,” alongside photos of protesters meant to evoke the Founding era.
But this cosplay patriotism collapses under the crushing weight of recent memory. The modern Democratic Party is composed fully of activists who spent years denigrating America as irredeemably racist and evil.
The numbers back this up. A recent Gallup poll showed that only 36 percent of self-identified Democrats say they are "extremely" or "very" proud to be American. An SRS poll conducted last year claimed “86 percent of Republicans believe patriotism has a positive impact on the U.S., Democrats are more divided, with 45 percent seeing the impact as positive, 37 percent negative.” That same poll showed “Republicans are significantly more likely than Democrats (65 percent to 28 percent) to say they are very patriotic.”
But who needs numbers? We’ve seen the evidence that Democrats hate America with our own eyes.
Just five years ago, riots embroiled cities across the nation in anti-American fury. In my hometown of Portland, statues of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Lewis and Clark, and pioneer settlers were toppled, defaced, or destroyed.
Schools in Democratic strongholds taught that America and whites are evil, and that they brutalize minorities and women. Those same schools often found themselves renamed if they bore the mantle of a “problematic individual” like Abraham Lincoln.
And when an American flag burns, odds are the arsonist votes blue.
Now that Trump is back in office, these same voices suddenly claim to be the true patriots, arguing that the man who won both the popular vote and the Electoral College is somehow an existential threat to democracy.
Spare me.
This faux patriotism surfaced again when liberals tried to criticize Trump for his changes to the East Wing of the White House. Leftist commentator Will Stancil posted, “Is there literally nothing we can do to stop Trump from demolishing the White House? It's our house, not his, it's our history, and he's reducing it to rubble because he wants a monument to himself."
Rep. Jamie Raskin invoked the War of 1812, likening Trump’s renovations to the British torching the building. Ironically, Raskin didn’t seem to have any problems with “renovations” when he applauded the mobs toppling monuments during the George Floyd riots.
“The vast majority of the people in the streets are protesting nonviolently but in righteous anger at the injustice of police killings,” he wrote on May 31, 2020. “I stand with them in demanding justice for George Floyd.”
Raskin knew rioters had been looting stores, burning cars, and destroying public property. They’d been doing so for almost a full week when he made the statement. Yet he still parroted a nonsense narrative that leftists in the streets were “mostly peaceful.”
Later, when rioters attempted to storm the White House after trying to tear down statues in Lafayette Square, Raskin complained that Trump used tear gas for a “photo op” at St. John’s Church, ignoring the violent thugs raging around him.
No mention of the chaos. No mention of the anti-American vandalism.
Democrats’ bid to recast themselves as the party of patriotism will be short-lived and mocked by the public. Americans won’t forget who tore down the statues of their heroes, who taught their children that America is defined by racism, and who cheered as cities and American flags burned.
Patriotism isn’t a costume Democrats can pull out when it polls well, but a conviction forged in genuine love of country. No amount of rebranding can make up for years spent sneering at those of us who’ve stood by the Stars and Stripes through the good times and the bad.