The President’s speech to the UN General Assembly this morning was basically a modified rally speech. He started off with his usual vigorous patting himself on the back, which was received well…
Trump begins his UN speech by saying his administration has accomplished more than "almost any administration in the history of our country." There is some laughter in the hall. "So true," he says. The laughter gets louder. "Didn't expect that reaction," Trump says.
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 25, 2018
WOW! The UN audience laughs at Trump after he claims, "my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country." pic.twitter.com/tXg50ejQqy
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 25, 2018
So that went well. But as the speech went on, it went someplace weird. And not just weird, but obscurely weird.
Trump: "We reject the ideology of globalism, and we embrace the doctrine of patriotism."
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 25, 2018
We already know that globalism is the code that Stephen Miller and Steve Bannon use to refer to not just the current global system of international trade, international relations, and international security agreements, but to Jews. It is intended to be understood, if I may, literally by the majority of people who aren’t anti-Semites or anti-Semitic curious and figuratively by the President’s supporters who are. But what is this Doctrine of Patriotism? The Doctrine of Patriotism was proposed by Charles Spurgeon a mid to late 19th Century Calvinist Baptist from London.
Specifically, Spurgeon wrote (emphasis mine):
Patriotism is an instinct which is found, I think, in every true Englishman. And most of the other nations of the earth can also boast of their patriots. Let it never be said that the Church of God has no feeling of patriotism for the Holy City, for the Heavenly Land and for her glorious King enthroned above. To us, Christian patriotism means love to the Church of God, for—
“There our best friends, our kindred dwell, There God our Savior reigns.”
Let us have loyalty, by all means, but, chiefly, loyalty to Christ! Let us have true patriotism, but, especially that patriotism which consists in love to “the land of the living” of which Christ is the one King and Ruler.
So here too we have the President using a phrase that is going to either just get a “hmm, that sounds a bit odd” or “what does he mean by that” from most listeners, including scholars of international relations and security and national security professionals and that is going to be heard and understood differently by a very specific group of the President’s base: white Evangelical Christians. Moreover, this concept dovetails with a lot of Putin’s attempts to use and leverage the Russian Orthodox Church to promote himself to white American Evangelicals, as well as a variety of American and European white supremacists, neo-NAZIs, neo-fascists, and neo-nationalists. The President’s use of the doctrine of patriotism, like his use of the term globalist, is meant to be taken figuratively by his base and fellow travelers, but literally by everyone else who doesn’t speak in this coded jargon.
Sweet jumping jeebus. Tha what? https://t.co/Sbb9W7809H
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) September 25, 2018
Aside from the fact that realism can’t really be principled by its very nature, neither of these two things – principled realism and the doctrine of patriotism – are actually the Trump Doctrine. The Trump Doctrine, as we’ve discussed here extensively, is “I will be treated fairly or else and only I can ensure that America will be treated fairly or else and only I can ensure that the forgotten men and women of America will be treated fairly or else.”
I’m sure tomorrow’s UN Security Council meeting is going to go very smoothly…
Open thread.
The President Had Quite the Morning at the UNPost + Comments (209)