What Did Donald Trump Mean When He Said

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump has received a lot of negative responses to his outright declaration that he is a nationalist, and on Sunday, the leader of one of America's oldest and closest allies added his voice to the critics' chorus.

Without mentioning Trump by name, French President Emmanuel Macron said "nationalism is a betrayal of patriotism" at a gathering of world leaders in France to commemorate the centennial anniversary of the end of World War I.

Macron defined nationalism as saying, "'Our involvement outset, who cares nigh the others?'" in a comment evoking the "America Get-go" philosophy Trump has long embraced.

Many observers have called Trump a nationalist since he entered the political ring, and he warmly embraced the characterization an Oct. 22 rally in Houston alee of the midterm elections.

"A globalist is a person that wants the earth to do well, frankly, not caring about our country so much. And y'all know what? Nosotros tin't have that," Trump said.

"You know, they have a word – it's sort of became old-fashioned – information technology's chosen a nationalist. And I say, really, we're non supposed to use that word. You know what I am? I'm a nationalist, okay? I'm a nationalist. Nationalist. Zippo wrong. Use that word. Utilise that discussion."

When asked by CNN's Jim Acosta the next day if he was concerned that his cover of the term could be construed as "coded language" or a "dog whistle" to Americans embracing a racist ideology, Trump said he was unaware the term carried any racist connotation and defended his use of the label.

"I love our country, and our state has taken 2nd fiddle," the president said, arguing that "we're giving all of our money, all of our wealth to other countries and so they don't care for usa properly."

And so, last week later the midterms, when "PBS NewsHour" contributor Yamiche Alcindor asked Trump if he might exist emboldening white nationalists, Trump told her she had asked a "racist question" and cited his poll numbers amidst African-Americans.

Trump'southward statements repeat themes that have been central to his political identity since he kickoff alleged himself a candidate for president. His explicit promise to put "America first" is a articulate expression of his nationalist ethos.

Nor is his encompass of the term new – although it was never quite so full-throated.

While once again denouncing many free trade agreements as unfair to the United States, Trump told reporters at the White House in February 2017, that he is a nationalist "in a truthful sense."

Strange policy skilful Max Boot, in a radio interview on the "Michelangelo Signorile Evidence," noted that the "word nationalism is not inherently toxic."

But "in the 20th century, nationalism has come to be associated with far-right politics, with fascism, with leaders like Mussolini, Hitler, Pinochet, Franco and others. And that is perhaps part of the reason why previous American presidents did not describe themselves as nationalists. They chosen themselves patriots."

Kick, a conservative and Trump critic, called it "somewhat reminiscent of the way (Trump) adopted 'America First' as an earlier campaign slogan, seemingly oblivious to the fact that this was the proper noun of the isolationist and pro-fascist policy of the 1930s, and now this is kind of more of the same."

Here'due south how John Breuilly, a professor of nationalism at the London Schoolhouse of Economics, summarizes nationalist conventionalities in his book, "Nationalism and the Country":

1. There exists a nation with an explicit and peculiar graphic symbol.
2. The interests and values of this nation take priority over all other interests and values.
3. The nation must be every bit independent as possible. This usually requires at least the attainment of political sovereignty.

That definition appears to sum up Trump's political philosophy.

"Now there is no question that on such criteria, Trump is a nationalist," Breuilly told United states of america TODAY in an electronic mail. "Notwithstanding, then is Gandhi, Nehru, Sukarno, F.D. Roosevelt. Most polls in most states today show that virtually people are proud of their nation and wish to protect and promote its interests. In that sense, most people in the world could be regarded every bit nationalists."

But Breuilly notes that people seem to mean something different when they refer to Trump as a nationalist.

"Nowadays we oftentimes find terms like 'ethno-nationalist' or 'far-right nationalist' or 'populist nationalist' or 'illiberal nationalist' used for people like Trump," he said.

Without context, "the word 'nation,' and hence 'nationalist' is empty. One time we have added these other terms, they are the actually significant ones," Breuilly said.

Steve Bannon, the sometime White Firm adviser who helped Trump craft his entrada, has long embraced nationalism and rejected "globalism." The right-fly website he edited, Breitbart, regularly expounded on such themes and has continued to practise so after Bannon's departure.

After Trump's speech in Oct, the site highlighted Trump'southward nationalist annunciation on Twitter.

Breitbart's association with the neo-fascist movement calling itself the "alt-correct" has led to many people conflating nationalism with "white nationalism," which not only claims a given nation should take priority, only that the white race should be protected and valued above all others.

In Europe, many nationalist movements that oppose an international world society and clearing into the continent are often overtly aligned with white nationalists and anti-Semitic groups.

For many of the president's critics, Trump'south embrace of the nationalist characterization signaled that he too embraces the racism and xenophobia associated with those movements.

"Does Trump know the historical luggage associated with this word, or is he ignorant? Honest question," tweeted erstwhile President Barack Obama's ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul.

"Trump's 'I'm a Nationalist' annotate will likely stand for the biggest boon for white supremacist recruitment since the film Nascency of a Nation glorified the Klan in 1915 and gained the KKK iv meg members past 1925," tweeted reformed neo-Nazi Christian Picciolini.

Film director and liberal activist Carl Reiner compared Trump's nationalist comprehend to Adolph Hitler in a tweet.

Several media outlets noted the words of tardily Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who warned of a "half-broiled, spurious nationalism" in a thinly-veiled reference to Trump during an Oct 2017 voice communication.

They too pointed to words of old President George W. Bush, who decried "nationalism distorted into nativism" that same calendar month.

But other presidents have used the term positively in the past. During a speech in Kansas in 2011, former President Barack Obama invoked Theodore Roosevelt'south 1910 call for a "new nationalism."

"Nosotros all the same believe that this should be a place where you lot tin can make it if yous try," Obama said. "And we still believe, in the words of the man who called for a New Nationalism all those years ago, 'The fundamental rule of our national life'  he said, "the dominion which underlies all others – is that, on the whole, and in the long run, nosotros shall go up or down together."

Several observers speculated that Trump'south hearty encompass of the nationalist label is aimed to burn up his political base heading into the midterm elections.

"The president's non really a nationalist," sometime White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci told CNN host Chris Cuomo. "He's an antagonist, he's not a nationalist."

"He'southward doing information technology because he wanted to antagonize people. He understands that he's a great wrecking brawl for that establishment. And he knows when that ball hits into the establishment, it galvanizes his base of operations and he instinctively knows it will turn out more voters for him come the midterm elections," Scaramucci said.

Trump has a long history of embracing, adopting and co-opting terms that are initially considered negative or off-limits.

Assay:Trump is a master of language

He and his supporters embraced Hillary Clinton's "sorry" label every bit a badge of award. And the president has successfully managed to make "fake news" his own insult for media coverage he dislikes when it originated as a term for the proliferation of imitation news stories on social media during the 2016 election.

"More often than not, Trump's invocation of nationalism is notwithstanding another invitation for Americans to dissever themselves over its true significant and his use of it. Trump, as he frequently does, is goading his opponents to read the worst into his words, while knowing that his own supporters will rally around the term and believe those opponents are simply anti-Trump or even anti-American," wrote The Washington Post's Aaron Blake.

"In some ways, Trump's use of the word was long overdue," Blake said.

Contributing: David Jackson, USA TODAY

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Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/10/24/trump-says-hes-nationalist-what-means-why-its-controversial/1748521002/

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