President Donald Trump touted the benefits of “nationalism” Saturday while promoting a book that calls for Americans to return to a nationalist mindset in order to make the United States strong again.
Trump once again called on Americans to adopt a nationalist mindset on Saturday morning, tweeting a plug for conservative National Review editor Rich Lowry’s latest book, The Case for Nationalism. Lowry argues that the term “nationalism” has been corrupted by modern Democratic Party members and the “cosmopolitan” elite who have tied the word to fascist and Nazi ideologies. Trump was criticized earlier this year after telling the United Nations General Assembly that the world should return to nationalist roots rather than globalism.
“Bringing the word ‘Nationalism’ back into the mainstream – great job by Rich Lowry! Very important book,” Trump wrote on Twitter Saturday morning.
Appearing on the Fox Business Network Friday, Lowry praised Trump for picking up the “very powerful baton” of nationalism after he claimed both the Republican and Democratic parties “totally turned their back” on the concept in recent decades. He highlighted Trump’s stance on securing the southern border with Mexico as well as “putting our interests first” in the global marketplace.
Lowry criticized those who he argued turned nationalism into a “dirty word.” He cited frequent complaints about Trump using jingoistic or tribal language considered adjacent to nationalism.
Lowry made the claim that “democratic nationalists” such as Winston Churchill and Franklin Delano Roosevelt were the ones who defeated Adolf Hitler and Germany’s National Socialist party. He said that any connections between nationalism and hatred, racism or fascism was a complete misunderstanding. Lowry told Fox Business host Gregg Jarrett Friday that nationalism was what won the U.S. Civil War.
“Nationalism, or at least national feeling, is very old, it’s very basic, very natural, very powerful. Empires have tried to wipe it out over centuries, totalitarian ideologies have tried to wipe it out, they always fail,” Lowry said. “You get no American Revolution without it, you get no Constitution without it, you get no victory in the Civil War without it. This nation, our ideals are important, but we’re not just an idea, we are a nation with a culture.”
Lowry discussed the etymology of “nationalism,” saying the root of the word came from “padre and patriarchy,” indicating a love of the “fatherland.”
In September, Trump urged countries around the world to reject globalism and for wise leaders to put the desires of their citizens before those of other countries.
“The free world must embrace its national foundations. It must not attempt to erase them or replace them,” the president told the U.N. General Assembly. “The future does not belong to globalists, the future belongs to patriots.”
Lowry lamented a quote from French President Emmanuel Macron earlier this year in which he said “nationalism is a betrayal of patriotism.” He argued that it’s ironic Macron would make that statement and he traced nationalism through French history from Joan of Arc all the way up to Charles de Gaulle in World War II.
Lowry’s book was not the only literature Trump was perusing through this weekend. He also claimed to have just read Donald Trump Jr.’s latest book targeting left-wing critics of his father.
“Just finished reading my son Donald’s just out new book, ‘Triggered.’ It is really good! He, along with many of us, was very unfairly treated. But we all fight back, and we always win!” Trump tweeted Saturday.
Lowry rebuked New Yorker staff writer Isaac Chotiner Saturday morning for quoting his remarks after the deadly August 2017 Charlottesville, Virginia attacks sparked by white nationalist, neo-Nazi rallies. Lowry remarked that he didn’t have a problem with Trump “condemning both sides” because both the white supremacists and the peaceful counter-protesters “both resorted to violence.”
