Trump’s presidency heralds a patriotic renewal

The most iconic image from the 2024 campaign came from the Butler, Pennsylvania, rally, where President-elect Donald Trump stood with blood on his face, pumping his fist and shouting “fight,” while the American flag waved proudly overhead.

The moment seems to symbolize the patriotic renewal, thanks to the next president.

Acquiring Greenland, returning the Panama Canal and making Canada the 51st state – Manifest Destiny anyone? The Panama Canal is essential. Greenland looks promising. Canada is fanciful.

But the fact we’re even talking about this signals a return of national pride. Nations unsure of themselves look only inward. The self-confident look outward too.

This is a positive reaction to decades of anti-American indoctrination on the left, from public education, academia, Hollywood and the news media. People have to be taught to hate their country.

In a June Gallup poll, only 41% of the public said they were “extremely proud” to be Americans, the lowest ever recorded. In a 2023 Wall Street Journal-NORC survey, just 38% said patriotism was very important to them, compared to 70% in the same poll in 1998.

The Gallup poll also showed a 25-point partisan gap, with 59% of Republicans expressing extreme pride in America compared to 34% of Democrats. That difference may have contributed to the GOP’s historic victory in November, which marked the first time in 20 years that its standard bearer carried the popular vote.

Mr. Trump’s triumph – 77 million votes and tens of thousands of screaming and flag-waving fans at rallies – gave timid souls permission to love America again.

The Nov. 26 Newsweek observed, “Among the many lessons driven home by Donald Trump’s triumphal comeback is a sense, particularly among young voters, that they don’t have to feel ashamed of being patriotic.”

Patriotism should come as naturally as breathing. But, in recent times, we’ve become dangerously short of breath.

Along with faith and family, the left attacks patriotism at every opportunity.

Through its cultural megaphone, it broadcasts its message relentlessly: America wasn’t “settled.” It was stolen from indigenous people. Our wealth is based on slavery and the exploitation of immigrant labor. The westward expansion resulted in genocide. Our wars were driven by empire-building.

Mr. Trump is perfectly positioned to lead a patriotic renewal. While others talk about patriotism, he acts.

He established the 1776 Commission during his first term to promote “patriotic education.” The commission issued its report two days before Mr. Trump’s first term ended. Members included historians, a college president and a Cabinet member.

During demonstrations against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington in July, which included desecration of the American flag by the Hamas marching band, Mr. Trump called for a year in jail for flag-burning.

As a candidate in 2016, Mr. Trump said anyone who burned the American flag should face “consequences,” such as loss of citizenship.

It’s true that in one of its more bizarre rulings, in 1989, the Supreme Court held 5-4 that flag-burning is symbolic speech protected by the First Amendment. But every member of that court is gone.

In June, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that by banning a “there are only two genders” T-shirt, a public school did not violate a student’s free speech rights. Will the federal judiciary hold that gender ideology deserves more protection than the flag that covered my father’s coffin?

Our nation’s survival depends on patriotism. Since its founding, America has welcomed millions of people of every race, religion and nationality and forged them into a nation based on common values and a shared history.

All four of my grandparents were immigrants. Even though no one in my family fired on the Redcoats at Bunker Hill, held Cemetery Ridge at Gettysburg or charged up San Juan Hill, I grew up believing America’s history was my history.

It’s that sense of common destiny that caused millions of young Americans to shed their life’s blood from Antietam to the Argonne and Bastogne to Baghdad.

If not for the love of country, what should we ask them to make the ultimate sacrifice for – diversity, equity and inclusion, racial reparations, drag queen story hour, or “gender-affirming” care?

Mr. Trump understands that national security hinges on patriotic renewal. Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth, a combat veteran, agrees. And now, many young Americans are swearing allegiance to the cause.

This column was first published at the Washington Times.