, Columnist
Don’t Let Trump Win All the Nationalists
Loyalty to a nation-state, especially when tempered by more universal values, is a force for good.
Two flags over America.
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Nationalism’s reputation was already low among intellectuals when President Donald Trump claimed the label for himself. “You know what I am?” the president said at a political rally last year. “I’m a nationalist, OK? Nationalist. Use that word.”
In response, Harvard historian Jill Lepore published a column titled “Don’t Let Nationalists Speak for the Nation,” in which she wrote: “Nationalism is an abdication of liberalism. It is also the opposite of patriotism.” Both of those claims would probably confuse the American people (not to mention me), or seem outright objectionable.