In Defense of Trump's 'Day of Patriotic Devotion'

So Donald Trump declared his inauguration a “National Day of Patriotic Devotion.” Left-wing Twitter went into a frenzy about how creepily quasi-fascist this was. Right-wing Twitter went into a frenzy pointing out that Barack Obama had declared his own inauguration a “National Day of Renewal and Reconciliation.” Left-wing Twitter angrily responded that those things are completely different, implying that if you couldn’t see the difference between a beautiful and healing day of renewal and reconciliation, and a disgusting celebration of atavistic nationalism, you might be something of a fascist. And I, bordering on something perilously close to despair, thought, “Guys, this is why Red America hates us.”

It used to be a trope on the right that the left thought patriotism was a bad word -- a charge the left angrily denied. Now here we have a surprisingly large number of people arguing that … patriotism is a bad word, and wildly inappropriate when issued from the Oval Office. Or at least, more than a bit uncouth.