By David French, July 15, 2019<\/p>\n
In 2016 Speaker Paul Ryan called Donald Trump\u2019s attacks on Judge Alonzo Curiel \u2014 Trump had called the American-born judge \u201cMexican\u201d and claimed he was therefore too biased to preside over the Trump University litigation \u2014 the \u201ctextbook definition of a racist comment.\u201d That critique also applies to Trump\u2019s tweet thread yesterday<\/a>, a thread\u00a0that was obviously aimed at Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and other members of her so-called \u201cSquad.\u201d<\/p>\n Here were Trump\u2019s words, in full:<\/p>\n So interesting to see \u201cProgressive\u201d Democrat Congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world (if they even have a functioning government at all), now loudly and viciously telling the people of the United States, the greatest and most powerful Nation on earth, how our government is to be run. Why don\u2019t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came. Then come back and show us how it is done. These places need your help badly, you can\u2019t leave fast enough. I\u2019m sure that Nancy Pelosi would be very happy to quickly work out free travel arrangements!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n With the exception of Omar, the country \u201cfrom whence they came\u201d is the United States of America. All of these Congresswomen, including Omar, have a constitutional right to \u201ctell the people of the United States\u201d how our \u201cgovernment is to be run.\u201d The very notion that nonwhite Americans should leave this country to go back to ancestral homelands to prove their worth is deeply repugnant.<\/p>\n Moreover, there is something especially gross about a man who was too timid even to face the draft during his own generation\u2019s war now presuming to define how Americans seek to reform their government. He is the last person to be the arbiter of patriotism or national loyalty.<\/p>\n The near-total silence (at least so far) from GOP leaders is deeply dispiriting. Do they not understand the message the leader of their party is sending \u2014 especially to America\u2019s nonwhite citizens? Do they not understand that racial malice as a political strategy isn\u2019t just an ultimately losing proposition but also deeply divisive, picking at the scabs of America\u2019s deepest political, cultural, and spiritual wounds?<\/p>\n But the problem extends far beyond Washington. There are many GOP leaders who, quite frankly, understand that they criticize even the president\u2019s racist speech at their own peril. The grassroots have spoken. Loyalty to the president must be absolute, or one risks a primary challenge. Yet individual voters have responsibilities as well, and they must understand that extraordinary loyalty to a malicious man broadcasts their own disdain for their fellow citizens.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s also deal with the idea that the one actual immigrant Trump targeted owes a special debt of gratitude to the country and therefore should temper her critiques of American politics and culture. I believe Ilhan Omar is a toxic presence in American politics. Her critiques are deeply misguided. But she should temper her critiques because they\u2019re wrong, not because she\u2019s an immigrant.<\/p>\n The blessings of liberty accrue to all Americans, including immigrants. And while all Americans should be deeply grateful for their freedoms and for American opportunity, it\u2019s a simple fact that immigrant citizens have actually done something to earn their status. They\u2019ve often migrated here at great personal cost, learned a new language, built a life in a new land, passed a test most Americans can\u2019t pass, and then swore an oath that most Americans have never sworn.<\/p>\n By contrast, what must natural-born citizens do to earn their citizenship? Survive labor and delivery. That\u2019s it. If anything, natural-born citizens should exercise the most gratitude. What did we do to earn our liberty?<\/p>\n American polarization is reaching a dangerous phase. On a bipartisan basis, criticism of presidents and our political opponents is escalating. I\u2019m old enough to remember all the way back to 2015, when GOP hatred for Barack Obama even on occasion trumped Republican patriotism. Remember when Mike Huckabee actually urged American Christians not to join the military<\/a> so long as Obama \u2014 or someone like him \u2014 remained president?\u00a0Which country should he go back to so that he can somehow earn back our respect?<\/p>\n Trump is fully employing malice as a political strategy. It\u2019s not clever. It\u2019s not shrewd. It\u2019s destructive and wrong. The fact that so few Republicans can muster enough courage to state this obvious truth speaks to a sad reality \u2014 the rot extends far beyond 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.<\/p>\n