(Photo by Sviatlana Barchan via Getty Images)
I love my country. I believe in democracy and treasure fundamental values such as justice, equality, diversity, decency and truth. That’s why—as Trump and his fascist regime aggressively pursue the dismantling of American institutions and the destruction of traditional alliances to align with dictators and other authoritarians—I cheer for his opponents. These assaults have caused me to reflect on the meaning of patriotism.
I fully realized my emotional and intellectual shift when I heard Canadian hockey fans boo last week during the singing of our national anthem in Montreal. Rather than laugh it off or feel aggrieved, I understood how upset many Canadians are about Trump threatening to turn their country into the 51st American state. Honestly, I was uplifted by the booing because it told me that there are plenty of people there who refuse to humor Trump and his imperial ambitions.
I was already aware of the role that our democratic allies can play in pushing back against the hostile interventions of this Trump regime. That was on full display during the Munich Security Conference when Vice President and Trump henchman JD Vance hypocritically attacked Germans for their lack of free speech and democratic commitments by refusing to embrace their far-right, neo-Nazi Alternative for Germany party.
But in spite of Vance’s arrogance—his remarks came just nine days before Germany’s election—I was buoyed by the pushback of Germany’s president Olaf Schulz and Defense Minister Boris Pistorius. Schulz posted on X to “emphatically reject” Vance’s remarks, underlining his nation’s dark history and lessons learned.
“We reject any idea working together with the extreme right and it’s not on others to give us advices to do so,” he firmly retorted. And, “Out of the experiences of Nazism, the democratic parties in Germany have a joint consensus—that is the firewall against extreme right-wing parties.” Added Pistorius: “Democracy must be able to defend itself against the extremists who want to destroy it.”
Yes, yes and yes again. We are clearly going to experience more support for human values from Germany’s top leadership than from America’s current leaders who could not care less that their country has long served as a global beacon of democracy.
Just yesterday, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum pushed back hard against Trump’s labeling of several Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations and co-president Elon Musk’s insistence that they are now “eligible for drone strikes.” Here again, I was uplifted by the quality of her remarks in rejecting the Trump threat.
"This cannot be an opportunity for the U.S. to invade our sovereignty. With Mexico, it is collaboration and coordination, never subordination or interventionism, and even less invasion," Sheinbaum told reporters. "The Mexican people will under no circumstances accept interventions, intrusions or any other action from abroad that is detrimental to the integrity, independence or sovereignty of the nation.”
Thank you, President Sheinbaum. These comments take on greater meaning after Trump and his regime—including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his grotesque collaboration with the Russians this week in Saudi Arabia—made clear his support for Vladimir Putin by appallingly blaming Ukraine for Russia’s invasion and calling Volodymyr Zelensky a “dictator.” (Perhaps not since British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain appeased Hitler have we seen such a craven display of toadyism as Rubio provided.)
This wasn’t the first time we witnessed the resolve of Mexico’s president. In response to Trump’s tariff threat three weeks ago, Sheinbaum threatened to retaliate with major tariffs of her own and rejected his claim that her administration was conspiring with drug traffickers.
"We categorically reject the White House's slander that the Mexican government has alliances with criminal organizations, as well as any intention of meddling in our territory," Sheinbaum wrote on X on Feb. 1. “If such an alliance exists anywhere, it is in the United States armories that sell high-powered weapons to these criminal groups, as demonstrated by the United States Department of Justice itself in January of this year. In four months, our government has seized more than 40 tons of drugs, including 20 million doses of fentanyl. It has also arrested more than ten thousand people linked to these groups.”
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was also quick to plan retaliatory tariffs that targeted more than $100 billion of U.S. goods. Trudeau’s retaliatory threat, much like Sheinbaum’s, quickly led to Trump announcing he was delaying tariffs for America’s two neighbors for at least a month.
But it was not only Trudeau’s aggressive pushback that had me rooting for Canada, it was also his inspiring words about the historic relationship. “From the beaches of Normandy to the mountains of the Korean Peninsula, from the fields of Flanders to the streets of Kandahar, we have fought and died alongside you during your darkest hours,” he said on Feb. 1. (I don’t know how many Canadian hockey fans heard this, but it just might have riled up a few who resent Trump’s imperialism.)
And, speaking to his own people, Trudeau said, “From sea to sea, Canadians are different. We speak different languages, we have different beliefs and opinions, we have different ideas, but when we remain united, we are stronger…We prefer to settle our disputes through diplomacy, but we are prepared to fight when we have to.”
I am an American. I love my country. I am moved when I hear a stirring rendition of the “Star-Spangled Banner.” Historic images of the Statue of Liberty and boats packed with immigrants arriving in New York Harbor fill me with pride. I’m often touched by patriotic lyrics: My country ‘tis of thee/sweet land of liberty/of thee I sing. I can even get a little weepy when I hear the opening lines of “America, the Beautiful”: O beautiful for spacious skies/For amber waves of grain/For purple mountain majesties/ Above the fruited plain!/America, America, God shed His grace on thee/And crown thy good with brotherhood/From sea to shining sea! Yes, I can be a little corny in my affections.
But I’ll be damned if I’m going to stand by or remain silent during this hostile takeover of our government and its rejection of what makes America a special place. There’s the America I know and love—and then there’s Trump’s America. I will keep looking for signs of opposition, from wherever in the world there are pro-democracy humans who see and reject what’s happening here.
Of course, there are plenty of committed opponents here. On Wednesday, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker gave his State of the State address, in which he provided a powerful voice of opposition. “There are people—some in my own Party—who think that if you just give Donald Trump everything he wants, he’ll make an exception and spare you some of the harm.”
The governor then described an instance during the pandemic when he “swallowed his pride” and tried to work with Trump to get his state the equipment it needed. “We made a deal. And it turns out his promises were as broken as the BIPAP machines he sent us instead of ventilators,” Pritzker recounted. “Going along to get along does not work. Just ask the Trump-fearing red state Governors who are dealing with the same cuts that we are. I won’t be fooled twice.”
Pritzker talked about the time back in 1978 when Nazis planned to march through Skokie, Illinois. Permit me to share his reflection on that threat in a town that had “one of the largest populations of Holocaust survivors anywhere in the world.” He said:
I do not invoke the specter of Nazis lightly. But I know the history intimately, and have spent more time than probably anyone in this room with people who survived the Holocaust. Here’s what I’ve learned: The root that tears apart your house’s foundation begins as a seed—a seed of distrust and hate and blame.
The seed that grew into a dictatorship in Europe a lifetime ago didn’t arrive overnight. It started with everyday Germans mad about inflation and looking for someone to blame.
I’m watching with a foreboding dread what is happening in our country right now. A president who watches a plane go down in the Potomac and suggests—without facts or findings—that a diversity hire is responsible for the crash. Or the Missouri Attorney General who just sued Starbucks, arguing that consumers pay higher prices for their coffee because the baristas are too “female” and “nonwhite.” The authoritarian playbook is laid bare here: They point to a group of people who don’t look like you and tell you to blame them for your problems.
I just have one question: What comes next? After we’ve discriminated against, deported or disparaged all the immigrants and the gay and lesbian and transgender people, the developmentally disabled, the women and the minorities—once we’ve ostracized our neighbors and betrayed our friends—after that, when the problems we started with are still there staring us in the face, what comes next?
All the atrocities of human history lurk in the answer to that question. And if we don’t want to repeat history—then for God’s sake in this moment we better be strong enough to learn from it…
If you think I’m overreacting and sounding the alarm too soon, consider this: It took the Nazis one month, three weeks, two days, eight hours and 40 minutes to dismantle a constitutional republic. All I’m saying is when the five-alarm fire starts to burn, every good person better be ready to man a post with a bucket of water if you want to stop it from raging out of control.
Pritzker concluded with this: “Tyranny requires your fear and your silence and your compliance. Democracy requires your courage. So gather your justice and humanity, Illinois, and do not let the ‘tragic spirit of despair’ overcome us when our country needs us the most.
Solid advice from the governor—advice we should remember as we root against Trump’s America in the tough days ahead.
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