Through the first nine months of President Donald Trump’s second term, members of the Trump administration and many Republican leaders, in actions and words, have collectively created what I call “the false equivalency of patriotism.” These political actors allege that anyone who does not profess adulation for Trump, his policies and his revenge tour against his perceived political enemies “hate America”. In simplified language, they’ve created the false equivalency that venerating Trump and supporting the United States are one in the same.
Nonetheless, this “us versus them” mentality does not accurately capture the spectrum of patriotism that exists within American society. This mentality does not allow for the inclusion of millions of U.S. citizens that oppose Trump or simply do not agree with his antics and policies. It precludes the fact that many ordinary folks have a very different viewpoint about the meaning and expression of patriotism and pride in being a citizen of the United States.
The MAGA brand of patriotism thrives upon this type of messaging by Republican officials. And Trump, the former the reality tv star that he is, has always put on a show to appeal to his political base’s narrow understanding of patriotism.
After witnessing and participating in ten years’ worth of Trump rallies, MAGA adherents cannot fully comprehend, from the confines of their socio-political bubble, that alternative expressions of American patriotism within the public sphere can and do exist. In fact, Trump’s narrowly-defined version of patriotism is exactly why it is dangerous and authoritarian. Trump and his acolytes are attempting to control the meaning of patriotism by deciding what constitutes the appropriate expressions and behaviors that makes one an American patriot.
While the public sphere, imbued with nationalistic and patriotic celebratory rituals, has always been a space to define or redefine our national political culture through the construction of a set of norms and practices, it has also always been a space in which Americans can openly express opposing ideas of patriotism.
The original “No Kings” protests and the recent “No Kings” events that took place on Oct. 18 are expressions of an alternative brand of American patriotism that seeks to profess loyalty to the Constitution, to reify the idea that the United States is a symbol of liberty and freedom and to honor the historical memory of the American Revolution. “No Kings” is a symbolic rejection of autocratic rule by the current administration and monarchical-like behaviors of the current president of the United States. “No Kings” has also served as an affirmation of First Amendment rights, which many would view as being under threat from the current administration.
A History of Protest
The “No Kings” movement, in fact, has deep roots in American political culture. As scholar Simon Newman noted some thirty years ago, the First Party System of the 1790s emerged, in part, over the Federalists’ tendency to venerate George Washington through symbols and rituals, with a monarchial-like reverence that generated substantial backlash from an emerging opposition party, the Democratic-Republicans. In his study, Newman—perhaps ominously— found that Republicans of the 1790s asserted that democratic principles and not men were the proper objects of the celebration, fetes and rituals that came to define American nationalism in the Early Republic.
Sound familiar? If not, then perhaps Newman’s discussion of the fierce debates over American coinage will. Under the guidance of Alexander Hamilton, early Federalists sought to pass a bill that would have placed Washington’s head, first initial and last name on all of the young republic’s currency. Republican opponents quickly pointed out that only the likeness of monarchs appeared on European nations’ coinage; they preferred a symbol of liberty rather than the heads of presidents.
One can forgive the Federalists for constructing the presidency around the “cult of Washington,” especially because until the American Revolution they had only known executive authority to be exercised by a king. Modern politicians and political actors should not be so naïve.
The MAGA crowd seeks to metaphorically crown Trump king, thus glorifying a singular person rather than the nation. It began with the concerted effort to appease Trump’s obsession with his own historical legacy. The Trump Nobel Peace Prize campaign started well before recent events. In the halls of Congress, Trump’s biggest sycophants repeatedly introduce bills that would rename or add Trump to monuments and historical trails, declare his birthday a national holiday and place his likeness on U.S. printed money.
As other online commentators have pointed out, while current U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach has now proposed the idea of placing Trump’s likeness on commemorative coins celebrating the 250th birthday of the United States, it raises both issues of legality and cultural custom. While the Trump administration will surely attempt to find the legal loophole needed to enact their veneration of Trump, it projects an image of dictatorship rather than republicanism. Many from the Founding Generation would have fervently rejected this proposal as such.
The president and his MAGA acolytes have manufactured the biggest constitutional crisis since the Civil War and have shown zero signs of slowing down. Republicans, once upon a time, believed in constitutional and democratic principles, but have abandoned them for the cult of personality that is Donald Trump. Perhaps they should read a history book rather than invent an alternative reality.
A New Absurdity
Within this context, the false equivalency of patriotism has recently reached a new level of absurdity within the current media cycle through Republican political messaging practices. Leading up to the event, Speaker Mike Johnson repeatedly called “No Kings” a “hate America rally” led by the “antifa crowd, the pro-Hamas crowd, and the Marxists.” House Majority Whip Tom Emmer added that planned protests in DC represented the “terrorist wing of their party,” an obvious reference to the Democratic Party.
Gaslighting and fearmongering aside, this contemptuous view of “No Kings” participants by representatives of some of my fellow American constituents is instructive towards understanding how the false equivalency of patriotism functions in practice. They have adopted the “us versus them” approach to patriotism that reflects in the halls of a Congress and within a federal government that has been shut down for multiple weeks. Most Republicans, taking their cues from Trump, have repeatedly made it clear that they do not seek to govern for all Americans, but to do the bidding of one man.
The Trump administration’s response to the “No Kings” events that spanned many corners of the nation only further affirms why millions of American patriots turned up on Oct. 18 in the first place. Like a bunch of petulant children, official government media accounts “trolled” the events by posting memes and AI-generated videos featuring images of a crowned Trump. The crowned jewel came from Trump’s official Truth Social account—an AI-generated video of a crowned Trump flying a fighter jet and unloading piles of human waste bombs on “No Kings” protesters below. The symbolism should be clear: if you don’t adore me, then I’m going to treat you like crap.
The “No Kings” rejection of monarchical-like behaviors will only further expose the nation’s rapid descent into despotism via the false equivalency of patriotism. The AI-generated dumping of feces on American citizens that do not support and venerate President Trump is derivative of the broader distorted nature of the MAGA brand of patriotism. Supporting Trump and supporting the United States of America are not mutually exclusive. No, Mr. Speaker, they do not hate America.
As we approach the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, I fear that any national celebration facilitated by the federal government will not speak to a brand of patriotism that is shared by millions of Americans. Instead, American fetes, directed and domineered by the MAGA understanding of patriotism, will seek to aggrandize one person: Donald Trump.
No wonder millions of Americans marched in protest of Trump and his administration on Oct.18. They understand, without needing my own opinions, what is at stake: the American democratic experiment that began nearly 250 years ago.
This MFP Voices opinion essay reflects the personal opinion of its author(s). The column does not necessarily represent the views of the Mississippi Free Press, its staff or board members. To submit an opinion for the MFP Voices section, send up to 1,200 words and sources fact-checking the included information to voices@mississippifreepress.org. We welcome a wide variety of viewpoints.