Trump attacks Democrats' patriotism raises specter of 'treason'
In a Wall Street Journal interview a few weeks ago   Donald Trump  lashed out at some FBI officials and suggested they may be guilty of âtreason.â When the interviewer tried to move on  the president wouldnât let it go  making two more references to âtreasonousâ acts.
Yesterday   Trump  was in Ohio  ostensibly to talk about how impressed  he  is with  his  regressive tax plan  but the president strayed from his script and reflected on the partisan differences in how his State of the Union address was perceived.
For the right  the fact that  Trump  was âplaying this for laughs â and using a âflippantâ tone  made the rhetoric less offensive.
Itâs a tough sell. As Jon Chait put it  âIt is totally beyond the pale for a president to describe the opposing party as having committed treason for failing to applaud his speech. It is the logic and rhetoric of authoritarianism in its purest form. But if  Trump  does  it  in the middle of a Don Ricklesâstyle riff  does that make it better? Worse? Just weirder?â
Whether one is inclined to laugh off the presidentâs rhetoric or not  the broader context is striking.  Trump  is supposed to be working on preventing another government shutdown and negotiating a bipartisan agreement on immigration policy. Instead   he  joshing about Democrats committing treason for failing to applaud  his  speech to  Trumpâs  satisfaction?
But even for those inclined to shrug off the âtreasonâ talk   Trumpâs  point wasnât subtle:  he  believes Democrats are lacking in patriotism. Indeed  the âtreasonâ references stood out  but note that the president also used phrases such as âun-Americanâ and âthey certainly didnât seem to love our country very much.â
The irony is   Trump  surrendered the high ground on patriotism quite a while ago. As regular readers know  this president is a poor messenger for this message.
Two weeks after taking office  for example   Trump  sat down for an interview in which  he  was reminded that Russian President Vladimir Putin is âa killer.â  Trump  replied  âThere are a lot of killers. Weâve got a lot of killers. What  do you think our countryâs so innocent?â
As we discussed at the time  Americans generally arenât accustomed to hearing their president be quite this critical of the United States â out loud and in public. Whatâs more  the idea that the U.S. chief executive sees a moral equivalence between us and an autocratic thug came as a reminder that  Trump  doesnât always hold  his  country in the highest regard.
Indeed  as regular readers may recall  the Republican hasnât exactly been subtle on this point. In December 2015  for example   then-candidate Trump  was asked about Putinâs habit of invading countries and killing critics. âHeâs running his country  and at least heâs a leader â  Trump  replied  âunlike what we have in this country.â Reminded that Putin has been accused of ordering the murder of critics and journalists   Trump  added  âWell  I think our country does plenty of killing also.â
Thereâs never been a president  from either party  whoâs been so cavalier about America lacking in credibility. Sentiments such as âWhen the world looks at how bad the United States isâ¦â are usually heard from Americaâs opponents  not Americaâs president. The Atlanticâs Jeffrey Goldberg noted during the campaign that Barack Obama âhas never spoken as negatively about America as  Donald Trump  has.â
Perhaps  Trump  should leave lessons on the virtues of patriotism to others.
In a Wall Street Journal interview a few weeks ago    [TGT] lashed out at some FBI officials and suggested they may be guilty of âtreason.â When the interviewer tried to move on  the president wouldnât let it go  making two more references to âtreasonousâ acts.
Yesterday    [TGT] was in Ohio  ostensibly to talk about how impressed   [TGT]   is with   [TGT]   regressive tax plan  but the president strayed from his script and reflected on the partisan differences in how his State of the Union address was perceived.
For the right  the fact that   [TGT] was âplaying this for laughs â and using a âflippantâ tone  made the rhetoric less offensive.
Itâs a tough sell. As Jon Chait put it  âIt is totally beyond the pale for a president to describe the opposing party as having committed treason for failing to applaud his speech. It is the logic and rhetoric of authoritarianism in its purest form. But if   [TGT] does  it  in the middle of a Don Ricklesâstyle riff  does that make it better? Worse? Just weirder?â
Whether one is inclined to laugh off the presidentâs rhetoric or not  the broader context is striking.   [TGT] is supposed to be working on preventing another government shutdown and negotiating a bipartisan agreement on immigration policy. Instead    [TGT]   joshing about Democrats committing treason for failing to applaud  his  speech to  Trumpâs  satisfaction?
But even for those inclined to shrug off the âtreasonâ talk   Trumpâs  point wasnât subtle:  he  believes Democrats are lacking in patriotism. Indeed  the âtreasonâ references stood out  but note that the president also used phrases such as âun-Americanâ and âthey certainly didnât seem to love our country very much.â
The irony is    [TGT] surrendered the high ground on patriotism quite a while ago. As regular readers know  this president is a poor messenger for this message.
 [TGT] sat down for an interview in which   [TGT]   was reminded that Russian President Vladimir Putin is âa killer.â   [TGT] replied  âThere are a lot of killers. Weâve got a lot of killers. What  do you think our countryâs so innocent?â
As we discussed at the time  Americans generally arenât accustomed to hearing their president be quite this critical of the United States â out loud and in public. Whatâs more  the idea that the U.S. chief executive sees a moral equivalence between us and an autocratic thug came as a reminder that   [TGT] doesnât always hold  his  country in the highest regard.
Indeed  as regular readers may recall  the Republican hasnât exactly been subtle on this point. In December 2015  for example    [TGT] was asked about Putinâs habit of invading countries and killing critics. âHeâs running his country  and at least heâs a leader â   [TGT] replied  âunlike what we have in this country.â Reminded that Putin has been accused of ordering the murder of critics and journalists    [TGT]   added  âWell  I think our country does plenty of killing also.â
Thereâs never been a president  from either party  whoâs been so cavalier about America lacking in credibility. Sentiments such as âWhen the world looks at how bad the United States isâ¦â are usually heard from Americaâs opponents  not Americaâs president. The Atlanticâs Jeffrey Goldberg noted during the campaign that Barack Obama âhas never spoken as negatively about America as  Donald Trump  has.â
Perhaps   [TGT]   should leave lessons on the virtues of patriotism to others.