Not long ago, President Donald Trump proudly proclaimed himself to be a nationalist, and the left went absolutely nuts — and so did everyone else with absolutely no understanding of what nationalism actually is.
Nationalism in the modern day is typically associated with the Axis powers in World War II, and really any top-down authoritarian regime. Many political science professors will refer to nationalism and authoritarianism interchangeably. This is a severe misread of the actual word, and a disservice to nation-first sentiment.
Just about everyone living in the western world is a nationalist in one way or another. More specifically, most people of all political inclinations are civic nationalists — that is, people who define nationhood as a shared culture. This stands in stark contrast to ethno-nationalism, the ideology espoused by the Nazis in Germany and the Japanese during the early 20th century. This way of thinking is deeply focused on race rather than culture. The mainstream left, however, conflates these two things on a regular basis.
Nationalists, by definition, are individuals who seek to put the interests of their own countries above the interests of other countries. This doesn’t necessitate a hostile attitude toward everything foreign. Rather, it’s just a common sense way of prioritizing the politics of your own culture.
Black Pidgeon Speaks dives deep into this topic below. It’s definitely worth a watch if you want to learn the truth about nationalism and it’s enemy, globalism.
~ Patriotic Freedom Fighter
