Conservative pundits have pointed out that Democrat elites and the so-called "mainstream" media were quick to accept actor Jussie Smollett's story of being assaulted by two Trump-supporters.

It is clear now that he lied.  Smollett said his attackers were white and that he would have been believed without question if his assailants had been "Muslim," "Mexican," or "black."  They were black.

When asked why he thinks this happened, Smollett answered, "I have gone hard against 45, I have gone hard against this administration."  The mainstream media were all too happy to embrace any story that promotes their belief that President Trump and his supporters are racist and "homophobic."

However, Smollett and the leftist media have a broader focus for their hatred than this president.  They hate America.  The alleged Smollett attack was designed not merely to prove that this president and his supporters are bigots, but to demonstrate once again that America is a hateful place where racism and homophobia run rampant.

The president's slogan, "Make America Great Again," is interpreted as code language for "make America white again."  His opposition to illegal immigration is depicted as a racist ploy to keep nonwhite people out of the country.  They know that President Trump is not the originator of what they see as America's sordid legacy of hatred and bigotry, but in their minds, he is its latest and best representative.

After the Charlottesville confrontation between white supremacists and radical leftists, the president's condemnation of both sides was deemed "racist."  As a black Virginian, I took the same view.  When he pointed out that the Mexicans who cross our southern border illegally are not that country's "best," he was stating the obvious, but that too was considered racist.

No matter what this president does to improve the lives of women, minorities, and all Americans, from the left's perspective, he is beyond redemption because he is the symptom.  America is the disease.  The left views us as a nation of white supremacy, white privilege, racism, sexism, homophobia, Islamophobia, inequality, oppression, corporate greed, and international imperialism.  Instead of "America the Beautiful," they see ugly Americans.  Instead of the "land of the free and the home of the brave," they see a land of the selfish and home of the brutal.  Instead of compassionate people, they see planetary parasites and climate deniers dragging the world to cataclysmic destruction.

They see America as the world's nightmare.  We drive SUVs, eat rich foods, and enrich billionaires while the world starves.  We believe in a judgmental God, a bigoted Bible, and an antiquated Second Amendment right to bear arms, all of which makes us a narrow-minded nation of gun nuts.  Our unprecedented prosperity was built on the backs of slaves, and our entire continent was stolen from American Indians.

Our unparalleled contributions to mankind — industrial and technological advances; humanitarian generosity; the defeat of Nazism, communism, and other genocidal threats — are irrelevant.  From the perspective of the left, we are an illegitimate country.  Only "fundamentally transforming" America into a socialist state can pay for our sins.

Our public schools, colleges, and universities do not teach about America's history in the context of a barbaric and violent world.  Instead they inculcate students with a polemic that labels America as barbaric and the cause of everything wrong in the world.

That's why Governor Andrew Cuomo could glibly say America "was never that great."  That's why former vice president Joe Biden could go to Germany, the birthplace of Nazism, and call America an "embarrassment."  That's why President Barack Obama never expressed pride in his country, only apologies for it.  That's why his wife Michelle Obama said she was proud of her country for the first time only after voters elected her husband president.  That is why Jussie lied — to prove that leftist disdain for our country is entirely justified.

Smollett undoubtedly wanted his scheme to embarrass the president, but even more, he wanted to confirm every self-hating delusion about how horrible America is.  CNN reporter Brooke Baldwin said after the alleged incident, "This is America in 2019."  She would have been more accurate to say, "This is how all of us on the left see America in 2019."  They've been seeing it that way for 60 years.

Thank God that most of us still see America as a shining city on a hill, a beacon of hope to the world.  We see our country as a place of freedom and opportunity for every individual.  We know there is no perfect nation on Earth, but America comes closer than anywhere this side of heaven.

What galls these anti-American smear merchants — Jussie Smollett, the Obamas, Al Sharpton, Hollywood celebrities, Gov. Cuomo, Joe Biden, the leftist media, the Democratic Party, Antifa, Black Lives Matter, the socialists, Marxists and communists — is that no matter how they slander our country, they cannot dampen our faith and patriotism.  While spoiled millionaire athletes refuse to stand for our flag and the National Anthem, we stand.  We will stand until this nation has an awakening, a new birth of freedom and gratitude in the hearts of our people, especially those who have been seduced by Marxism, moral relativism, anti-Christian bigotry, and anti-American resentment.

The American vision of "one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all," will prevail because it is based on love, not hatred; on truth, not lies; and on unity, not division.

E.W. Jackson is an author, speaker, and nationally syndicated radio host on American Family Radio & Urban Family Talk.  He is founder and president of STAND (www.standamerica.us), and has been a candidate for lt. governor and U.S. senator in Virginia.  He is bishop and senior pastor of The Called Church (www.thecalled.org) in Chesapeake, Virginia.