When the New York Times dropped a factual headline because of partisan complaints (including criticism from several Democratic presidential candidates), it proved again that the liberal media is no longer even pretending to be an objective source of information. The front-page headline read “TRUMP URGES UNITY VS. RACISM” in the President's address in the wake of the mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton. And this is exactly what he did. He decried “destructive partisanship” and declared "our nation must condemn racism, bigotry, and white supremacy. These sinister ideologies must be defeated. ” He denounced "These barbaric slaughters [as] an assault upon our communities, an attack upon our nation.... We are a loving nation, and our children are entitled to grow up in a just, peaceful, and loving society." These sentiments do not fit the liberal-left narrative that accuses President Trump of being the source of social division. Yet, anyone who looks at the true record beyond the coffeehouse babble of left-wing activists finds that America's chief executive has consistently stressed national unity.

Consider President Trump's Inaugural Address, which contained the strongest language one can imagine in support of an explicitly anti-racist definition of America. He proclaimed. "A new national pride will stir our souls, lift our sights, and heal our divisions. It is time to remember that old wisdom our soldiers will never forget: that whether we are black or brown or white, we all bleed the same red blood of patriots, we all enjoy the same glorious freedoms, and we all salute the same great American Flag. And whether a child is born in the urban sprawl of Detroit or the windswept plains of Nebraska, they look up at the same night sky, they fill their heart with the same dreams, and they are infused with the breath of life by the same almighty Creator." This last recalls the Declaration of Independence's principle that "all men are created equal."

In his 2019 State of the Union address, Trump recognized that "Millions of our fellow citizens are watching us now, gathered in this great chamber, hoping that we will govern not as two parties but as one nation." He then laid out programs to build the strength, prosperity, and security of the country as a whole. Unfortunately, and dangerously, the Left does not see America in these terms. Its philosophy is built on the division of society along the lines of "class warfare" and constant civil strife. This ideology has led to genocidal civil wars when the Left has attempted to seize power in other lands. Opponents are to be "put up against the wall when the revolution comes." The more moderate version speaks merely of confiscations and prison. This is not as large an exaggeration as it seems; not when the most venerable of liberal journals, the New Republic, is currently sponsoring trips to Communist Cuba to protest Trump's "petulant" policies towards the brutal regimes in both Havana and Caracas.

It is the Left which has embraced racism as the rest of society has tried to put such prejudices aside. The Left has sought to enlist race war into the cause of class war; rejecting from the start any hope that those they regularly describe as "black and brown" can successfully take advantage of the opportunities offered by a dynamic and growing economy looking for talent. It is assumed that members of these "minority groups" cannot find their own way. They need to follow the overwhelmingly white left-wing intelligentsia who serve as the "vanguard of the proletariat." They are told never to think outside the box they have been put into.  

If people fall (or are pushed) into subnational identities, they can be rallied to vote on that basis rather than on the rational consideration of policy proposals or analysis of past performance. It is the placement of special interest politics on the most irrational foundation, making the outcome even more corrupt than usual. And with the condition of blacks and Hispanics improving as the booming economy drives unemployment down and wages up, it is obvious why the Left is pushing this strategy.

President Trump has often called himself a "nationalist," a term which sets off Leftists like no other. They know it is the mot potent political alternative to their sophistry of socialism as the basis for civil order and material improvement. Thus the term "white nationalism" has been given prominence as a way to discredit the core term with a false adjective. This will not work among those who understand that American nationalism has always been inclusive. The continent has been filled by people from all over the world in what has been the most unique development of a "melting pot" civilization in history. Our national slogan is "E Pluribus Unum" -- out of many, one.  

Those who want to denounce the entire country because one region adopted a self-destructive system of slavery miss the point that the majority fought long and hard to put an end to the evil practice. It was the slavers who tried to destroy national unity by secession. The first Republican President, Abraham Lincoln, defeated them and restored a "nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." That was a century and a half ago. America has since grown to become the grandest nation on the planet and a beacon to the world.

But this very success is rejected by the Left because it was not based on their fanciful ideology. The late 19^th-century French thinker Ernest Renan penned one of the best definitions of what constitutes a national spirit: "To have common glories in the past and to have a common will in the present; to have performed great deeds together, to wish to perform still more -- these are the essential conditions for being a people." In America, anyone can count themselves among the "people." Yet, how often have those on the Left, even prominent officeholders, declared that we have not performed great deeds and that they have no desire for us to do so in the future.

The general public is properly alarmed by the vitriolic tenor of politics since the 2016 election; and the venom has come from the losers, not the winner. The killers in El Paso and Dayton were the dire consequences of the most hate-filled era in fifty years. The "manifesto" posted by the El Paso killer was the mishmash of an unstable mind. While it did use racist language, it was also linked to the climate-change issue. He argued "Corporations are heading the destruction of our environment by shamelessly overharvesting resources.... the next logical step is to decrease the number of people in America using resources. If we can get rid of enough people, then our way of life can be more sustainable.” He linked the Green-Left theme of zero or negative population growth to immigration. This is not a right-wing position.

The Dayton killer, whom the liberal media has tried to ignore, presented a record much more coherent in its left-wing orthodoxy, as the "anti-fascist" gunman placed himself in the camp of Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

It seems the malicious rhetoric will only build in intensity as the 2020 election approaches. The public must don a hard shell. Only one movement is devoted to the flag and to the country for which it stands; the one that sincerely pledges to make and keep America great and which currently holds the White House.  

William R. Hawkins is a consultant specializing in international economic and national security issues.