The anti-American right

[babylonsister]

The anti-American right

Rooting against Olympians, scoffing at Capitol police, broaching civil war — meet today’s conservative movement.
By Zack Beauchamp@[e-mail] Aug 3, 2021, 1:20pm EDT


The Olympics are typically a boom time for jingoism: patriotic fervor heightening among Americans of all stripes with each gold medal for Team USA. But this year, we’ve seen an unlikely faction of Americans rooting against our athletes: conservatives.

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These attacks on Team USA are not just culture war red meat; they are a reflection of a rising tendency in the conservative movement to reject America itself. In this thinking, the country is so corrupted that it is no longer a source of pride or even worthy of respect. In its most radical versions, you even see cheerleading for revolution or civil war.

Conservative anti-Americanism still pays lip service to love of country: Its proponents declare themselves the true patriots, describing their enemies as the nation’s betrayers. But when the cadre of traitors includes everyone from election administrators to Olympians to the Capitol Police, it becomes clear that the only America they love is the one that exists in their heads. When they contemplate the actual United States — real America, if you will — they are filled with scorn.

“They see no role or place for themselves in America now,” says Paul Elliott Johnson, a communications professor at the University of Pittsburgh who studies conservative rhetoric.

What’s striking about this strain of anti-American thought is how pervasive it is. Naturally, you frequently hear versions of it from rank-and-file conservatives and the carnival barkers of the right-wing echo chamber — but it doesn’t stop with them. Its most refined and troubling versions come from the highbrow thinkers of the Trumpist right; leading conservative politicians put their stamps on it.

While not entirely new — this has been bubbling up for years now, especially since Trump’s rise — the recent flare-up amid the Olympics and the January 6 hearings only underscores that influential elements of the American right seem past beyond the point of no return. These conservatives do not believe in sharing America with those who disagree with them. Forced to confront the country’s political diversity in the Biden era, they are choosing to turn on America rather than accommodate themselves to its reality.

more...

https://www.vox.com/22600500/olympics-conservatives-simone-biles-anti-american

[East-A-Squared]

1. In short, they want America in 1921 because they hate

USA 2021.

[Johnny2X2X]

2. This needs to be called out more

The Republican Party hates today's America because it's not white enough, male enough, or straight enough for them.

The most important tenant of American Democracy is the peaceful transition of power, because it represents the idea that we will respect those who disagree with us. Republicans no longer share that respect, they don't think the majority of the country deserves a voice in our political process, there's nothing more un-American than that.

[2naSalit]

3. K&R

[roamer65]

4. The Trumputinists.

[Aristus]

5. America: Love It Or Leave It.

Sound familiar, right-wingers?

[uponit7771]

6. MAGA gets especially anti American if the symbol of America is non-white

[maxsolomon]

7. Nativists (although they're not natives)

Their country is "being taken from them".

Feminists and BLM didn't send unionized manufacturing jobs to China.