Trump's Phony Patriotism Clashes With the Radical Roots of America the Beautiful and the Pledge of Allegiance @alternet:
"Throughout the United States' history, they have viewed their movements—abolition of slavery, farmers' populism, women's suffrage, workers' rights, civil rights, environmentalism, gay rights, and others—as profoundly patriotic. They believed that America's core claims—fairness, equality, freedom, justice—were their own. America now confronts a new version of the Gilded Age, brought upon by Wall Street greed and corporate malfeasance. The gap between rich and poor is still widening. Although the economy has improved in recent years, Americans are feeling more economically insecure than at any time since the Depression. They are upset by the unbridled selfishness and political influence-peddling demonstrated by banks, oil companies, drug companies, insurance companies, and other large corporations. They are angry at the growing power of American-based global firms who show no loyalty to their country, outsource jobs to low-wage countries, avoid paying taxes, and pollute the environment. With Trump in the White House, we are once again battling over immigration and who belongs in America. With Trump’s approval, right-wing groups and talk-show pundits calling themselves patriots have unleashed a new wave of hate and bigotry. Trump claims he wants to "make America great again" and "bring jobs home." But those sentiments conflict with Trump's own business practices. The entire Donald J. Trump Collection of clothing, including men's dress shirts, suits, ties and accessories, was made in factories overseas, mostly in China, Bangladesh and Central America, to take advantage of cheap labor. Trump followed in the tradition of Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart, America's largest corporation, who promoted the motto "Buy American." But today the retail giant, now owned by his heirs, imports most of its merchandise from Asia, much of it made under inhumane sweatshop conditions Trump’s nativism, xenophobia, racism, selfishness, materialism, and faux patriotism would have appalled Francis Bellamy."
