A good summary of human nature and how it differs from the confident to the arrogant.
I came across something that I liked, and it really does define the ignorance driving Donald Trump and his MAGA cult.
Patriotism: The love of your country, with the understanding that other nations have no impact on how you feel about where you’re from or how you view your nation.
Nationalism: The belief that your country is superior to everyone else’s based on various cultural identities. It’s an insecure belief typically held by people who, otherwise in life, feel inferior.
Basically, it’s the same stance I’ve had on confidence vs. arrogance.
For years, I’ve said confidence is quiet. If a confident person loses, they want to know how they can get better — how they can improve. The actions and behavior of others have no impact on them because all they can control is themselves. They’re not made to feel insecure by the success of others.
Whereas arrogance, which is often mistaken for confidence, is driven by insecurities and a perpetual victim mindset. If someone loses, or something isn’t going their way, it’s not because of anything they did — it’s because “something” was inherently unfair.
You know, like Donald Trump and the MAGA movement, where everything that doesn’t go how they want it to is some sort of conspiracy against them. It’s never their fault.
Blame Democrats, liberals, immigrants, people of color, the media — you name it. Whatever it is, it’s not their fault; it’s all “rigged against them.”
This is one of the many reasons why I don’t consider these people patriots; they’re nationalists.
They hate over half the country, most of our Constitution, our system of checks and balances, and they have no problem turning on any veteran who might speak out against Trump. They’ve shown that the only thing they consistently believe in is “owning those libs” and whatever nonsense Trump happens to be selling them at any given time.
You can’t claim to love the United States, then believe in some version of it that’s never existed while showing complete disdain for many of the foundational pillars of the country.
They don’t love our democratic constitutional republic. In fact, they hate it.
What they want is a right-wing autocratic theocracy built upon their own warped, cherry-picked version of fake “Christianity,” where they control everything and anyone who doesn’t like it can leave — because only their ideas are good, and everyone else’s are inferior.
That’s nationalism, not patriotism.
And you’ll not find a weaker, more pathetically insecure individual than Donald Trump. I’ve never seen a more easily triggered snowflake in my life — someone consumed by petty grievances, where opponents such as Barack Obama and Joe Biden live rent-free in his head every single day. A person who views anyone else’s success as a threat to him.
When you get right down to it, the MAGA movement is essentially a group of insecure nationalists who exist in a world where, deep down, they feel inferior to everyone else. Their only resolve is a nationalistic worldview driven by hate, fear, conspiracies, and a desire to bring others down while desperately trying to elevate themselves. ~ AC
www.texastribune.org
