On Mark Twain, Patriotism, and the Final Days of the Trump Administration

January 6, 2021 will go down as one of the darkest days in American history, and a blight upon our collective consciousness. I was taking a break at work that afternoon and logged onto Twitter only to see horrendous images of pro-Trump protestors violently storming the Capitol building. I saw them scuffling with Capitol police and chasing Congressmen and women out of the rotunda. And I saw video footage of Trump’s speech beforehand, where he told them to march down to the Capitol and help the so-called “weak Republicans” do what he wanted them to do. I immediately thought of my friends who live out that way, and worried about their safety. And I wondered how our country could let such a despicable act happen in the first place. People in third world countries living under oppressive regimes are willing to give their lives to be freed from their rulers. And we freely elected someone like Trump because we couldn’t say no to his disgusting personality and character. We looked the other way when we mocked the disabled. We looked the other way when he said misogynistic things about women, and called it “locker room talk”. We laughed when he said he could kill people in the streets and his followers wouldn’t bat an eyelash. Many of us twisted ourselves into pretzels these past four years to justify every awful thing he’s ever done in office. And we paid the price for all of it and then some on January 6^th.

Within living memory, our country has witnessed horrific events. My grandparents were kids when the Pearl Harbor attack happened. And I myself was in sixth grade as I watched the Twin Towers crumble on September 11^th. But January 6^th hit differently because it wasn’t an invasion from an outside source. This was an inside job. It was citizens of our country smashing the Capitol’s windows and chanting for the Vice President to be hung. It was citizens of our country who planted bombs and fought with senators and representatives. They did it under the guise of “patriotism.” And they did it with full encouragement from a sitting president who couldn’t handle the fact that he had lost our country’s most recent election. We should all be disgusted beyond words with what happened that day. And that disgust should extend across the political divide.

To give my readers an understanding of where I’m coming from personally, let it be said that I consider myself to be a political Independent because I don’t fit into the two-party mold. There are things that I like and dislike about both parties. I’ve criticized different politicians over the years for different reasons. And if there’s anything we should have learned from these past two election cycles, sometimes it’s better for two controversial mainstream presidential candidates to step aside and let have someone else have a shot at governing instead. I don’t entirely agree with Joe Biden’s agenda, but I voted for him because I didn’t want four more years of trouble from Donald Trump.

            As I’ve been reflecting on this tragic turn of events, Mark Twain’s words come to mind: “Patriotism is supporting your country always, and your government when it deserves it.” So to the extent that you love your country and want what is best for it, you speak out if you think the people in charge are doing a bad job. I think many people who are fed up with the Trump administration don’t hate America in and of itself. They just don’t like what it became with him being President. To the extent that they love America, they hate that we’re currently the laughingstock of the world. To the extent that they love America, they hate that our citizens elected someone who openly boasted about sexual assault on national television. To the extent that they love America, they hate that Trump went golfing on a day that other world leaders were at a global summit to discuss strategies for combatting Covid-19. To the extent that they love America, they hate that Trump called any negative media attention about him “Fake News” when the purpose of a free press is to hold the government accountable for its wrongdoings. To the extent that they love America, they hate the extreme division we’ve seen these past four years. And to the extent that they love America, they hate that a sitting president could tell the Proud Boys and other extremists to “stand by and stand down” in DC on January 6^th, and then have the gumption to tweet for everyone to remain calm when those chickens came home to roost. Like them, I wholeheartedly condemn the trouble Trump has brought to our country. I want him to be impeached, prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and banned from public office for the rest of his days.

But at the same time, the real hard work begins after he leaves the White House. Because rebuilding America is more than just being the antithesis of everything that Trump stood for. Once he leaves, we can’t stew in misery and look to him as a scapegoat anymore. He could very well be in prison by that point, for all we know. So we can’t look back permanently in anger at him. We can only do that to the extent that it’s necessary. Because real patriotism demands more than that from all of us.

Once Trump receives the punishment that he justly deserves (provided that he is held accountable for his actions), and the dust settles afterward, all we’ll have left is the time that lies in front of us. It is our duty and obligation to make the most of it while we can. Eventually, we’ll have to look up and look ahead. Real patriotism is when we channel the anger and passion we’re feeling today into action towards building a better future for our country. Eventually, we need to take former president John Kennedy’s words to heart as well: “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.”

To the extent that we love America and want it to succeed, shouldn’t we want something better than our current situation? Shouldn’t we strive to be the type of people who are worthy of something better than what Trump had to offer us? Making America Great Again cannot be reduced to a political slogan to be printed on T-shirts and red ball caps. It’s not only about pulling a lever at the ballot box every four years. And as much as we should appreciate the sacrifices our armed forces and their families make for us, it’s not entirely about military service either. It’s about the day to day business of making our country worth defending in the first place.  

If we want our leaders to be just and honest in their dealings, shouldn’t we be just and honest in ours? If we want them to be prudent and wise, shouldn’t we be prudent and wise ourselves? If we want sports fans and athletes to stand up for the national anthem at football games, shouldn’t we want to help create a country where they’d want to sing along in the first place, instead of being offended at them using their free speech rights to voice their concerns? Shouldn’t we want a criminal justice system where all are innocent until proven guilty, instead of having young kids like Tamir Rice gunned down in the street for no reason at all? Shouldn’t we want immigrants and the poor to be treated justly and fairly? Instead of getting angry at women who seek abortions, shouldn’t we support them to the extent that they’d never have to consider making that choice to begin with? Instead of complaining at the awful quality of our political discourse, shouldn’t we actively enter into dialogue with people whose worldviews are different from our own, and seek to understand where it is that they’re coming from?

Joe Biden and his cabinet will be running things over the next four years. And he’ll inevitably say and do things that not all of us will like. Not all of us voted for him, and some of us who did, myself included, don’t entirely agree with his political worldview. It’s perfectly fine to disagree with him as free citizens of this country. But to the extent that we want America to succeed, we should want to do it together, from the top to the bottom and everywhere in between. We need to work together to clear out the wreckage that Trump left behind and put something better in its place. It’ll doubtlessly be an overwhelming process. But we need to get to work if we want our country to have any type of hope for the future. Then, and only then, we can truly make America great again.