The Unimpeachable Soul of America
We are a people ever ancient, ever new. Not theatrics, but this old teaching is at the heart of President Trump’s remarkable State of the Union address.
Ken Masugi
- February 6th, 2020
Ignore the game-show aspects of President Trump’s State of the Union address this week. Presidents have been rewarding and buying blocs of voters for eons. That part was perfunctory. Yet the former reality TV star had more to offer his American and world audience: the American soul, robust and confident.
Unlike progressive presidents such as Barack Obama and George W. Bush, Trump went to the heart of America. Hence the seeming intrusion from the talk of love.
The power of Trump’s speech is found exactly in its resting on philosophic truths, which correspond to the truths of the Declaration of Independence and its appeal to the nation’s soul—not to traits or moods such as avarice, timidity, or stubbornness, nor to class or racial or ethnic divisions, nor to self-interest narrowly considered but rather to the core of patriotism.
He spoke directly to the American character, beginning with the theme of “the great American comebackâ€â€”hadn’t we just seen Super Bowl and World Series comebacks? And aren’t comebacks based on the spirit, the gumption, that one can and must win?
Two passages from early in the speech reinforce each other and are instructive.
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https://amgreatness.com/2020/02/06/the-unimpeachable-soul-of-america/
